Interview: Sandra Prinsloo talks about Maria Callas, opera and MASTER CLASS

It's the 100th anniversary of Maria Callas' birth and what better way to celebrate it than with a run of the Terrence McNally ode to the opera singer, MASTER CLASS?

This production sees Pieter Torien teaming up with Cape Town Opera to bring the story to life. In the titular role is Sandra Prinsloo. I spoke to her about preparing for such an incredible role and play.

BWW: Firstly, I have to say that I absolutely adore MASTER CLASS as a play and was so excited when I heard that you were taking on the role. Is this a role you've wanted to play? What drew you to the piece?

Sandra: Actually, no. I'm really not the sort of actress who goes around wanting to play this role and that role. Oh, there are some that one would like to experience, but I'm very happy with whatever comes my way and to look at whatever it is. When this (MASTER CLASS) did come my way, I was absolutely delighted because it is such a very, very good play and I've always been a Callas fan.

Callas introduced me to opera properly, I would say. I never liked opera before I saw Callas in a recording of a concert and found myself in floods of tears watching her. Before that, when I was a young student, we were backstage at opera often in Pretoria and I always found it very difficult to watch because a lot of singers used to do exactly what Callas says you shouldn't do - and that is to sing notes. Sing notes beautifully, yes, but don't just sing the notes. Primarily you're there to tell a story and to engage us in the story, and engage us in the music and in the drama that is contained within the music. So, when I heard that I could play Callas, I was very excited about it.

What drew me to the piece was that it is such a well-written piece. Then, I found out that McNally was also such a huge Callas fan, so it was paying homage to somebody who I think is an incredible artist and who played a very definitive role in bringing me round to opera and discovering the world of opera.

BWW: How do you go about building character when playing such an iconic person? How important is it to you to be true to the public figure that people know?

Sandra: The first thing for me, because it is a historic character, is to do my research of course. Luckily there is quite a lot online - interviews with Maria, which shows us the star but also the woman, books that I've read, recordings that I've listened to of her operas. Then also, getting people to help me, people in the operatic world, to explain certain things to me. I think that sort of research is very important when you're trying to build a character.

The second part of your question - how important is it to stay true to the public figure that people know - well, that is quite a tricky question because I think that everybody out there has their own image of Maria Callas. Nobody that I know knew her - she would've been 100 this year. Some people might've seen some of her later performances. But you know - especially the Callas aficionados - all have their own idea of who and what Callas was.

I have to stay true to McNally's Callas and I try and colour it and deepen it with the knowledge that I have of Callas now, after having read so much. There was one book that I found that was just extraordinary and gave me such insight into her as an artist, as a human being as well. There were the two people in her - there was Maria, the woman who just wanted to be a woman, who just wanted to have a life, and then there was Callas, who was the diva, the superstar, the incredible artist, the perfectionist.

So, yes, I would like to be as true to the original Maria Callas, but I also have to play McNally's Callas. There are moments in the script where I think "uh uh, she wouldn't have said or done that" but it's not for me to judge. As opera singers serve the composer, I have to serve my playwright and it would've been very nice to have a discussion with him.

BWW: There are some very distinct mannerisms and way speaking that defined Maria Callas. What was your process for bring those to life?

Sandra: Absolutely, she did have very distinct mannerisms and a very distinct manner of speaking. I found that Maria spoke a lot in statements, she made statements. She seemed to be so sure of herself and so self-possessed, and she's so calm in interviews. But we've also heard from other people who have worked with her that she was very difficult. I think she was difficult because she was a perfectionist. She did have a temper, and she was an incredibly passionate woman, passionate about her work, and of course, passionate later in her private life with Aristotle Onassis.

I also picked up that there was a slight accent - very slight and it was quite difficult because she was Greek and had been in America for a while and then married in Italy and lived there for many years in her golden years and then eventually lived in France, and she spoke many languages. It wasn't a specific accent, it was a Maria Callas accent. I worked with an accent coach, Susan Danford, who has been incredibly helpful, and I hope we are getting it right.

I think it does colour the character to try and find the mannerisms, to find the phrasing, to find the accent. I've been pursuing it by watching and by listening and by trying to define it with my accent coach by saying "what is that sound" and "how does she say that".

It is a very distinct way and I can't copy her exactly because I don't say exactly what she is saying. I've been trying to stay as close to what I think is the correct accent for her with my coach.

BWW: What makes MASTER CLASS such an intriguing play - to me anyway - is how the audience is included as part of the cast. As the actor, you engage directly with the audience. Is this daunting for you? It can certainly make for interesting moments when you don't know how the audience will respond.

Sandra: I don't really find that daunting. I've done many one-woman shows, which is really storytelling. I did KAMPHOER, which is about a woman in the concentration camps during the Anglo-Boer War and who got raped. It was directed by Lara Foot. This was done in a sort of Nuremberg style where she tells her story to the audience, and one has to really do it one-on-one with the audience to really connect and talk to them, and not just speak generally to an audience but very specifically to every person in the audience. So, I have done quite a bit of work like this.

But yes, absolutely, it could make for interesting moments because we don't know whether the audience is going to respond. I mean, first words in MASTER CLASS are "no applause, please" and there might not be applause so... One just has to play that by ear and work with that. It's very exciting to work with an audience and to work off an audience. I really enjoy that, so it's going to be interesting.

BWW: Another potentially daunting point when playing the role of Maria Callas is that you have to give a master class in singing opera to actual opera singers. Firstly, how much did you know about opera coming into rehearsals? And how has it been, working with Cape Town Opera?

Sandra: I didn't know very much about opera. I loved opera, loved Callas, but I didn't know much. But I did speak to a friend of mine who is a singing teacher and a pianist. I'm also working with the wonderful José Dias. Then, of course, working with Magdalene Minnaar, who is the director and also an opera singer, so I'm getting a lot of information and help from them. Without them, I couldn't possibly have done this because it is very, very difficult for me as an actress to find the correct gestures, to know the music so well and to know what I say when during the music - it's really not easy. But it's been a marvellous process.

Working with Cape Town Opera has been wonderful. It's been very enriching.

BWW: Thank you for chatting to us about this incredible piece and all the best for the run!

MASTER CLASS is on at Theatre on the Bay until 11 March. Tickets are available through Webtickets and range between R180-R280.

Photo credit: Joan Ward and Annène van Eeden

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