Jersey's talking: Uncle Bob
Friday, April 6, 2001
With: George Morfogen and Gale Harold
Courtesy of: Envoi
Edited by: Marcy
Della: Welcome back to Jersey's Talking, I'm Della Crews. My first guests are in the Off Broadway play "Uncle Bob," but you probably already recognize them for their TV work. George Morfogen is one of the most likeable characters in the HBO series "OZ," and Gale Harold stars in SHOWTIME's new series called "Queer as Folk." Welcome to the show gentleman, it's good to have both of you with us.
Gale and George: (in unison) Thank you very much.
Della: Alrighty. First of all, let's talk about "Uncle Bob." What is this play all about?
George: Well, this is a play about an uncle and a nephew. And this is a play which involves a relationship of enormous importance to both people...
Della: Enormous importance...
George: ENORMOUS importance. And actually in the course of the play is an interaction which you realize has never quite had this kind of privacy before.
Della: Uh huh...
George: And it's a play which reveals the importance that the nephew has to the uncle and the uncle has to the nephew. And there is an enormous kind of combustion and the interaction is not tranquil...
Della: Oh dear...
George: ...and it is unexpected and it is full of surprises.
Della: Do they butt heads because they are alot alike?
George: They butt heads because they are connected so strongly and so there is a kind of honesty between them which emerges through the play with all kinds of unexpected revelations.
Della: Now George, you just said something about being connected emotionally. You know it's typically not a male thing to admit you all even experience emotions. But these guys DO admit that...and they're honest about it...and they deal with it.
Gale: Well they...I mean they do...but um, it's not an overt sort of conversational thing. It's...the emotion is revealed through what they're going through with each other and their conflict that they're having and you know, the characters sort of, you know, my character Josh, reaching out to his uncle in a way that he feels, you know, almost subconsciously compelled to do, driven to do. And it's the response, you know, and the give and take between them and the action where the emotion comes out. I mean, it's a very emotional play but um, I think it's more a situation where you see things happening as a result of the conflict. It's not an outpouring, you know...it's, it's more of a...
George: (taking over) Well you know, one of the things which Gale is circling is that, Bob is in crisis.
Della: What kind of a crisis?
George: He's in a health crisis.
Della: Okay so he's not feeling well.
George: He's not, he's in a serious health crisis.
Della: He's not terminally ill, or anything like that...
George: Yes, he is.
Della: Okay.
George: And that emerges first, so that's not telling any uh, secrets. I mean it emerges rather early in the experience that you know he's in crisis.
Della: Is that what brought the two of you back together?
George: In...in...
Della: (interrupting) Because I assume Josh has been living his own life for a while...
George: Yes in fact, Josh has been living in the mid-west, and Bob is in Greenwich Village. And although those geographical things are not specifically designed you get a sense that it's the Village and a sense that he's coming from the mid-west, which is where I was raised, as a character. And so uh, he comes and it is in the course of the play you learn what motivates this visit. You know one of the things about this play which I remember, I have done this play before. But it is not like repeating a play. It's..we've done...I did it...the world premiere this...off broadway, six years ago. And um, but we're returning as new collaborators. I mean we're not, I'm not...
Della: Have the two of you worked together before?
George & Gale: No, no... George:This is a new experience, and a new experience for me. And uh, but...the thing that I remember very strongly and if I can just say this...is that the act...the first production...one of the things that was said to me by the wonderful playright Romulus Linney who came backstage who I went to school with years and years ago...a LONG time ago (laughing)...
Della: Not THAT long ago...
George: You know that one of the great things about this evening for me, was that I never knew what was going to happen next.
Della: Really?
George: He said I was never ahead of this play. And he pointed to Austin who was sort of...had chaperoned him back through this maze in this little off broadway theater and he pointed at him and said "That guy just AMAZES me," about Austin
Della: Uh huh. He was on our show last week.
George: Yes, I heard that. And that's kind of a terrific endorsement I think.
Della: I imagine it is. Now coming from your standpoint Gale, not to cut you off over here George but...
George: No, not at all. I want...
Della: How do you feel about coming back to be in the same proximity, house, with your uncle? It's not like coming home to be with your father...
Gale: No, it's, it's...I mean, that's one of the things that unravels during the course of the play. And that's one of the aspects I think, that uh, illustrates you know, why you don't what's coming next. You don't know what to expect, and it's not a shock play, it's not, you know, things are being thrown at you to surprise you. But, you know, he comes back, part of it's a rescue mission. Part of it's um, sort of a breaking through. It's like a post coming-of-age metamorphosis. He's trying to find something in himself through making this last connection with his uncle, who he feels...
Della: (interrupting) Which was a choice he made...
Gale: Yeah, I mean this is the only person that he says it in the play, the only one he could ever talk to, the only one that he ever really loved...
Della: Awww....
Gale:...it's an isolated character who has this one connection who he's never been able to get connected to, and now that it's almost over he's, he's taking the chance to get there and try to grab that before it's gone.
Della: And what's the message you want people to walk away from?
George: Well you know first of all, one thing we haven't said which is very important, is that this play is very funny.
Della: (laughing) It's funny?
George: Yes, and I mean that isn't because we're courting laughs...but the CONTENT, the way that this...it's not just soem ponderous dreary interaction. This is a very alive, very and at times, extremely funny...
Della: And it's written with real life humor as it happens...
George: Yes, exactly.
Della: Stay with us, we'll be right back with more of George and Gale... (commericial break)
Della: Welcome back to Jersey's Talking. I am Della Crews filling in for Lee Leonard tonight. I am talking with George Morfogen and Gale Harold from the upcoming off broadway show, "Uncle Bob." You've probably seen George on the HBO series which is now into it's fifth season called "OZ" and Gale on the new SHOWTIME series called "Queer as Folk." Alright, let's talk about OZ. Now that's a heavy duty show.
George: It's a show which is uh, has a kind of fantastic honesty.
Della: Really?
George: I, I think. And it's the thing that when I, all of us, most of us live in New York, and we get stopped a lot about the show. And people of all, different types of people, who are really involved with the, with the world of this rather brutal place.
Della: What kind of research did you do to make it seem so realistic?
George: Welp, um, Tom Fontana who created the show, and who writes the show, and who is one of the executive producers of the show. Uh, I haven't really talked to him much about what he did, in terms of preparing himself for this material, but now I think he's so at home in the world of this place, which is a prison, and he's so creative and so willing to take chances and so willing to explore these characters beyond just the fact that they're prisoners...but their personal lives, their lives connected to their past, their interactions which are very explicit. I mean you know, this is not a play, this is not a show which uh, skirts issues which prisons are involved with.
Della: You know, what a lot of people don't tend to want to get involved in news that occurs away from their neighborhood. Why do you think they'd be attracted to a show like this when it's like....these are just inmates and prisoners...you know, what do I feel about them?
George: I, I think it's because it really does not pretend. It really goes to gut stuff.
Della: Too much so?
George: Not too much so. It goes to gut stuff which people can believe in, and are fascinated by, and are not squeamish by. Now by the way, there are some people who have, who have trouble dealing with material that is this raw and open and honest.
Della: If they're not open-minded enough, I'm sure.
George: Yeah. But now I'm an inmate, I've been there a long time. I'm a lifer.
Della:(laughing) How does that feel playing the role of an inmate? I mean...
George: Well, I'm a survivor. I made it. That's kind of an accomplishment to make it.
Della: And you were sent to prison for...
George: For murder.
Della: Oooh.
George: With a rather witty backstory. Which is that I was going to be electrocuted in the 60's and then it was the night of the power failure.
Della: (laughing) What an ironic turn for you.
George: It's kind of fantastic. And of course for humanitarian reasons, they won't do it again. This man has a great series too (turning to Gale)...
Della: Yah definitely getting into yours. First of all, starting with the name "Queer as Folk..."
Gale:Uhm hm.
Della: We've become very bold here in the year 2001 using that as a title. Tell me about the premise of this one.
Gale: Well the title uh, even though it comes across as having...it has a double meaning...I mean, it's an old, it's an old phrase uh, meaning that "there's nothing queer as folk," is basically the simple translation of it. Meaning that there's nothing stranger than everyday people. Uh, the show was created in England originally with uh, by Russell Davies, and SHOWTIME has adapted it. And it's a show about uh, gay men in Pittsburgh and their lives and...
Della: (interrupting) In Pittsburgh? Pittsburgh gets pick, pick, picked on alot, because I lived in Pittsburgh...
Gale:(interrupting) Yah well, it's just set there. We're not picking on Pittsburgh. That's where we live, and work, and play. And um, it's interesting, it's great to be working with George because um, we're both sort of on these shows on you know, pay television that uh, deal with really honest characters. And that's one of the things about our show too, it's um, showing a lifestyle that has never really been explored I don't think, you know, in a serial television way, that's extremely explicit, extremely true, and compelling, you know. It's the drama, and the story, and the truthfulness of the characters I think is what has been responsible for our show being able to survive the first season. People wanna see what happens.
Della: How realistic is your character and what do you bring to it, and how did you do your research?
Gale: Uh, my character is um of course based on a character that was already created for this other show but um, hopefully he's just as real as he can possibly be. He's a very, sort of brutally honest and somewhat iconoclastic personality. He has his version of what is his own truth and his own pursuit of happiness, which is being a totally liberated gay man in the United States with the rights and freedoms of anyone else, you know. He's not, he won't allow himself to be marginalized. So for me it's just, the writing is, is strong, is very strong, and the character is very clear and very strong so for me I mean, in terms of my performance, it's just playing him, what's on the page, because everything about him is there, and then you know, just adding nuances.
George: He's an extraordinary magnet.
Della: Is he?
George: Yes, he's an extraordinary magnet.
Della: Now I have to know. Given the sexual preferences aside, how are Brian and Gale anything alike? Or are they?
Gale:Well, it's a character. I'm an actor. I mean that's a question that we could you know, spend, you know, hours answering. I don't know exactly, I haven't figured that out yet. I mean I've figured certain things out but I'm still trying to learn this character myself and he's still being born. There are similarities that I think uh...that's the reason you get cast to play any character...because whoever is responsible for the production, they see you, and they see something about you that they want to see in this character, or they feel is there. So....
Della: How much input do the two of you get in the writing and the production of the show?
George: Input? You mean...I
Della: I'm assuming the writers listen to some of your ideas...
George and Gale: Yeah.
George: In my case, I have done very little of that. Um, I have...it's not that I feel squeamish about perhaps sharing some ideas...there have been a couple...but Tom has really been running with the character. And last summer my character took extraordinary turns which were unexpected to me, as the actor. Uh, I would open the script and I'd say "Oh my goodness, what is THIS?" It was an extraordinary journey I took last summer, and people agreed. They told ME it was unexpected. They couldn't believe that this character who they'd sort of put in a sort of safe place, was suddenly doing things which were, well violent.
Della: But as an actor you find that challenging and exciting...and the same with you too (looking at Gale) when you get to take on a new dimension of your character.
Gale: There always, I mean, um, in my case there has been a little bit of collaboration but uh, there are still episodes that you know, bombs get dropped and you have to recover for a moment, and then you realize that that's what it's all about. That the challenge is something to work through. And the great thing about these changes is what it sets up for the future, you know.
Della: And at the end of the day you can go home and you can say you did a great job, the best you can.
George: Well WE can't say that, but somebody else can (laughing).
Della: Okay well it's been great talking to both of you. You on "OZ" and you on "Queer as Folk." And of course we've been talking to George Morforgen...I hope I'm saying your name correctly...
George: MORfogen...
Della: Morfogen, got it. And of course, Gale Harold. Thank you gentlemen. Keep up the good work.
George: Thank you very much.
Gale: Thanks, Della.
Gale and George: (in unison) Thank you very much.
Della: Alrighty. First of all, let's talk about "Uncle Bob." What is this play all about?
George: Well, this is a play about an uncle and a nephew. And this is a play which involves a relationship of enormous importance to both people...
Della: Enormous importance...
George: ENORMOUS importance. And actually in the course of the play is an interaction which you realize has never quite had this kind of privacy before.
Della: Uh huh...
George: And it's a play which reveals the importance that the nephew has to the uncle and the uncle has to the nephew. And there is an enormous kind of combustion and the interaction is not tranquil...
Della: Oh dear...
George: ...and it is unexpected and it is full of surprises.
Della: Do they butt heads because they are alot alike?
George: They butt heads because they are connected so strongly and so there is a kind of honesty between them which emerges through the play with all kinds of unexpected revelations.
Della: Now George, you just said something about being connected emotionally. You know it's typically not a male thing to admit you all even experience emotions. But these guys DO admit that...and they're honest about it...and they deal with it.
Gale: Well they...I mean they do...but um, it's not an overt sort of conversational thing. It's...the emotion is revealed through what they're going through with each other and their conflict that they're having and you know, the characters sort of, you know, my character Josh, reaching out to his uncle in a way that he feels, you know, almost subconsciously compelled to do, driven to do. And it's the response, you know, and the give and take between them and the action where the emotion comes out. I mean, it's a very emotional play but um, I think it's more a situation where you see things happening as a result of the conflict. It's not an outpouring, you know...it's, it's more of a...
George: (taking over) Well you know, one of the things which Gale is circling is that, Bob is in crisis.
Della: What kind of a crisis?
George: He's in a health crisis.
Della: Okay so he's not feeling well.
George: He's not, he's in a serious health crisis.
Della: He's not terminally ill, or anything like that...
George: Yes, he is.
Della: Okay.
George: And that emerges first, so that's not telling any uh, secrets. I mean it emerges rather early in the experience that you know he's in crisis.
Della: Is that what brought the two of you back together?
George: In...in...
Della: (interrupting) Because I assume Josh has been living his own life for a while...
George: Yes in fact, Josh has been living in the mid-west, and Bob is in Greenwich Village. And although those geographical things are not specifically designed you get a sense that it's the Village and a sense that he's coming from the mid-west, which is where I was raised, as a character. And so uh, he comes and it is in the course of the play you learn what motivates this visit. You know one of the things about this play which I remember, I have done this play before. But it is not like repeating a play. It's..we've done...I did it...the world premiere this...off broadway, six years ago. And um, but we're returning as new collaborators. I mean we're not, I'm not...
Della: Have the two of you worked together before?
George & Gale: No, no... George:This is a new experience, and a new experience for me. And uh, but...the thing that I remember very strongly and if I can just say this...is that the act...the first production...one of the things that was said to me by the wonderful playright Romulus Linney who came backstage who I went to school with years and years ago...a LONG time ago (laughing)...
Della: Not THAT long ago...
George: You know that one of the great things about this evening for me, was that I never knew what was going to happen next.
Della: Really?
George: He said I was never ahead of this play. And he pointed to Austin who was sort of...had chaperoned him back through this maze in this little off broadway theater and he pointed at him and said "That guy just AMAZES me," about Austin
Della: Uh huh. He was on our show last week.
George: Yes, I heard that. And that's kind of a terrific endorsement I think.
Della: I imagine it is. Now coming from your standpoint Gale, not to cut you off over here George but...
George: No, not at all. I want...
Della: How do you feel about coming back to be in the same proximity, house, with your uncle? It's not like coming home to be with your father...
Gale: No, it's, it's...I mean, that's one of the things that unravels during the course of the play. And that's one of the aspects I think, that uh, illustrates you know, why you don't what's coming next. You don't know what to expect, and it's not a shock play, it's not, you know, things are being thrown at you to surprise you. But, you know, he comes back, part of it's a rescue mission. Part of it's um, sort of a breaking through. It's like a post coming-of-age metamorphosis. He's trying to find something in himself through making this last connection with his uncle, who he feels...
Della: (interrupting) Which was a choice he made...
Gale: Yeah, I mean this is the only person that he says it in the play, the only one he could ever talk to, the only one that he ever really loved...
Della: Awww....
Gale:...it's an isolated character who has this one connection who he's never been able to get connected to, and now that it's almost over he's, he's taking the chance to get there and try to grab that before it's gone.
Della: And what's the message you want people to walk away from?
George: Well you know first of all, one thing we haven't said which is very important, is that this play is very funny.
Della: (laughing) It's funny?
George: Yes, and I mean that isn't because we're courting laughs...but the CONTENT, the way that this...it's not just soem ponderous dreary interaction. This is a very alive, very and at times, extremely funny...
Della: And it's written with real life humor as it happens...
George: Yes, exactly.
Della: Stay with us, we'll be right back with more of George and Gale... (commericial break)
Della: Welcome back to Jersey's Talking. I am Della Crews filling in for Lee Leonard tonight. I am talking with George Morfogen and Gale Harold from the upcoming off broadway show, "Uncle Bob." You've probably seen George on the HBO series which is now into it's fifth season called "OZ" and Gale on the new SHOWTIME series called "Queer as Folk." Alright, let's talk about OZ. Now that's a heavy duty show.
George: It's a show which is uh, has a kind of fantastic honesty.
Della: Really?
George: I, I think. And it's the thing that when I, all of us, most of us live in New York, and we get stopped a lot about the show. And people of all, different types of people, who are really involved with the, with the world of this rather brutal place.
Della: What kind of research did you do to make it seem so realistic?
George: Welp, um, Tom Fontana who created the show, and who writes the show, and who is one of the executive producers of the show. Uh, I haven't really talked to him much about what he did, in terms of preparing himself for this material, but now I think he's so at home in the world of this place, which is a prison, and he's so creative and so willing to take chances and so willing to explore these characters beyond just the fact that they're prisoners...but their personal lives, their lives connected to their past, their interactions which are very explicit. I mean you know, this is not a play, this is not a show which uh, skirts issues which prisons are involved with.
Della: You know, what a lot of people don't tend to want to get involved in news that occurs away from their neighborhood. Why do you think they'd be attracted to a show like this when it's like....these are just inmates and prisoners...you know, what do I feel about them?
George: I, I think it's because it really does not pretend. It really goes to gut stuff.
Della: Too much so?
George: Not too much so. It goes to gut stuff which people can believe in, and are fascinated by, and are not squeamish by. Now by the way, there are some people who have, who have trouble dealing with material that is this raw and open and honest.
Della: If they're not open-minded enough, I'm sure.
George: Yeah. But now I'm an inmate, I've been there a long time. I'm a lifer.
Della:(laughing) How does that feel playing the role of an inmate? I mean...
George: Well, I'm a survivor. I made it. That's kind of an accomplishment to make it.
Della: And you were sent to prison for...
George: For murder.
Della: Oooh.
George: With a rather witty backstory. Which is that I was going to be electrocuted in the 60's and then it was the night of the power failure.
Della: (laughing) What an ironic turn for you.
George: It's kind of fantastic. And of course for humanitarian reasons, they won't do it again. This man has a great series too (turning to Gale)...
Della: Yah definitely getting into yours. First of all, starting with the name "Queer as Folk..."
Gale:Uhm hm.
Della: We've become very bold here in the year 2001 using that as a title. Tell me about the premise of this one.
Gale: Well the title uh, even though it comes across as having...it has a double meaning...I mean, it's an old, it's an old phrase uh, meaning that "there's nothing queer as folk," is basically the simple translation of it. Meaning that there's nothing stranger than everyday people. Uh, the show was created in England originally with uh, by Russell Davies, and SHOWTIME has adapted it. And it's a show about uh, gay men in Pittsburgh and their lives and...
Della: (interrupting) In Pittsburgh? Pittsburgh gets pick, pick, picked on alot, because I lived in Pittsburgh...
Gale:(interrupting) Yah well, it's just set there. We're not picking on Pittsburgh. That's where we live, and work, and play. And um, it's interesting, it's great to be working with George because um, we're both sort of on these shows on you know, pay television that uh, deal with really honest characters. And that's one of the things about our show too, it's um, showing a lifestyle that has never really been explored I don't think, you know, in a serial television way, that's extremely explicit, extremely true, and compelling, you know. It's the drama, and the story, and the truthfulness of the characters I think is what has been responsible for our show being able to survive the first season. People wanna see what happens.
Della: How realistic is your character and what do you bring to it, and how did you do your research?
Gale: Uh, my character is um of course based on a character that was already created for this other show but um, hopefully he's just as real as he can possibly be. He's a very, sort of brutally honest and somewhat iconoclastic personality. He has his version of what is his own truth and his own pursuit of happiness, which is being a totally liberated gay man in the United States with the rights and freedoms of anyone else, you know. He's not, he won't allow himself to be marginalized. So for me it's just, the writing is, is strong, is very strong, and the character is very clear and very strong so for me I mean, in terms of my performance, it's just playing him, what's on the page, because everything about him is there, and then you know, just adding nuances.
George: He's an extraordinary magnet.
Della: Is he?
George: Yes, he's an extraordinary magnet.
Della: Now I have to know. Given the sexual preferences aside, how are Brian and Gale anything alike? Or are they?
Gale:Well, it's a character. I'm an actor. I mean that's a question that we could you know, spend, you know, hours answering. I don't know exactly, I haven't figured that out yet. I mean I've figured certain things out but I'm still trying to learn this character myself and he's still being born. There are similarities that I think uh...that's the reason you get cast to play any character...because whoever is responsible for the production, they see you, and they see something about you that they want to see in this character, or they feel is there. So....
Della: How much input do the two of you get in the writing and the production of the show?
George: Input? You mean...I
Della: I'm assuming the writers listen to some of your ideas...
George and Gale: Yeah.
George: In my case, I have done very little of that. Um, I have...it's not that I feel squeamish about perhaps sharing some ideas...there have been a couple...but Tom has really been running with the character. And last summer my character took extraordinary turns which were unexpected to me, as the actor. Uh, I would open the script and I'd say "Oh my goodness, what is THIS?" It was an extraordinary journey I took last summer, and people agreed. They told ME it was unexpected. They couldn't believe that this character who they'd sort of put in a sort of safe place, was suddenly doing things which were, well violent.
Della: But as an actor you find that challenging and exciting...and the same with you too (looking at Gale) when you get to take on a new dimension of your character.
Gale: There always, I mean, um, in my case there has been a little bit of collaboration but uh, there are still episodes that you know, bombs get dropped and you have to recover for a moment, and then you realize that that's what it's all about. That the challenge is something to work through. And the great thing about these changes is what it sets up for the future, you know.
Della: And at the end of the day you can go home and you can say you did a great job, the best you can.
George: Well WE can't say that, but somebody else can (laughing).
Della: Okay well it's been great talking to both of you. You on "OZ" and you on "Queer as Folk." And of course we've been talking to George Morforgen...I hope I'm saying your name correctly...
George: MORfogen...
Della: Morfogen, got it. And of course, Gale Harold. Thank you gentlemen. Keep up the good work.
George: Thank you very much.
Gale: Thanks, Della.
Copyright © 2001 Envoi | All rights
reserved
Courtesy of Envoi - Edited by Marcy
Courtesy of Envoi - Edited by Marcy