MATTHEW
ASHFORD:
Interview with
a Vampire
MATTHEW ASHFORD
SINKS HIS
teeth into a role that's quite a departure from his most famous
daytime role, the hapless Jack Deveraux of Days of Oyr Lives.
Ashford plays the lead in the Bijou Theatre's prodution of Dracula
in Knoxville, Tenn., Oct. 25-30.
According to Ashford, this production is romantic and sensual depictuion
of Dracula, since it's difficult "to scare people on
the stage. They apparently have some special effects [planned],
but they can't do much." He doesn't mind, however, because
in the theater, he'd rather "leave out the special effects
and let the actors do their work."
The Bijou's production of Dracula will help continue to revitalize
the theater, "which is more than 200 years old. It's been everything
from a cathouse to a legit theater to a hotel where presidents have
stayed," Ashford explains. "It's finally been revived
in one of its original forms — this theater. I've been going
there for the last four or five years doing benefits to help it
get on its feet, get air conditioning, some of the basics people
don't think about.
"Dracula is going to be fun," he continues, "because
I don't think I would be the first person someone would cast. I'd
be more the Jonathan Harker type. So this is a nice chance to play
a little further out there. Obviously, with all the casting that's
going on these days — with Interview with the Vampire
and the [Francis Ford Coppola film] Bram Stoker's Dracula,
with Gary Oldman, they're obviously trying to play up a more youthful
image."
Ashford's fans may have also caught the actor on a recent episode
of Burke's Law, in which he played a tennis player who was
murdered. He almost falls victim to the same fate in the upcoming
film Species, starring Ben Kingsley. "My character
is almost killed in a bar. It's hard to explain what the whole thing's
about. I think it's a sci-fi thriller. I did not have a very large
role in it. But I think it's going to be an interesting moive. I'm
interested to see what it's about." |
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