CHARACTERS

SALTER
He was fleeing, now he´s searching.
He is alone. He made a monster, then he made a son. He was hiding from nothingness. Now he is exposed, there is nowhere else to hide.

Salter is for me the main character in the sense that this whole story evolves around him, in his habitat mainly. All his sons come to him, except Michael Black, witch Salter himself has to find.
Act 1-4 is therefor placed in his home, his "extended body" witch means the core set is a (more or less subtle, I´m not there yet) metaphor of him, while in act 5, he is for me lost. His home still exists, but his self image, his life lie is totally torn down, and by Michael Black denying him, he is naked, homeless and lost (at least until he finds a new lie to hide in)

Salter is also the core, the tree that all these apples were shaken (or cloned) from, witch means all the other characters consists of a whole lot of his material (biologically, mentally, socially..)
As we see in the text, he was also a pretty rotten, scary tree, an abusive neglecting, alcoholic father for B1 ("..a dark dark power witch is my heart, people pay trainers to get up to this speed..") But he changed for B2, because he wanted to success as a father, and I think B2 has been pretty satisfied with his father up to now, but as the play starts he has just realized that everything he thought he was, was just a facade, like a 2dimentional painted prop tree. For Michael he is merely a shadow, a mold, and not very interesting.

So for me Michael is this "nothing" character. He is something very constructed, an apparently successful and acceptable man with a good job (if he could afford this cloning in his early 20ies) , nice clothes and contolled, tasteful home. But under the surface its total pain, fear and chaos.














BERNARD 1
He was hiding, now he´s hunting
He was tiny, ruined & hiding under the bed. The innocent monster has sharpened its teeth for 35 years. he is not scared anymore.


For me the one who resembles his father most. Succesfull, smooth surface tying up an enormous amount of hatred and pain. Unable to have relationships to other people or animals (dogs)
Goes back to the terrified 4 yearold under the bed when he looses control. A good deal Patric Bateman in American Psycho.

"..and they take this painless scrape this specky little cell of me and kept that and you threw the rest of me away"

"... youre supposed to say sorry, he only had tree stitches. I´m a very restrained person."

Resyme from em responce:
"I am just an ugly scetch for a pathetic mans 2.nd try on fatherhood. I am confronted with the fact that I´m only one of many me´s. My father destroyed everything I could have been and treated me like a cheap toy. I am less than nothin. I am by far the most traic possibility. The copy got the life and love that should have been mine. Neither of us shall exist. My father deserves to suffer. The others are irrelevant."


BERNARD 2
He was surching, now he´s hiding.

Never knew the monster laying under him that was himself until it stood up and stared right into his eyes. Now he knows that he is a number of simular strangers.

Already knows the truth when the play starts. Is giving his father a last chance to admit, and reveal who he really is. Is even fishing for it, but without succes. Now hates his father. Comfused and frightened.





MICHAEL BLACK
He is happy with what he has. He is not going anywhere.
(or so we might like to think)

The most mysterical character. Its easy to think he is one of these easy go lucky guys, that he honestly is satisfied with life, and has no desire to dig after his roots.
I think he is rejecting Salter, taking revenge by not giving him any real glimpses into who he really is on purpose. His story about the people living in tunnels underground, with their dead relatives buried in the walls beside them intrigue me. Its such a bizarre, grotesque contrast to the rest of his text.
Either; history repeats itself. He is just another successfully/happy masked fathermonster or a total fake, a pale unpersonalized clone or a happy healthy guy. I guess thats what I find the most brilliant about Churchills conclution. Somehow whoever I (or any audience) choose to believe Michael Black has turned out to be, tells me more about who I (they) am (are) than who Michael Black is. Thats why I want him to remain as blank as possible. (if thats even possible. I dont think it is)
(his image represent the personality/ look, not casting, they are all played by Mads Mikkelsen, pictured as B1 & B2)