Mr Salt Character Analysis

 

I received the part of ‘Mr Salt’ after my second audition. When I heard I had this part I decide to immediately look back at the script again and start to figure out the character. What he was like, how he said things and how I think the character is being played.  I started off by looking at every line my character had and seeing what he said, so I could get a sense of what ‘Mr Salts’ personality was like. I soon learnt that he was quite a bossy businessman, who had the idea that he could do, say, and have whatever he wanted because he had the money to do so. Unless it was his daughter who he was speaking to. His daughter ‘Veruca Salt’ is a girl who could do no wrong in his eyes but to keep her happy he needs to do whatever she says, even if it is ridiculous. He will pay outlandish amounts of money just so his daughter won’t yell at him.  After this I looked at what some of the other actors did in the other versions of this production, namely the film versions. To see their interpretation of the character in order to get as many ideas as possible that I might not already have. I enjoyed looking at other actors’ interpretations. It allowed me to gain an idea of what I wanted to and didn’t want to portray in our own production.

When I first started actually playing the character, I had the idea of making him somewhat scared of his daughter and just want to keep her pacified. I tried to make sure that came across in my performances. I was trying to implement that and hopefully people would notice it through my facial expressions and actions. For example, every time my daughter would turn to me or talk to me, I would show a panicked / fake smile on my face, as if to say, ‘oh god I don’t know what’s about to come out of her mouth’.   

The inner presence of ‘Mr Salt’ I believe is one of pure panic and confusion. He is worried about what his daughter will say and also what is happening in his factory. His mind is only truly focused on business, he doesn’t understand much else.  He has a daughter yet does not really know her. All he knows is his money is equal to her happiness. However, as the play progresses, he starts to realise how much he does actually care for his daughter and that’s why he goes down the chute after her at the end.

His outer presence is more of a confident businessman. Someone who thinks he knows everything and that he is superior to everyone else around him because he has money. He comes across as arrogant and greedy, except that started to change as he goes into ‘Willy Wonka’s’ factory. Once inside he had no control and no idea of what was going on. In this situation he had nothing to offer and nothing to say, this was not the world he was used to. Due to this his brain could not comprehend anything that was going on, his mind was blown. The only thing he knew how to do was get what his daughter was begging him for.