収束ゾーンでのライフ: Life in the Convergence Zone

I put out a call on my Tumblr for people to ask me questions about the Goes Wrong Show; here's the first batch of my responses!

enter_doctor_frog: what's robert's ideas about musicals? does he like them, would he ever put one on, does he look down upon them, etc

By beautiful coincidence, I was thinking about Robert’s attitude to musicals just before I received this question.

I think Robert likes musicals! My instinct is that he has a slight preference for classic rather than contemporary theatre, but he enjoys both, and he’s not particularly snobbish about genre; he sees value in theatre in all its forms. He’s happy to embrace Peter Pan being a pantomime, for example, whereas Chris insists on presenting it as a Serious Adult Play.

(I think Chris does look down upon musicals; he’s occasionally willing to include a musical number, but I suspect he does it with a pained look. I headcanon that Chris wrote The Spirit of Christmas himself, which might seem strange when I also think he doesn't like musicals, but this is why it's a bad musical! Most of the songs delay the plot rather than moving it forward, because Chris has no respect for the art of the musical; he just thinks 'give each character a song, done.')

Therefore, Robert would absolutely put a musical on. In fact, he’d probably try to write the songs himself, and his castmates would desperately have to prevent him; the results would not be good.

Anonymous: if robert got a persona 5 calling card, how do you think he and the rest of the society would react?

Oh, interesting question! I think Robert would be outraged by the aspersions the card cast on his character, but I don’t think he’d be worried about it; he wouldn’t really expect the Phantom Thieves to succeed in stealing his heart.

Chris, on the other hand, would worry a lot; he’d lie awake, wondering whether Robert’s personality is suddenly going to change. In many ways, it would probably be more convenient! And yet the thought bothers him in ways he can’t pin down.

mygoeswrongblog: Robert is invited to a halloween costume party: What is he wearing and how does he want everyone to react? (bonus if you wanna think about how people would actually react)

Robert dresses as a famous stage actor or playwright for Hallowe'en, and he responds with absolute scorn if anyone asks what his costume is; he’s obviously Richard Burton. Everyone goes ‘how were we supposed to know that?? you’re just wearing normal clothes!’ with the exception of Dennis, who sees Robert and immediately goes 'oh, nice Richard Burton costume.’

mygoeswrongblog: Do you think Robert likes to gamble?

I don’t think Robert habitually gambles; he doesn’t seek out opportunities to gamble. However, if you invite him to play a game with financial stakes, he will promptly lose all his money to you.

mygoeswrongblog: What sorta thing do you think Robert likes to listen to if anything?

I think Robert mainly listens to classical music and audio dramas. The fact that he did a show on the radio makes me think he’s a radio listener.

mygoeswrongblog: Do you have any idea what Robert's favourite play is?

Robert's favourite play is Summer Once Again, a self-penned masterpiece tragically cut short in its first performance. (I firmly believe that Robert wrote Summer Once Again himself.)

For plays by other people: I think he likes both classic and modern theatre, but I think his favourite is likely something Shakespearean. Maybe something on the dense and difficult side, like King Lear, or a comedy that he takes bizarrely seriously. He puts on Much Ado About Nothing but insists on playing it like he's playing Hamlet.

mygoeswrongblog: What do you think Robert's driving motivation is?

Robert is driven, at all times, to put on a performance and get a warm reception from his audience. When I say 'at all times', I mean at all times. If you're in bed with Robert Grove, he's still thinking of it as putting on a performance for you, his audience.

Whether Robert is on the stage or off it, he's always in the actor's mindset; he is overwhelmingly, all-encompassingly passionate about theatre. Theatre's a significant aspect of all the characters' lives, but theatre is Robert's entire life. The only other significant interest he canonically has (or the only one I can think of, at least) is teaching, and most of the teaching he does is teaching others to act: leading the Cornley Youth Theatre, writing acting books, running acting courses.

It’s only just hit me that my 'Robert likes to cook’ headcanon (which is admittedly based on very little; he mentioned that he likes to make crêpes on Christmas Day, and I took that and ran with it) also fits into his love of performing: cooking a meal is a performance, and then you serve it to your audience and get their reactions!