After seven seasons of progressively larger roles at Stratford, 35-year-old Bowmanville native Jonathan Goad specializes in the slow burn. Starting off calm and still, by the end of an evening his puppy-fatted face has turned wolfish, his lilting voice gone emphatic, his eyes blazing electric with passion. No surprise then that he was headhunted away from the festival by Soulpepper, which cast him as Edmund the Bastard in last fall’s production of King Lear. Playing bastards has become Goad’s forte, and he’s rolling out another one this month—a guitar-strumming drifter who becomes the object of a vulnerable woman’s affections—in Tennessee Williams’ seldom-revived Orpheus Descending.

Do you have any favourite roles?
I’ve never met a part I didn’t like. I get just as cranked up over the guys off to the left as the guys in the centre of the story. Sure, I would love to play Hamlet, but it’s by no means the only thing on my radar.

How did you prepare for your part in Orpheus in 2005, when you first did it at Stratford?
I went to New Orleans just before Katrina. You can see why Tennessee loved it. The music was everywhere, the smell, the sweat, the warmth of the people. One day I rented a bike and went through neighbourhoods I’d been warned against. You’d see this half-burned-down building, and then someone would walk out of the door—they still lived there. Nothing prepared me for the level of poverty I saw. No wonder my character, Valentine, was reaching for higher ground.

Williams based Valentine partly on Elvis. How did you get your guitar-playing up to speed?
I’d always strummed around on the guitar, but I’d never played rhythm and blues. Marc Desormeaux [Stratford’s music man] gave me five intensive lessons, making me look better than I am. The point is, for my character, the music sets him free. Valentine picked up a lot of bad habits in New Orleans, but he also found music and started seeing the light through it.

And how do you find your co-star Seana McKenna?
She’s a pain in the ass. That’s how we are with each other, combative. She’s so damn good, but I can’t stand there in awe of her on the stage. I can’t be treating her like Your Highness. I’ve got to give her a run for her money.

Orpheus Descending runs Jan. 10 to Feb. 11 at Royal Alexandra Theatre.