Tamara Braun as Ava Vitali.
In just a few simple yet effective scenes, Tamara Braun was able to showcase her character’s highest highs and lowest lows and all the moments in between as her character, Ava Vitali, navigates her current residency in a looney bin aka Bayview Mental Institution. For her performance, Soap Hub Performer of the Week honors for DAYS goes to Tamara Braun.
When first approached by co-star Steve Burton [Harris Michaels], Braun was all bright-eyed and gleaming smile, and she had jokes. “Don’t you just love waking up to the smell of freshly mopped linoleum floors?” she facetiously questioned before breaking out a Cheshire cat-sized grin.
Her visit with her son the night before had gone swimmingly. Incredible, in fact. “I think seeing Tripp was just what the doctor ordered.” [HA! So funny! Because Tripp’s a doctor and she’s in a nut house. Get it? Jokes!]
The Ava that was before Harris was a far cry from the depressed slouch that Braun had last portrayed. She was composed, collected, and practically feline in her curled and comfy pose. She was doing well, really well. She can feel it in her psyche, she can feel it in her soul. “And just in time to face the consequences of what I’ve done.”
With that, the melancholy set in. The smile faded. The light in the eyes dimed. Braun’s face hardened. “If I hadn’t let my rage for EJ DiMera get the better of me, then his mother would still be alive.”
In addition to the self-recrimination, Tamara Braun steered Ava through frustration, deep reflection, exuberance, and infectious confidence…or, at least something adjacent to confidence. But no sooner had Ava offered the caustic yet endearing observation that “I no longer see dead people” than Braun stared off into the distance and locked eyes with one of her alter-ego’s victims, Susan Banks — a sight which sent the actress into absolute, bone-chilling hysterics. Of course, it wasn’t Susan but another patient named Midge.
Harris talked Ava through it and Braun walked her character back to reality allowing his voice of reason to convince her to confide in Dr. Marlena Black (Deidre Hall), a shocking prospect but one she was willing to try if it meant getting a handle on her haunting visions. Braun has a gift of grounding the crazy and unhinged side of Ava in reality and surprising the audience along the way.
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