Exploring different genres

By looking at the scenes in the play with a different set of "genre glasses" eg: playing it as a soap opera or crime drama, really force you as an actor to investigate what you understand about the scene and make sure you know what you're doing and what you're supposed to say. The aim is to know the scene and your character well enough to be able to play them in whatever context possible.

We played part 2, scene 4 as an American comedy/sitcom - think Friends, Modern Family or The US Office. The most challenging thing about this was the fact that I am absolutely awful when it comes to accents - though American possibly being the easiest for me. This meant that I put a lot of focus onto the accent and really playing the style rather than thinking about my character - if I'm honest, I think I played Su-Lin a little older than her 9 years at some points. It was hard to keep inside the theme and keep the character going, but I think we were relatively successful despite there being a few moments of laughter. A particular success for myself was that I didn't get any lines wrong or incorrect - meaning I knew the scene well enough to keep my role running smoothly.

It was a really entertaining way to assess the work that people need to put into the scenes and the characters to ensure that they run smoothly and effectively.