Playing Cinderella’s father in his first Chichester Festival Youth Theatre show
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Written by Philip Wilson, with music by Jason Carr and directed by Jon Pashley, the show is on the main-house stage from December 17-31.
For Dilshad, it's an interesting and challenging role to play: “He is quite troubled but at the beginning of the play he is happy and a very paternal character. He gives love and warmth but then the mother dies. We see happy scenes at the beginning. Everyone is cheerful. Everyone is bright and happy but then she dies and the father becomes quite troubled and I wouldn't say isolated but he is drifting away.
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Hide Ad“He has got a great individual story but he is also fun to play. Most of the things I've done in the past I've been playing really happy jolly characters but this one is very different and that's a good thing. It's pushing me outside of my comfort zone. His development is strong and is quite hard to do. You have to be emotional in yourself and that's the fun part to be exploring other emotions such as sadness and grief.”
The whole thing is proving a great experience: “It's really enjoyable. I'm working with wonderful people and I really love the insight that I'm getting. I hope in the future to go into the theatre. It is such an amazing thing to do. You build your confidence and really you're building yourself through what you are doing. Playing the father in Cinderella is really helping.
“I don't know whether this makes sense but I love it because it feels dangerous. It is dangerous in the way that you are exploring new things. Sometimes you are going into characters that maybe you don't really relate to but you've got to feel the depth of them and their emotions. You've got to dive in. When you get the lines, you can't just read them. You've got to feel them. You've got to constantly be in that character. I've experienced sad moments myself and afterwards you look back and think this is what it was.”
Currently in year 11, Dilshad, who lives in Bognor, has been with the youth theatre for a few years now, but this is his first time in a youth theatre production: “I don't really know why. Maybe I chose the wrong moment in the middle of mock exams and everything. Maybe I was busy before but now definitely seems the right moment to be doing it now.”
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