Why I chose the role I chose?

Pronoun is a play written by Evan Placey who is a Canadian-Bristish playwright. It is a love story between Josh and Isabella who are childhood soul mates and are meant to spend their gay year together. But Isabella has now transgendered into a boy and is referred to as Dean. This play explores the topics of transition, testosterone and James Dean; a cultural icon of teen obsession with self-image, feminism and social estrangement.

Last Summer is a screen-play which has not been fully published yet. It’s explores the topic of FGM, cancer and homosexuality. The protagonist, Maisie wants to help change The Meadows to make it a better and more environmental place for people to go and plant flowers. Sareeya is Maisie’s best friend who tells her experience on FGM.

After reading the two plays ‘Pronoun’ and ‘Last Summer’, I felt more connected to a character in Pronoun called Laura. She is a very fun and goofy character and I felt as if I can relate as if this character was made for me. Also, it wasn’t as big of a part as a lead role that I had in my Drama GCSE so I was fine with it. Laura’s also a caring character to Dean especially because he’s transgender and she just wants Dean to feel comfortable with who he is.

On the other hand, reading ‘Last Summer’, I didn’t really like the play as much as I enjoyed reading Pronoun. I thought ‘Last Summer’ dragged a bit and everything serious happened in the end so I didn’t really like that. Although it had a very great story about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) which can really educate students, I just thought it was quite uncomfortable doing a play on FGM where not many people know about it whereas Pronoun is on Transgender and that is a more open topic because many people are aware of it. The characters didn’t seem as interesting to me.

 After going around in a circle and telling Rob our ideas on who we wish to perform as and in which play, Rob thought that I’d be better playing a lead role in ‘Last Summer’ as the character Maisie. At first I wasn’t sure because the character Laura seemed a better role for me but looking back at the script and reading through Maisie’s lines, I thought why not give it a shot. I think the character Maisie is a character that is connected to all the other characters in different ways such as being a best friend to Sareeya and Jas, being a daughter to Ruth and John and being a granddaughter to Grandma. However thinking about it, performing the play people will know about it and remember that my group and I were the ones who informed them on FGM.