You’ve been cast as a side character. Here are 3 tips to make your few minutes on-stage count.
If you are the type of person who did not receive enough attention from their parents in childhood and are now desperately seeking that attention in the spotlight, then you are probably familiar with this type of frustration.
You wanted to be the star of the show. To have the most stage time. To be the main face on the promo poster.
But alas… after hours of tireless audition prep, and wishful thinking…
You got cast as a side role instead.
Your dreams are crushed. Your rejection sensitivity is triggered. Your frustration is real.
Now you think to yourself, “Am I doomed to play an insignificant part that no one remembers… again?”
If you are this type of person and this does sound familiar to you, first of all, please seek help. The stage will not heal your parent issues, I guarantee you that.
Now.
Jokes aside, yes, it is a common desire among theatre enthusiasts to want to be the most prominent person in the spotlight and to receive the loudest applause.
As a result, many actors have developed a false misconception that the only roles that matter are the main ones.
Not only because side characters have objectively less stage time, but also because it feels like there just aren’t enough opportunities to do something exciting with a small role.
But worry not, because with this blog, I aim to prove you wrong ;)
Humor me this…
What would it be like to have a “Lion King” without Timon and Pumba?
A “Beauty and the Beast” without Lumière and Mrs. Potts?
A “Shrek 2” without Puss in Boots?
Do you see where I’m going with this?
Though seemingly insignificant, once you remove a side character, the story is suddenly void of… spark.
While yes, you can, in theory, have “The Lion King” without Timon and Pumba, and the plot would still work (ish?), I imagine your gut reaction to even assuming such a thing is “Hell no! Bring the goofy boys back!”
Interesting, isn’t it?
It’s almost like side characters can and do fulfill an extremely important role in a story. Bringing emotional depth and carrying important plot beats.
Contrary to what you may expect from a theatre person like myself, I actually LOVE playing side characters.
Why?
Not only is it less rehearsal time and fewer lines to learn (though admittedly, those are bonuses).
But because I believe it’s always fun as an actor to take the few minutes of the stage time you have and to come up with a creative way to utilize them.
We already know the main character will be great and memorable due to the amount of time they have to develop their story.
But how can you do the same with a side character?
In this blog, I will share with you the three tips that will, in my opinion, help you maximize the potential of your small role and make your side-character-acting a fulfilling experience.
I will support each step with examples of side characters I have acted as in WILDe Theatre. And may have won a few awards for.
So, without further ado, here are the three tips.
Tip 1 - Understand your purpose in the story
When developing the role you’ve been cast as, I encourage you to first and foremost think more deeply about your character’s purpose in the story.
There is always a reason the author created side characters, and I can assure you none of them are placed in the story “just cuz”.
Otherwise, why would they be there in the first place?
Think about it.
What theme(s) does your character represent? What narrative values do they contradict or support?
Is it to serve as an antithesis to the main character and\or to challenge their ideology?
Is it to bring a comic relief to an otherwise very dark story?
Or is it, perhaps, to highlight a certain characteristic of the world the story takes place in?
Even if you are only on-stage for a few minutes, I encourage you to treat your character as a fully fleshed-out individual with a complete backstory, a moral compass and a goal.
Example
Take Maya Wolfsheim - the character I acted as back in “The Great Gatsby the Musical”.
Up until the moment we meet Maya Wolfsheim, our understanding of the world of Gatsby is simple - it’s a world of wealth, abundance and lavish, champagne-soaked galas where everyone is rich, successful and seemingly happy.
Gatsby himself represents that dashing side of New York—his endless success stories, his well-connected network of wealthy businessmen and celebrities, his massive mansion, hell, even his amber car all point to the fact that our main character lives in a utopia of sorts.
But then… In comes Maya Wolfsheim.
A dangerous criminal who wears human teeth as jewellery and has single-handedly overturned the World Series baseball. A woman who stands behind Gatsby’s success.
It is only when we meet Maya Wolfsheim that we realize - Gatsby’s world is a facade.
A fake utopia that was built on crime, corruption and, perhaps even murder.
Maya appears on-stage for only a few minutes, yet her presence looms. Like the judging eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. Like a threatening reminder, that at any moment that beautiful facade of Jay’s successful life may fall apart like a card house.
With all of this in mind, Maya’s role in the story becomes clear - to showcase a different, darker, but also a true side to the world of Gatsby.
Maya isn’t just an evil-looking femme fatale who had that one funny interaction with Nick at Speakeasy.
She is a representation of lies and corruption that serve as the foundation of Gatsby’s fake world.
After realizing this, everything I did for Maya Wolfsheim’s character made sense and served this single purpose.
She wore a red dress because red is the color of danger - a warning and a reminder that Gatsby’s world is fragile and may fall apart (foreshadowing the end of the story).
She acts seductively but has an evil demeanor because that is what Gatsby’s world is - beautiful on the outside, corrupt on the inside.
She is heartless because Gatsby’s real world is void of love and care (nobody showed up to Gatsby's funeral when he died…).
Her musical number looked like an uncanny puppet show / a spider web because that is how the world of Gatsby works - you sell your soul to crime to gain access to wealth, but you pay a grand price of being trapped in servitude to a cold, unloving system.
And that’s how we turned a small character with less than 3 full scenes in the entire show into a fully fleshed out persona with a concrete image and a meaningful goal in the story.
The rest is cosmetics ;)
Now the next question is, how do we make the complex purpose of a side character clear to the audience in just a few minutes of stage time?
Tip 2 - Define your characters’ “archetype” and keep it simple
You have seen them in basically any story ever written.
Character archetypes.
A simple, comprehensible set of characteristics assigned to a single person.
A gentle giant who seems threatening on the outside but is actually very kind.
An incompetent ruler who holds a position of power but is yet to learn to use it.
A wise magician who guides the hero's journey.
You probably already have a few examples in your mind for each of those archetypes:
Shrek as the gentle giant.
Joffrey Baratheon as the incompetent ruler.
Gandalf as the wise magician.
Archetypes in stories exist for a reason. They are easy, recognizable patterns of behaviours or symbolic figures that are familiar to humans across cultures.
Because character archetypes are so well-known and repetitive, once an archetype is introduced, it becomes very easy for the audience to set expectations for the said character’s personality and behaviour.
We meet a giant who seems shy - we expect to witness his journey to discovering himself while being challenged by his grotesque appearance.
We come across a stubborn, bratty prince - we are thrilled to see what lessons he will learn to eventually grow into a wise, responsible ruler.
We get introduced to an old, friendly magician - we expect to hear some words of advice and showcases of wisdom.
So… how does all of this tie back to building your side character?
I believe when you only have a few minutes to tell a full story, archetypes can be a great way to showcase a very complex persona with just a few recognizable characteristics.
Sometimes even with the most basic stylistic choices and a few lines of dialogue you can establish very concrete archetypes, setting predictable expectations for the audience to follow.
Now, does that mean your side character should be void of complexity and only follow a cliche “stereotype” to be memorable?
Absolutely not.
I’m not saying “make your character fit perfectly into a strict, limited category”.
What I am saying is, try to think of ways to make your role’s motives and values as simple and as comprehensible as possible from the get-go, and let the rest of the decisions you make about this character fit that single image.
If your side character’s archetype is simple, it is a no-brainer for the audience to cheer for them when their values are endorsed and to be shocked when their values are challenged (or the other way round if it’s an antagonistic character), thus leaving a lasting impression in the show...
Example
Back in Romeo and Juliet the musical, I played a small character whom most people will barely remember from the original play scripts - Paris Capulet.
And yet I must admit it was probably one of the most entertaining roles I have ever played.
So what made Paris Capulette special from the character archetype perspective?
As discussed earlier, I started by defining my character’s role in the story, which was pretty obvious - to serve as the antithesis to both Tybalt (a man who genuinely loved Juliet but never saw her for who she really was) and Romeo (someone who not only loved Juliet but made her feel seen and understood).
Paris also “loved” Juliet, but his love, in contrast to Tybalt’s or Romeo's, was never centred around her, but rather around his own ego.
Everything he did “for her” was in truth for a selfish reason. To boost his status. To show his rich friends that he got the most beautiful girl. Perhaps even to win some adoration from Juliet’s mother ;)
With that in mind, Paris’s character archetype drew itself - a selfish spoiled man who always gets what he wants and severely overestimates his own greatness.
A “rich frat boy”, if you may. Gaston from “Beauty and the Beast” type of character.
All I needed to do next was to make it immediately clear to the audience who I was as a character.
Wear a suit and a perfectly slicked man bun and walk into a scene with a bottle of Sauvignon to show that I am a pretentious rich man.
(Imagine if, instead, I walked on-stage with a can of beer and untidy clothing… It would have made a completely different first impression, wouldn’t it?)
Flirt with literally everyone, including Juliet’s mom and the audience to show how laughably highly I think of myself.
Kiss Juliet’s hand in a practiced, exaggerated manner to show how all of this is just a performance to Paris, not a genuine act of affection.
And there we have it. In just 3 minutes of on-stage time, we plant a very specific image in the audience’s mind. A spoiled rich asshole who wants to win the main character’s heart but is destined to fail due to his arrogance.
Later on, when the audience sees Paris “lose” Juliet to Romeo, it is easy for them to laugh at my character’s pathetic downfall and to enjoy seeing him get “punished” for his selfishness.
A very simple character image with a very simple motive resulting in a hilarious and memorable sub-plot within a larger story.
Creating an archetype for Paris helped me set immediate, predictable expectations for the role without the need to go through a multiple-scene-long character-building journey.
And I invite you to do the same for your role, should you be blessed with a chance to make the most out of your few minutes of stage time.
Speaking of which, what exactly CAN you do to make your side character shine?
Tip 3 - Get creative and make a SHOW
Ok, this section has become a bit too philosophical now that I have written it, but I hope it still brings the point across.
Regardless of the type of production you participate in, I believe your sole job as performer is to create a show that leaves an impression.
It doesn’t matter if you are the main character or a dancer number five. Every person in a production serves a greater purpose - to effectively deliver the main message of the story, and to invoke emotions within the audience.
Be it to disgust them, to make them laugh, to make them feel hopeful, or sad, or philosophical, or impressed by how much can be done with the make-believe magic of the stage.
Actors are storytellers. And so are you.
Theatre is a place where things that aren’t feasible in the normal world suddenly become “real”.
A place where people collectively agree to close their eyes on the laws of physics and “accuracy” of what’s happening before their eyes and to simply let themselves enjoy the story.
For just two and a half hours, you and your cast mates are able to bring imaginary characters to life, to build a world that doesn’t exist, and to make magic possible.
And even if your role in this collective hallucination act is small, the moment you set your foot on-stage you gain the power to make literally anything real.
So, go make it happen!
The creative potential of the stage is endless. You don’t need hyper-realistic equipment to make the audience believe you are on the moon if you act like you are wearing a space suit.
You don’t need to buy special effect kits to make people think you have magic powers if you move your body through space like you are casting a spell.
What I’m trying to say is, don’t let yourself be limited to what’s written on the script.
Get creative. Use what you and your theatre already has. Brainstorm ideas with your directors and cast mates. Ask for help from the people who have the skills you need to make something happen (WILDe Theatre is very rich in talent, I remind you!)
A crazy interpretive dance to deliver an emotion of your character - why not?
A dramatic, heartbreaking monologue to reveal your character’s big secret - why not?
An oddly specific item for your costume to bring a bit of humor to your character - why not?
Hell, a swordfighting duel between you and your rival - Why. The hell. Not?
(Obviously, please consider the limits of the production as well as the budget and the safety rules, but you get what I mean.)
And finally, the most important thing of all (and this has already been said multiple times in the other authors’ pieces written in this blog series, but I will say it again) - have fun!
The energy of an actor is very contagious.
If you love your character, so will the audience.
If you are enthusiastic about the ideas you are bringing on-stage, your cast mates will be too.
If you are enjoying the small role you were given and are giving it all the love and care it deserves, the people WILL feel it.
If you had made a decision to bring yourself to theatre, it means you already have dreams, aspirations and a creative potential waiting to be freed.
I am not here to tell you what to do with your character or how to make a good show, because you already know how.
And at the end of the day, big or small, it is your character.
Your chance to shine.
Your story to tell…
In sum
If you wish to make the most out of your short time on-stage as a side character, start by clearly defining your role in the story:
The values you represent
Your relation to the world and the other characters
The message your role needs to deliver
Once your purpose in the story becomes clear, think of the most simple and identifiable way you can bring your characters’ personality across in relation to that purpose.
What “archetype” do you fit in?
What tools can you use to clearly showcase your motivations and values? (Think mannerisms, costume design, behavioral choices, props, etc.)
And finally, don’t be afraid to get creative. Think of interesting ways you can bring across your characters’ unique personality, values and beliefs. A dance? A song? A unique prop? An intense dialogue or a monologue? A fight? Use the magic of the stage to make a memorable show!
Remember, you only have a few minutes.
So, why not make those minutes count? ;)
Written by Juliana Boboshko, a veteran of WILDe, actress and a member of 4th and 5th Boards!
You can find Juliana on Instagram: @jules_the_sparrow
A Room in a House - How to "Build" a Character
You, my dear actor, are a designer. After many arduous competitions with other incredible constructors and architects, you have been chosen to decorate a beautiful room in a house.
The foundations of the house are already there. The blueprints of the building were drawn centuries ago by the most famous builders of their time. Everyone knows what the house is supposed to look like, in theory. It has been copied again and again all over the world, with the same white walls and pointed roofs. On the outside, there are dozens of replicas of the exact same house.
On the inside, there is a common understanding of where each room is supposed to be: the kitchen is on the left, next to the living room. The bathroom is connected to the main suite. There is a garden outside the house that reaches out to the street, where you can say hello to those passing by.
However, each room can be decorated in its own original way. How you choose to decorate is up to you. But how do you do that, exactly? You have been given an empty box, and it is your job to fill it and present it in a way that feels uniform with the rest of the house. So how can you make this room truly yours?
The first thing you need to know is what the room is for. What is the purpose of the room? What's the reason it was put there?
To answer that, it's important to know what kind of house is being built: A modern apartment? A cottage in the woods? A Victorian manor? Your "guests" need to be able to tell this just by the interior design, so that's what you'll need to focus on when choosing your furniture.
It always helps to do research into the setting. This is not just about the inside of the house — the time and location where things take place, the political issues of the time, the kinds of clothing worn — but also the house's history. Who created the blueprints? Most writers — oops, sorry, "architects" — bring in messages and conflicts from their own life into their creations, so it's vital to understand what lessons or themes they wanted to present at the start.
When you're focusing on one room, try to summarize its purpose in one sentence: the kitchen is where you eat, the bedroom is where you sleep, the basement is where you hide the secrets. Each room has a meaning, both for the guests and for the house itself, and this helps give you a straightforward direction for what you're here to do.
If you're decorating the living room, you have a big task! This is the first thing that guests will see. First impressions are very important. It sets up the shape of the house, connecting to each and every other room. This is your main space, the lead, where guests will spend most of their time — so it needs to show the house's purpose immediately. Sometimes, there's a monologue printed on the wall or an "I want" song playing on the radio that spells it out plainly for you. Regardless, the designer still has to know what these goals are, and the house's structure follows along the pursuit of those goals.
Remember: your room has to be interesting, not beautiful. It doesn't matter if it's good or bad, evil or saintly, logical or insane. Every home has its eccentricities. Sometimes there's a broken antenna on the old TV, but that's still a part of the house. It needs to be there at that specific angle for the signal to work. You don't have to clean it or fix it. As long as it's possible to peek through the window into someone's life, people will be curious to walk in. Open your doors. Let guests see into every dusty nook and cranny: especially the ones that aren't so pleasant.
On top of all this, there is a very important question that people forget to ask themselves:
Why?
You know the living room has a sofa, a carpet, a coffee table, a shelf, and a TV. That's fine — anyone can shove the cheapest furniture they find at IKEA in a reasonable arrangement and call that a living room. However, if you really want to take up space, create something genuinely appealing that people will actually call home, you have to ask what those things are trying to achieve.
You need a coffee table because you need an easy place to put things down. That's straightforward enough — but maybe, you know that there was once a fight in the living room. The coffee table might've once been made out of glass, but now it has been changed to a harder wood to keep people safe. Maybe there are still fragments of that fight embedded in the floorboards, that you scrub and broom but they never go away. Do you want to seem simplistic, contained, and keep to minimalistic decorations? If so, you put a basic white vase right in the middle of the table — but it's left empty, because you've never received a bouquet from a friend before. Or maybe you want to appear gentle and caring, placing a little crocheted runner with embroidered blue flowers? Those flowers could be forget-me-nots, so guests never forget what actually happened to the original glass table.
You must see the same types of little choices in your own house. You surely have a charger you always keep next to the couch because one time someone needed it and it's now a permanent fixture; a slight stain on your bedsheets because your best friend spilled wine on it and you were never able to wash it off; a lightbulb that went out and you spent months trying to find the replacement but never could. It's not the best, or healthiest, decision to replicate your room exactly, but it always helps to take some inspiration from your own experiences to have ideas.
There is so much you can do with a simple space just by asking yourself what caused things to be the way that they are. When guests only catch one small glimpse, they don't need to have the complete story of someone's life, but they at least need to understand why the room is there, and why it's decorated the way it is. As the designer, you get to decide what parts of the story you want to show. You create the meaning behind every decision.
But importantly, a room does not exist on its own. Even the most amazingly decorated living room is useless if it has no hallways to connect to. You have to ask yourself: how does your room relate to the rest of the house?
What do you give to the neighboring rooms? Perhaps your space brings warmth from the fireplace, perhaps you complete each other like a bedroom and a walk-in closet. Perhaps it offers rest after a long journey through the house, or perhaps it disrupts the calm and forces guests to rethink what they’ve seen so far. Maybe colors bleed through the doorways, or noise might echo through the walls. In many ways, every room both shapes and is shaped by the ones around it.
Contrast and parallel are both important to consider. Some rooms are built to complement one another: the warm kitchen next to the lively dining room, the quiet study tucked away near the library. What do they offer each other, at the end of the day? What they agree on, what they learn from each other, and what they represent? Still, it's important to know what makes them different — what makes them distinct from each other? If they are too similar, you might as well take down the walls and turn them into just one larger room. If they are separate, there must be reasons why. What makes them separate?
Other rooms are deliberately placed to oppose each other, but even extremes still have things in common. The attic is upstairs with the most important family memories, open to a gorgeous sunroof. The basement is dark, shadowed, and grimy, left behind with pipes and rats. Despite being on the literal opposing side of the house, they are fundamentally similar — they both are dusty. They see the house changing while they stay stagnant, left forgotten behind closed, trapped doors.
Look closer, and you may find similarities hidden beneath the surface: perhaps both rooms serve the same purpose in different ways, or perhaps they were designed by the same hand, reflecting the same fears or hopes. There's still a lot they hold inside that is functionally the same, even if architects act upon them differently.
Some rooms transform dramatically as the house ages. The nursery becomes a bedroom, the workshop becomes an office, and the kitchen gets updated with a brand new fridge. These rooms undergo renovations to help reach those overarching goals. As a designer, it's important to ask yourself where the room starts when the house's doors are first opened, and how it changes as the guests go through it. Furniture moves, walls are repainted, and windows are opened that were once shut tight. How do you want the room to end up, and in what state is it in after the guests have left?
Other rooms remain mostly the same. Their role is not to change, but to give the rest of the house context. A stable room can act as a reference point — a place that shows how much everything else has shifted. Even without transforming or going through an arc, it can influence the transformation of the spaces around it. It serves its purpose, and that's never a bad thing.
Sometimes you're not tasked with decorating the living room, or the kitchen, or the evil basement. Sometimes you're just a storage closet. That's okay! It's just as important as any other room, and all these guidelines still apply. The house was built to include that storage closet for a reason. If you know those reasons well, you can still do the same kind of work. Even if the guests are with you for less time, they'll notice if you put effort into making it a very impactful and interconnected storage closet.
At the end of the day, the house does not belong to the designers alone. It belongs to the people who walk through it, the construction company, the team that set the land, the people who bought the paint, and the engineers who fixed the pipes.
You are not building the entire house. You are not even defining the walls that surround you. But within the small box you have been given, your decisions can give a very different impression of the house as a whole. Think about who passes through your door, what they bring, and what they should take away with them when they leave.
So ask yourself these questions, be creative, and put on a show. Most importantly of all, have fun! People will notice, and they'll have fun with you! Nobody will remember old blueprints or any nitpicky little flaws — they'll remember the rooms that felt alive.
Written by Ana Clara Martins, a dedicated Writing & Marketing Committee member!
You can find Ana Clara on Instagram: @anaa.logy
Theatre in Late-Stage Capitalism
Theater has always been a fragile art form. It requires lots of time, effort and a bunch of people willing to believe in a story together. In a world increasingly built for convenience and profit, that might be exactly why it still matters.
Written by Joy Roelandschap, a dedicated Writing Committee member.
The Comedy of Being Human: Interview with Directors
For the first time in forever, WILDe is giving up its classic winter play concept for a split bill: three short plays for the price of one! This March 2026 (not technically winter, but let’s not dwell on that), we present The Comedy of Being Human: an evening of three short plays by world-renowned American playwrights David Ives and Christopher Durang.
Through wildly different stories, this comedy-filled night explores familiar questions: what does it mean to be human? How do we love, dream, and occasionally lose complete control?
The programme brings together three delightfully contrasting comedies. Mere Mortals offers a soulful construction-worker confessional, Soap Opera tells the lightly unhinged story of someone falling in love with a washing machine, and The Actor’s Nightmare delivers an absurdist tale of an accountant suddenly thrust into a leading role.
We sat down with the directors of Soap Opera and The Actor’s Nightmare, who generously took time out of their busy schedules to share more about the rehearsal process - and why you definitely shouldn’t miss this show.
SOAP OPERA
Placed in the middle of the program, Soap Opera is certainly not the average show.
Written by world-renowned playwright David Ives, Soap Opera is a story about love: a very special kind of love. When a washing machine repairman falls for the machine he’s meant to fix, an absurd yet heartfelt romance unfolds. This show is perfect for anyone who has ever had a love-hate relationship with doing laundry, despised the typical stepsister trope or simply enjoyed playing Date Everything (if the play evokes a certain feeling in you, you should definitely check it out).
El, the director putting together the rowdy romance, is sharing a few words about what it’s like directing such a kooky show, with a no doubt even more kooky cast.
Q: How is Soap Opera going from a director's POV?
El, director: It is going fine! We are currently in the state of taking care of production stuff. We are a bit short on time, but we are handling it! From a director’s point of view, it’s been going really well. My actors understand the directions well, there are people in the cast I can rely on, they are very involved and they seem like they are enjoying the process. It was also a little chiller than other productions, because we have rehearsals only once a week. So yeah, it’s been going well!
Q: What was the most rewarding moment in the production process?
El: Probably seeing it come together and seeing my actors understanding the point of the play and finding some things I didn’t notice. We had a discussion where we sat down and looked through the script, and we talked about what the actors found funny, what their favorite moment of the script was, how they understood their characters and hypotheticals of how the characters would behave in different settings. It was really nice to see that they get the play in the same way I do, and sometimes even find new moments that I didn’t see before!
Q: What is your overall rehearsal process like from first read-through to now?
El: It started with reading the script and doing a couple exercises. Then, we were running the script scene by scene, mostly based on the combination of actors. For example, we ran some scenes with one set of characters, but not with the other. As the process kept going, we brought them together, and now we’re just basically doing the overall runs of the script. We went off-script after the Christmas break, so now we have a finished product!
Q: To address the appliance in the room... How are you dealing with the washing machine from a production POV?
El: The washing machine is currently being made by Pavani in WDKA! We were planning to make it out of wood, but then things happened, and we can’t do that anymore. So now we are making it out of cardboard! It will be painted over, and might be a little unstable, but we are really hopeful that it’s going to work out. The issue is that there is supposed to be someone inside the washing machine, so that is a little more difficult… but we are gonna deal with it!
Q: What do you hope the audience takes away from experiencing Soap Opera?
El: Soap Opera is a very funny play, so my main expectation is for the audience to laugh a lot! There are a lot of jokes and different tools in the script: some wordplay, some references, some very blunt acting choices - so I really hope that they will laugh at not just the script, but also at the way we act it out. At the same time, I hope it brings out some sweet experiences, because the main point of the play is to not chase perfection, but notice the beauty in the mundane. I hope this gets through to the audience!
THE ACTOR’S NIGHTMARE
The Actor's Nightmare is the final of the 3 plays you will see during performance.
Written by world-renowned playwright Cristopher Durang, The Actor’s Nightmare is a bizarre and surreal comedy about the struggles of acting. The unhinged triplet of the set, it’s delivering on the worst fears of a theatre kid (failing on stage) and of a normal functioning member of society (being on stage in the first place).
We sat down with the powerhouse duo that stepped in at the last minute to steer the wheel. Lucas & Sinem, a dynamic director pair, share a little bit of what makes The Actor’s Nightmare so nightmarish.
Q: What emotions and themes can we expect from The Actor's Nightmare?
Lucas, co-director: The Actor's Nightmare is a comedy first and foremost, of course. It is very, very funny, it is humorous, but it is also very surreal. It is a very strange play, at times even a little unsettling, especially towards the end, but it is a comedy first!
Sinem, co-director: The Actor's Nightmare reminds us, in a fun and familiar way, of the mixed feelings of surprise and fear that come with being in an unfamiliar place - a feeling almost everyone has experienced at least once.
Q: Give us a quick idea of your rehearsal planning & process. How did it start, and how's it going?
Lucas: The rehearsal process is a little bit messy, just because I came onto the project very late. As you may know, they lost a director midway through and didn’t really have a lot of stuff done yet, so I stepped in as a sort of emergency because those problems needed to be solved very quickly. Right now it’s going a lot better than I first expected, but I do also feel a little more rushed than the other directors of the plays!
Q: As an actor, how do you feel about the show and what it has to say?
Lucas: I do like how The Actor’s Nightmare manages to pick out and make fun of certain stereotypes and cliches within acting & theatre in general. I also enjoy that, at least to me, it doesn’t have a much deeper meaning than that! It is much more focused on doing this and being funny, and doesn’t have a super deep secondary meaning.
Sinem: Regarding the show time, first of all, personally, I'm excited because it's the first English-language play I've been involved in directing, and because I'm working with such a young and dedicated team. As for the team, despite their busy schedules, everyone is doing their best to make the show a success.
Q: What are your actors like? How is the cast approaching their roles?
Lucas: The actors are doing a very good job! They are responding to feedback very well, and especially for how quickly we had to get into this, I think they are doing very well! It is a very difficult play to act in, just because of how surreal it is at times, especially for the main character, George. It is a very special type of role that you definitely need a lot of talent for, and not something easy to play!
Sinem: Although the actors sometimes feel tired and low on energy due to their busy schedules, I think they do their best to focus on their roles, and they are very supportive of us even in the costume and creative processes, eagerly asking questions and adding their own creativity to approach their roles. The lines sometimes scare them because they have other active roles, but I think they will overcome that :)
Q: Are you ready for showtime? :)
Lucas: We aren’t ready for showtime just yet*. There are still some things that production has to get us, there are still a couple of lines to fully memorize and some bits and pieces to make right. But on our current timeline, I’m pretty confident that we will be very ready once the date rolls around, and we are very excited for it!
*Ed. note: this interview was taken on 16.02.2026 - the cast is definitely adding the finishing touches by now!
Sinem: Ahhh, you can never really feel completely ready for the show :) And that's perhaps the most magical and exciting part of it ;) I can only say that we'll be close to feeling ready when a few small details fall into place :) We'll all see together on the night of the show. But before each performance, we really won't feel ready until it's over :)
The clock is ticking, and the seating capacity is dwindling fast! So don’t delay and purchase your ticket now:
https://studiumgenerale.stager.co/shop/wilde
And we will see you soon, beautiful and human life stories in tow, in Erasmus Pavilion!
Written by Anna Galtsova, a dedicated Writing Committee member!
You can find Anna on Instagram: @gal.tsova