Playing Cinderella’s father in his first Chichester Festival Youth Theatre show

SussexWorld

Dilshad Yilmaz will be Cinderella’s father in his first Chichester Festival Youth Theatre show this Christmas.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers and I'm always

00:07fabulous to speak to the members of Chisholm Special Year Youth Theatre about the Christmas

00:11production, which is always such a special event of the year. This year it's Cinderella

00:16and it's my pleasure to speak to Cinderella's father, Dilshad. Now, what a fantastic role.

00:22What would you make of Cinderella's father? Because it's quite a challenging role, isn't it?

00:27Oh, it definitely is. He's a character with a lot of emotional background and he's, in the

00:34beginning, he's very happy, very cheerful, quite paternal, quite loving, but then, of which an

00:43event happens, something to his wife, and then we see his character kind of go into feelings of grief

00:51and he kind of shuts away and his whole life becomes a big mess.

00:58Yeah. And when you were describing this, I was thinking, well, how brave to go on stage and to

01:03show these emotions. What are you calling on yourself to be able to do this then? And why

01:09are you doing it? Because it's something, it's a character of which I've never really explored.

01:17It's emotional. You've used up the happy ones, haven't you?

01:19Oh, yes. I usually play, from what I've done, I usually play the happy, kind of ecstatic,

01:25jokey character, if that makes sense. And it's just emotions of which I've never really played

01:33and a character that I've never really explored, of which I really need to. And I think this is

01:39a great thing because it's taking me out of my comfort zone as an actor, as a performer.

01:44And it's a fun role too.

01:46So this really is acting, isn't it?

01:48Yeah, it really is.

01:52And it's potentially leading you to a career on the stage. That's what you would like to do,

01:56isn't it?

01:57Yes. I hope to go on to do performing arts, musical theatre in the future. It's always

02:04been a passion of mine.

02:05Oh, good luck with that. And you were saying something so interesting just now,

02:08that part of the attraction of it is the danger. What do you mean by the danger there in that

02:14context?

02:16So it's kind of, when playing with emotions, it becomes kind of real at a time. You're

02:27diving into potentially true stories. If there is someone, I know it's exaggerated,

02:34and it's for a Christmas performance, but it's potentially true feelings. It's

02:40someone out there has probably experienced that. And it's to bring yourself to kind of,

02:45to make it look real, you have to put yourself into those shoes. And you actually have to

02:53feel it properly. You have to convince yourself. And that's what's dangerous about it,

02:58to me personally.

03:00Absolutely. And the really intriguing thing is you've been with the Youth Theatre for

03:03five years or so, but this is your first big Christmas production.

03:08Yes, yes, it is. It is, yeah. I don't know why I've been with the theatre for,

03:15as you said, for five years, but this is my first one doing it. I think...

03:20It's just the time felt right, clearly.

03:23Time felt right, yes. You know, I've matured since then, obviously. So it's,

03:28I think it's a good time.

03:29Absolutely. And a big undertaking at Christmas while the rest of us are sitting back relaxing,

03:34you're going to be working hard, aren't you?

03:36I'll be asleep on Christmas Day, I'll tell you that.

03:40You won't, won't you? We won't.

03:42No, no, yeah. It's, it is, yeah. But it's fun because I like to keep busy personally. And

03:49you'll be with people at Christmas, you know, it's like a big kind of family kind of thing,

03:53you know. You're with friends that turn into more than good friends, you know. And it's just,

03:59it still feels like Christmas because you're with people. It's a job, but it's a wonderful job.

04:06Absolutely. And what a thing to be able to put on your CV when, in a couple of years' time,

04:11you start thinking about drama school. That's going to look good, isn't it?

04:14Yes, definitely. Definitely, definitely. It will. It's because, you know,

04:19Titus Festival Theatre, when I'd been with them, I knew that they were known for their

04:25amazing performances, you know. And I wanted to be part of one and thank goodness I am now.

04:31Well, congratulations on achieving that. Good luck with drama school when you come to it.

04:36Thank you very much.

04:37Have a great time. Looking forward to seeing the show. Thank you.

04:40Yes.

Category

Transcript

Recommended