My dream roles

Embracing the joy of acting and being delusional

As I’m currently knee-deep in rehearsals for Macbeth, I’ve been thinking a lot about my acting journey and the types of roles I might like to play one day.

Throughout Macbeth, I’ve felt really grateful that Lady Macduff has so much depth to her. While she might be a small role, she’s a complicated person with big feelings and she has a direct impact on the events of the play. The story wouldn’t be the same without her.

She’s definitely an upgrade from some of the roles I had in high school theatre. She has a name and a backstory. She even has a Wikipedia page! That’s pretty cool.

But as much as I love Lady Macduff, she was not on my list of dream roles. 

Most actors have a list of dream roles in their head: the kinds of roles that you would be so lucky to get to play in your lifetime. Maybe it’s a famous role, it’s got an iconic song, it’s from your favourite play or it just feels like a role you were born to play.

I used to dislike this question—I can’t think of many roles made for a Vietnamese Australian actress, so the ‘born to play’ aspect has never felt possible to me—but the joy I have felt returning to acting this year has given me the confidence to dream a little bigger than I have in the past. While none of the roles on this list were specifically written for Asian women, I don't think it's a coincidence that a lot of them have been played by Asian women.

I have crafted this list with a semi-delusional mindset. I’ve left off the roles I could never play (e.g. Simba in The Lion King) and roles I definitely could never sing (e.g. Belle in Beauty and the Beast). But if I could see myself maybe getting there one day, I’ve included it. They’re called ‘dream roles’, after all! I reckon I can be a little bit out there.

Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy by William Shakespeare which follows two romantic pairings subject to tricks and rumours: Claudio is tricked into believing that Hero has been unfaithful and enemies Beatrice and Benedick are tricked into believing that the other secretly loves them. All this is observed by the plucky and weird neighbourhood watch who might just save the day.

Much Ado About Nothing505 is my favourite Shakespeare play and potentially my favourite play of all time. I'd happily be a servant in this play. But, if I'm dreaming, then I'd love to play Beatrice. She's bold, brash, unapologetic, witty and funny. She'd be so much fun to bring to life.0505555550555055516055