Best Of

So I'm studying theatre at uni and I want to bring in my academic insights as we've learned a lot about casting etc.

Essentially they cast the best personality to fit the role that the writer created.

Things like sexuality of a role will only come into it if it's between two actors who are both precisely what they are after - then they'll hire the one that is the closest to identify in real life.

But it's important to remember that the whole point of acting is just that. It's playing a role that's outside of yourself. You're becoming a new person to fit a role or character. It's done all the time.

Just look at Tracy Beaker and The Dumping Ground. None of the actors grew up or spent time in care, yet they portray their characters so well that you'd think they did. You have characters portraying that their family is dead or that they were abused.

It's important not to get upset when a straight person is cast over a gay person for a gay role. This is because they will have had the best audition, and fitted best with how they wanted the role portrayed. Same if it was a gay person being cast for a straight role.

Acting is all about being different characters, there's no point playing characters that best match you in real life, because then you're blurring the lines between acting and not acting

As long as they play the part well, I don't mind who it is

I dont see the problem gay actors are made to play straight ones all the time. also how do we know someone isn't gay or maybe bi maybe they are in the closet, and they want to explore. I feel its unfair to restrict roles like that. Ofc a gay actor may enjoy playing a gay character more or portray it better. It depends on the context and whats being portrayed.

I won't pretend that I'm not a sucker for Darren Criss' portrayal of Blaine Anderson in Glee, however I know it's quite a contentious topic as this can prevent gay people from obtaining roles in movies and shows. This has become such an important topic that different actors have expressed regret at playing a gay character as they have taken the opportunity away from another actor.

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/12/darren-criss-gay-characters

I wanted to know what people thought, especially because I saw a cool take I hadn't thought of before, if we stopped straight actors from playing gay characters, then any closeted actor might not be able to play a role they really want without outing themselves (e.g., if they weren't ready to come out publicly/didn't want to).

Please be kind and help me to hear your opinions and such xx

I've seen a lot of different discourse and discussions about this and topics similar to this, and I just thought it would be cool to gain some different perspectives from everyone. I truly hope this does not upset anyone, if so please feel free to let me know and I can take the discussion down of course! We might have different thoughts and/or different rationales but I'd grateful to hear from anyone?