Playing Cross Gender

By Lauren Pilat

Felicity Huffman did it in Transamerica, John Travolta did it in Hairspray, and now one of Perth’s young and talented up and coming actresses is doing it too.

Charlotte Devenport is playing a role of the opposite sex in a new University Dramatic Society (UDS) play Penny Black.

The 18-year-old university student said playing a man is really hard but it’s not the first male role she’s had.

“I went to an all girl high school so I was kind of use to it because for drama you’d have to play boys all the time,” she said.

“However this is very different because everyone else is cast to their gender so there’s nobody else playing cross gender, it’s just me.

“I find that quite difficult, it’s a bit of a challenge.”

Miss Devenport said she’s met the challenge of playing a man by studying lots of adaptations of Oscar Wilde films.  She admits the costume does help to get her into character as well.

The WAAPA graduate speaks admirably of Gerald Lillywhite, the playwright, who’s a newcomer to live theatre productions.

“The playwright is phenomenal, he’s definitely an up and comer,” Miss Devenport said.

“He’s only about 22 and it’s the first time he’s ever written a play, he’s a screenwriter most of the time.

“It’s amazing to see it come out of a 22-year-old.”

Penny Black is a very dramatic Victorian piece which has lots of twists and turns with some tragedies.

“It’s about two brothers, ones played by Angus (Willoughby) and ones played by James Marzec,” Miss Devenport said.

“They’re the main characters and they’re two orphans off the street.

“They are adopted by an upper class man who dies and leaves the estate to them and they end up having to manage everything.”

The UWA arts student admits it should be interesting because Penny Black is very different from any play UDS has presented in the past.

“It’s very ambitious for what UDS usually do which are more light hearted things,” she said.

“It should be interesting to see how they handle this kind of thing.”

Miss Devenport has worked with UDS before in an original musical called The Devil Downtown, and she’s been in a lot of school plays over the years but she’ll be in her first professional production next year.

The aspiring young actress has been immersed in the arts since she was very little, both her mother and brother are professional performers in Perth.

“It’s been completely shoved done my throat from a young age and that’s been really good I think,” Miss Devenport said.

“I just want to be a professional actor.”

But in the meantime the enthusiastic young actress is more than happy to be a part of plays that stretch her talents as a live theatre performer like Penny Black does.

“I just want to convey that I’m not trying to be a man, I need people to accept that I am a woman and that I’m playing a man,” she said.

“It’s an androgynous thing.”

‘Penny Black’ debuts on August 31 at 7:30pm and will run through to September 4 at the Dolphin Theatre.  Tickets are $14.

For booking information email info@bocsticketing.com.au or call 9238 9567.

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