Paulette Randall - Casting process

I think there are more and more casting directors now. Certainly when I was starting out you ended up casting shows yourself. I really like the fact that there are casting directors out there who kind of bring something else to hopefully expand your mind. Even with the best will in the world there'll be the most obvious person that you should have thought of that because it is up to you, you don't. You know, it's like organising a party and thinking 'I'm going to invite all my friends'and then your bestest friend in the whole wide world you've forgotten because, you know, it just happens. So for me it's a great part of that process, and I guess really what it is again when the casting directors read it, you've read the play, you both sit down and talk about what it is. You talk about the characters and therefore you start to get a picture of who could possibly play that part. And then you know you might have varying things; you know it might be that they think I don't they should be at least six foot tall'I imagine him as very tall slim man.' I might imagine them as someone shorter and wider, so you know we kind of start to have those kind of debates. And then you start to talk about who you think is good, regardless of what they look like. So it's a combination of all those things. Then nine times out of ten you sit and meet them and think, 'hmm got that wrong.' Or you think 'oh that was fantastic, we were spot on.' So you know it really is, it kind of shifts and moves the whole time.