Zara Speaks!
(
27/01/2009)
Actress Laura Doddington has appeared in many stage and radio plays, and on TV has been seen in
The Bill,
Doctors and as PC Wood in
Prime Suspect: The Final Act. After attending auditions, Laura was cast in the Key 2 Time season as Zara, one of two sentient beings created to track down the hidden segments of the device.
We held auditions for the roles of Amy and Zara at the start of 2008. How did you find that whole process?Quite nerve racking to begin with! You were running a little behind so I got to see the competition and it’s safe to say I am glad this was an audio – had it been TV I wouldn’t have stood a chance. Lots of very beautiful ladies!
Also at the time I was reading for both roles, I felt I was right for Zara but wanted to give Amy my best shot. The actual audition was a really nice audition! And it’s not often I can say that, nerves usually get the better of me. But I felt prepared and you were all really relaxed witch helps a lot! Then the rest is bit of a blur – I always get the jobs if I don’t remember much of the audition!
You seemed to have fun with the character at the audition. Was that important to you?Absolutely! An actor once gave me the best advice ever, “They are called plays for a reason – play’ I kind of really took it to heart and have lived my whole professional life by it. If you play there is no real fear of getting it wrong, it becomes so much easier to take direction and to alter your performance however the director asks you to.
You struck up a great rapport with Ciara Janson, who plays your Tracer-sister Amy. Did that happen pretty instantly?Yeah kind of – our voices worked well together – which to be honest really helps as you are working well in the audition together. But we get on really well – it’s always lovely when you do a job and make a lovely friend on the way!
What was it like working with Peter Davison as the Doctor?Fantastic. He has a honey voice which I just loved to listen to and he keeps the green room alive! He is a brilliant story teller and really funny.
We recorded the three Key 2 Time stories out of order, doing the end before the beginning. That must have been confusing for everyone?Yes it was a little but not that uncommon. I have done quite a few Radio 4 Plays and they sometimes jump from scene to scene depending on actors availability etc. The difficulty came from remembering half way through where you had been where you were going etc! But as you guys were on top of that I could just ask!
After recording the Key to Time stories you came back to do The Prisoner's Dilemma for The Companion Chronicles. How would you compare working in a monologue format compared to a full cast play? Did it allow you to dig more into Zara's thought processes?To be honest it was a very similar process. As we recorded The Key 2 Time out of order you had to really be on top of the script. The difference was probably how focused you are in between takes though!
I seem to remember you saying at the time you grew up watching Sophie Aldred as Ace on TV...Ha ha yes I did! I could never make it through a whole episode as I was a very sensitive soul back then! But I really wanted to be Ace, I thought she was brilliant. Sophie was so great to work with as well, so no childhood illusions were shattered!
You attended your first Doctor Who convention recently in Chicago. How was that?Amazing! I simply had no idea there was that much love for
Doctor Who across the pond. It opened up a whole new side of this job to me that I had never even imagined! It was a lot of fun too!
Doctor Who: The Key 2 Time - The Judgement of Isskar and Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles - The Prisoner’s Dilemma are available to order on this website.
Doctor Who: The Key 2 Time - The Chaos Pool is released in March.