A dual role (also known as a double role) refers to one actor playing two roles in a single production. Dual roles (or a larger number of roles for an actor) may be deliberately written into a script, or may instead be a choice made during production, often due to a low budget. In film and television, dual roles are often used for comic effect, or to depict identical twins or relatives. In a theatrical production where more than one actor plays multiple characters, it is sometimes referred to as an "Ironman" cast.
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Theatre
In theatre, the use of multiple roles may be budget-related, may be intended to give an accomplished actor more stage time or a greater challenge, or may be of thematic significance to the story. The combination of factors leading to such a decision may often remain unknown. For example, debate exists over the significance of William Shakespeare's use of dual roles, with a notable example being whether the characters of Cordelia and the Fool in King Lear were intended to be one and the same, or whether the mysterious Third Murderer in Macbeth is actually Macbeth himself.[1][2]
In television, soap operas have commonly used the technique to either portray twins (or even similar looking relatives), or to bring back an actor whose character has been killed. [citation needed] As an example, Denise Crosby's character, Tasha Yar is killed off in the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation and another character was created to bring back Crosby in the third season.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Dual_role, and is written by contributors.
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