Actress Emily Haigh talks about bringing the character of “Sarah” to life and her experiences working with the rest of the Sorority cast and crew.
What drew you to the script?
James effortlessly writes in such an emotional way, the story really gripped me. The story and the relationship between the characters felt so real and grounded. It was easy to empathise with them and understand what they are going through, the highs and the lows. I hadn’t really been sent a script like this before.
Tell us about the character of Sarah.
Sarah is a smart and emotional character on the cusp of finding out who she really is. She observes the world around her in fine detail and creates thought provoking texts, which really give an insight to who she is. When with her friends or her sister she feels she can truly be herself, other than that she likes to be in her own world. Her sister, Harriet, is her best friend whom she fiercely loves. It is clear that family is extremely important to her.
What was your approach in bringing her to life?
I could really relate to Sarah in so many ways and felt like I knew her after reading the script. I sat down with James where we discussed parts of her past, what I thought she would be doing when she got older and everything really! He also sent a list of music and books he thought she would read, I picked a few and added to it. I had already read a lot of the books on the list, so it was a joy to revisit some of them. Sarah and I share a lot in common, we are both observers and family is extremely important to us. I really wanted to highlight these two aspects when portraying her. Also, I had to practise my penmanship as mine is incredibly small, so that was an aspect I wasn’t expecting to have to do!
What was it like working with Sophie Kennedy Clark, Sam Gittins and Kate Dickie?
A dream. Sophie has this amazing energy and depth to her and allowed me to play with my character with no judgement. She gave me a new confidence and I look up to her in many ways. Having Kate play my mum was an incredible experience, she is so lovely, I learned so much from her. She is so present during filming, completely drawing you in, you can’t help but really listen and genuinely respond. It was wonderful to work with her. I only worked briefly with Sam on Sorority, but it was great fun even though it was an intense scene. He is extremely talented and down-to-earth guy, who was a joy to work with. I would love to work with all three again!