Mandeep Dhillon has been popping up with increasing frequency on the BBC in recent years, and is probably best known for playing Saz in the BBC3 comedy series, Some Girls, about a group of four, young female school friends.
She is currently in rehearsals for a stage version of Anita and Me, a British comedy-drama based on the book by Meera Syal, which opens at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre this month, before moving onto Theatre Royal Stratford East at the end of this month.
The new production of Anita and Me sees Dhillon playing the lead role of Meena, Glass caught up with her during her tea-break to hear about how rehearsals are going, her favourite roles to date, and falling into comedy.
Mandeep Dhillon. Photographed by Justin Van Vliet
How are rehearsals going and can you tell us a bit about your lead role in Anita and Me?
It’s really exciting being in rehearsals, we’re in our second week and it’s already come along so much … music is involved in this role, so singing, and that’s definitely a challenge I’m really enjoying!
I play Meena, a 13-year-old girl, who is born and raised in Tollington, the Black Country. It’s about her finding herself really, among all of her friends, who are British, and she kind of wants to be them, she wants to be like them, she wants to be blonde, she wants to fit in.
It’s about her finding her feet at that age. It’s set in 1972, and it portrays quite a complicated friendship in that its not always really a friendship, Anita is a bit of a bully, and doesn’t always behave like a friend to Meena. But Meena is in awe of her and just wants to be her best friend. The story also touches on racism back in the ‘70s.
Mandeep Dhillon. Photographed by Justin Van Vliet
We’ve seen you in a great deal of comedy roles in recent years, do you see yourself as a comedy actress?
I never saw myself doing comedy at all. I didn’t know I could do comedy until i’d done it and then I was like – oh, ok people find this funny … So no, I never set out to be an actress who does comedy, but I’m very grateful that I can do it because it’s so much fun.
I love doing serious stuff too, stuff I can really get my teeth into … I would love to do something that challenges me both mentally and physically – where you physically become a character and have to train.
Mandeep Dhillon. Photographed by Justin Van Vliet
Of all the characters you’ve played, who have you most enjoyed playing so far?
I mean the character I’ve enjoyed playing the most so far has to be Saz from Some Girls. She’s a bit cray and that what’s I love about playing her. She’s kind of socially inept, with all of her insecurities but she is still always – her. She doesn’t hide away from what she is.
She’s the character people stop me in the street for, they seem to relate to her so much, and I didn’t expect that at all. People relate to her craziness I think, and you do have lots of those feelings at that age, you’re finding your feet. It’s ok to not be ok, and I think Saz portrays that completely.
Mandeep Dhillon. Photographed by Justin Van Vliet
What has been your most difficult role to date?
I’ve done something recently with the boys [Heydon Prowse and Jolyon Rubinstein] for The Revolution Will Be Televised, with BB3 to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, and that was all improv. Improv’s really challenging and really fun, but it was the politics side of it that was most challenging for me, having to research and act as if I knew what I was talking about.
Mandeep Dhillon. Photographed by Justin Van Vliet
So how does it work with improvised comedy, do you end up doing many more takes?
You might do a lot of takes – I mean you have a gist of what you need to get out of it but sometimes you’ll do lots of takes and sometimes you’ll just do one and they’ll go – brilliant, we don’t need anything else. I think the thing about improv is that when everyone’s giving everything, you often end up getting things that you wouldn’t if it was scripted.
Mandeep Dhillon. Photographed by Justin Van Vliet
How did you get into acting?
When I was younger I used to absolutely love making up little plays, and throughout school I always did drama. There was nothing really around where I lived, in Hertfordshire, so I ended up emailing agencies and eventually one got back to me.
I went to some workshops and the agent put me on her books. By that time I was in college doing performing arts, and I remember getting my first film for BBC3 called Some Dogs Bite … and that was it! By the time I was meant to be applying for drama school, I was filming, and so I just thought, “well maybe I’ll carry on and see how it goes”.
by Tara Wheeler
Photographs by Justin van Vliet
Mandeep Dhillon stars in Anita and Me at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre from October 9 – 24, and then at Theatre Royal Stratford East, from October 29 – November 21