Back from the Northern City
It was a long day in the Northern City, but they looked after us well and fed us well - - we actors always appreciate it when we get the same food as the assessors!
I'm not really an actor of course, I'm a roleplayer. Some people who do medical roleplay for the training or assessment of health professionals come from an acting background: others from a teaching background - like me - and some from a patient background.
Some actors are brilliant roleplayers. All the people I was working with today were Proper Actors who do roles in television and theatre and such, and they're all excellent roleplayers.
Some actors, however, aren't very good at roleplay as they want it to all be about them, rather than about the learner: they spend the whole roleplay going "Look at Me!" in different ways.
Similarly, some none-actors can make great roleplayers but others don't: they aren't really capable of becoming a character other than themselves.
On to the learners, or those being assessed. One thing I've noticed about weaker candidates on any kind of assessment days is that they're so nervous that they don't really take in anything that's going on much. And the below has happened to me a few times now.
So there I am, waiting outside the room to be called in by the doctor, and out he comes, looks me up and down, and then says firmly,
"Ah, you must be Mr. Johnson. Please come in."
This doesn't generally get us off on a good footing. Now, hey, I may never wear lots of make-up and jewellery, but most people do seem able to tell at one glance that I'm not a bloke: I do have curvy bits and everything.
I'm trying to think of what I might wear tomorrow to help the candidates with this interesting gender dilemma.
I'm not really an actor of course, I'm a roleplayer. Some people who do medical roleplay for the training or assessment of health professionals come from an acting background: others from a teaching background - like me - and some from a patient background.
Some actors are brilliant roleplayers. All the people I was working with today were Proper Actors who do roles in television and theatre and such, and they're all excellent roleplayers.
Some actors, however, aren't very good at roleplay as they want it to all be about them, rather than about the learner: they spend the whole roleplay going "Look at Me!" in different ways.
Similarly, some none-actors can make great roleplayers but others don't: they aren't really capable of becoming a character other than themselves.
On to the learners, or those being assessed. One thing I've noticed about weaker candidates on any kind of assessment days is that they're so nervous that they don't really take in anything that's going on much. And the below has happened to me a few times now.
So there I am, waiting outside the room to be called in by the doctor, and out he comes, looks me up and down, and then says firmly,
"Ah, you must be Mr. Johnson. Please come in."
This doesn't generally get us off on a good footing. Now, hey, I may never wear lots of make-up and jewellery, but most people do seem able to tell at one glance that I'm not a bloke: I do have curvy bits and everything.
I'm trying to think of what I might wear tomorrow to help the candidates with this interesting gender dilemma.
posted by Daphne at 7:44 pm
5 Comments:
I've done lots of roleplays where the candidate is only given a unisex first name for the character they are about to meet (Chris, Sam, Pat, Alex, Sandy... etc). Quite often these roleplays are as part of diversity training where gender issues might be addressed.
I have often been greeted by the sometimes shocked, sometimes outraged, often accusatory opening gambit 'You're a woman!'. It is very tempting to respond by looking down at my somewhat curvy body and saying 'oh my god! so I am!'. I think I have always resisted that temptation.
As I have probably mentioned, I used to work for a large children's charity (who was fairly recently swallowed by an even larger one). I started out as a telephone counsellor and as part of the (intensive!) training we had to do role plays, back to back, one the caller and the other the listener (because it was really all about listening). The process was amazingly effective and very useful, since it was 'just' a role play and we were terrified of saying the wrong thing and killing someone. It works like a charm - those who couldn't hack the pretending were never going to make it for real. Later on, I loved it - when I got to go back and help the training groups by playing someone 'difficult' (the silent ones were pretty tough).
We had lots and lots of non-gender-specific callers - with young people it can be hard to tell, and we learned to skirt around the 'are you a boy or a girl' question. With some we never knew...
Now then matey.
I warned you not to have your hair cut and for God's sake have a shave now and then !!
I will say one thing: your job sounds a lot more interesting than a standard office job!!
It just reminds me of Dawn French in the Vicar of Dibley! ;)
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