Roy Soh - King Herod

25 year old (or so he says but we all doubt it) Roy Soh breezes through this interview with an air of confidence and self-assurance. At the end of it all, I am left almost breathless …in fear and trembling. But he ain’t so bad - he offered me grapes!

Tell us a little about yourself.

I'm a teacher by day and an accomplished theatre performer at night, especially when everyone's asleep! I like to think that I'm rather athletic (look past the size, people!) and I enjoy playing sports and various card games (not tai dee, but cool games like Citadels). All in all, I think of myself as a fun-loving, gregarious, idiosyncratic individual who enjoy making others laugh.

Have you had past experiences in a musical or drama production?

Well, I took Theatre Studies and Drama as an A Level subject (don't ask what grade I got!) and I've had the opportunity to perform in front of actual audiences (more than 5 persons throwing peanuts at you) and even play games in front of close to a thousand people. Plus, in my job, I have gotten used to addressing the whole school during Assembly and giving Value Talks and the like. So it's safe to say I don't get stage fright easily. Unless of course lots of people are throwing stuff at me when I get on stage.

*note to reader: Summon the peanuts! *

What made you agree to playing the role of King Herod?

Well, I do enjoy performing and I've had the opportunity to perform this musical on two Mission Trips to Thailand and Indonesia, which means that I'm already very familiar with the script. Of course, the chance to bring the real Christmas Story to an audience that may not already know it was a very good reason in itself. That plus Bridget's promise of a more meaty role and a share of whatever profits the musical makes.

* More peanuts!!! *

What does your role require of you?

As King Herod, I've got to be this scheming, egomaniacal, so-mean-he's-willing-to-kill-babies, paranoid jerk who plots to kill Jesus Christ Himself. As you can tell, it's a complete, total, absolute departure from my warm, amiable, gentle, loving self. So it takes a lot for me to get into character - lots of preparation, character study, beat-up-some-people-first-to-get-into-the-mood stuff. It's tough being so bad, although it does get fun, but I think it's worthwhile in the end. Opening Night would be unbelievable.

If you had the choice of playing the role of another character, who would it be and why?

I would love to have a shot at playing Ah Beng, simply because he's just so different from me as well, but I simply love playing King Herod.

How do you prepare yourself before you go on stage/perform?

I run around the dressing room (I hope there is one) naked to get my energy up, beat up some random people to get into the role, then breathe in deeply forty seven times - not more, not less.

One quirky habit of yours:

I enjoy stepping on cockroaches whenever I see them and hearing them go snap, crackle and pop (not necessarily in that order) under my feet!

One word to describe yourself:

JUSTINCREDIBLE