When con artist Sarah Manning (Tatiana Maslany) steals the identify of her lookalike, Beth Childs, little does she realise the Pandora’s box she has just opened. Debashine Thangevelo found out about the Canadian actress’s tricky role of playing several characters in Lifetime’s new high-octane sci-fi thriller, Orphan Black, where she finds herself thrust into a dark and dangerous world inhabited by secret organisations, cover-ups and human clones…
TATIANA Maslany may not be widely known yet – but by the end of season one of Orphan Black, she will be a household name the world over.
That she lost out on the Best Actress – Television Drama Series honours to Robin Wright (House of Cards) at this year’s Golden Globe Awards, talks to her mettle as an actress.
The 28-year-old has been carefully planting her footprints in film and television with roles in The Vow, Picture Day, Blood Pressure, Cas & Dylan while bagging guest appearances in Flashpoint, Being Erica, The Listener, Alphas and Parks and Recreation.
Orphan Black, the brainchild of John Fawcett (Xena: Warrior Princess, Da Vinci’s Inquest, Queer as Folk, Blade: The Series, Being Erica and Lost Girl) and Graeme Manson (The Bridge, Flashpoint and Being Erica), is centred on Sarah Manning, her foster brother and best friend Felix “Fee” Dawkins, played by Jordan Gavaris, and their foster mother Mrs S, who is the current guardian of Sarah’s little girl Kira.
Finding herself in another Catch-22 situation and on the run from her abusive drug-dealer boyfriend, Sarah takes on the identity of Beth Childs, a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to her and commits suicide right in front of her.
Although she believes she has hit a gold mine with her latest scam, walking in Beth’s cop shoes isn’t easy. Aside from dodging bullets, she realises she is trapped in something bigger.
On why she gave the nod to the role, Maslany offers: “It was definitely the script that made me so excited about the project because the writing was so compelling and the characters were so well developed on the page, it was a world I hadn’t seen yet in a TV series. And the challenge of playing all these characters. I didn’t know how that would be done and it was something that as an actor really excited and inspired me – and made me a little bit obsessed with trying to get the job.”
The drama is laden with lightweight moments too.
She acknowledges: “I think the series has its own dark sense of humour and to me that is so much fun to play. I think in life the darkest moments have humour in them.
“There is something fun in playing with drama and comedy in the same moment, in the same scenes, within the same characters. Those are my favourite shows to watch like Breaking Bad, which balances that tone so nicely.”
In the series, she has several clones with distinct personalities and flaws. Some are friendly, some are foes. Aside from Beth, who is now deceased, there is soccer mom and perfect housewife Alison Hendrix, who is secretly addicted to pills and alcohol; Cosima Niehaus, a bisexual graduate student; Helena, a lethal assassin; and, lastly, Rachel Duncan, an executive at the Dyad Institute.
Shedding light on how she slips into and out of several characters, Maslany notes: “I think the London accent (used by Sarah) was the most difficult for me and remains so. It’s so specific to neighbourhood.
“As far as physicality goes, I’ve been playing with Rachel, the clone we meet later in the series. She’s quite difficult to maintain throughout the day because her posture is impeccable and she is always in the most painful of high heels.
“One of the things that makes me the most proud about the show is that these women are individuals. They are not just the girlfriend and they are not looking for male approval in anyway. They are so autonomous and their life is their own. It’s exciting for me.
“The great thing about our show is that the four lead characters are weird as hell and none of them needs to be pretty.”
There are many ingeniously penned curve balls à la The Blacklist. In this world where life and death hangs in the balance, Sarah has to get to the bottom of who is leading the lynch mob against “her kind” and why. Then there is her dodgy past also catching up to her.
It’s an adrenalin rush with dramatic detours. Brace yourself – for a second season too!
• Orphan Black airs on Lifetime (DStv channel 131) on Thursdays at 8pm.