Dual role

Dual role (also known as double role) refers to one actor playing two or more roles, which may be deliberately scripted in a play or film, or merely be a by-product of a low budget. In a theatrical production where more than one actor plays multiple characters, it is sometimes referred to as an "Ironman" cast. In film and television, a dual role is commonly used either for comic effect or to depict identical twins.

In theatre, such as in the works of absurdists such as Tom Stoppard, characters played by the same actor may be of thematic significance. A good example of this is Tony Kushner's Angels in America, which has a cast of eight despite having many roles. Debate exists over William Shakespeare's use of such, with a famous example being whether the characters of Cordelia and the Fool in King Lear are one and the same. In stage productions of Peter Pan, it is a tradition for Mr. Darling and Captain Hook to be played by the same actor, a tradition often continued in film adaptations with the actors playing dual roles.

In film, this technique has often been used for comic effect, examples being Peter Sellers in movies such as Dr. Strangelove and Mike Myers in the Austin Powers films. In The Wizard of Oz the farmhands also play the parts of the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow. The Prisoner of Zenda, with its tale of lookalikes, has a long tradition of dual roles: from Lewis Stone (1922) to Ronald Colman (1937) to Stewart Granger (1952) to Peter Sellers (1979). An early and unusual example is the 1925 silent film Lady of the Night. Two women are portrayed by Norma Shearer to spotlight their very different social classes; otherwise, nobody takes any notice of their identical appearance. Lee Marvin won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual role in Cat Ballou, while Nicolas Cage was nominated for Adaptation.

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