26/07/2026

Transcript of Gaby Roslin’s interview with Sophie Stone, ahead of her making her RSC debut as Sharlotta in Laura Wade's The Cherry Orchard this July and August.

Gaby Roslin: You're listening to the BBC Make a Different show with me, Gaby Roslin. It's lovely to have you with us. Thank you for letting us share your Sundays. Now, delighted to welcome our first guest today, Sophie Stone. She's making her RSC debut as Sharlotta, oh, in The Cherry Orchard this July and August, how exciting! I love The Cherry Orchard, and so delighted to welcome you to the show, Sophie.

Sophie Stone: Ah, thank you very much. It's lovely to be here.

Gaby Roslin: So, do you know what? Let's talk about you first, and then we'll talk about The Cherry Orchard, if that's okay.

Sophie Stone: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Go ahead.

Gaby Roslin: Now, am I right that you were the first deaf student ever to be accepted to RADA?

Sophie Stone: Yes, it is. I wasn't aware of that at the time. I applied once when I was a very new mother and I had no real world experience apart from my life experience, and then the second time I applied, I had obviously grown in confidence and was a bit more ready, I think, for the training, but yeah, it was a definite trial and error moment for all of us, I think.

Gaby Roslin: So where did the passion to act come from? Did it come from years before you ever went to RADA?

Sophie Stone: Yeah, I think my mother wanted me to find a way to communicate, so I didn't really have speech until I was about seven. So there was no real way to sort of connect with the world. So she put me in dance classes and drama classes and tried to find something that would give me a language, I suppose, to articulate emotions or thoughts and stuff, and so acting became the easiest way I think to sort of articulate things.

Gaby Roslin: So, what you said you didn't speak until you were seven. What was it that got you speaking?

Sophie Stone: I don't think there was one thing. I think it was a lot of amazing teachers, people who were desperate to try and give me tools to try and, you know, show emotions through either facial expressions or body language or dance or, yeah. I say I wasn't allowed, but doctors didn't encourage my mum or my family to learn sign language, so I was always pushed into speaking, and so I think that was something that I couldn't access very early on, and I think acting was the quickest way, really.

Gaby Roslin: That makes sense to me. You know, one thing. Yeah, totally makes sense to me. I mean, I think it's something that everyone should be taught from a very young age. I think it helps in so many, so many ways. So for you being on stage, I mean, I can imagine doing TV work and film work is different, but being on stage with other actors, can you talk me through how that works? And obviously, you know the play, and we'll talk about The Cherry Orchard. I love that play. We'll talk about that in a moment, but just what it's like for a deaf actor on stage. How does it work?

Sophie Stone: I think quite a lot of it is the privilege of rehearsals. So you have a script, and you get to know the script really well. You get to know the other actors and their mannerisms, their patterns, their maybe decisions that they make as actors, and you mark patterns and pathways in your mind about whether they say a particular line when they pick up a cup, or if they exit at a particular time in the show, and you mark those entrances, exits and prop making and stuff like that, and you just find a way to understand that world to a point that when you come to say your own lines, that it is not just a reflection of your character's world, but it's in response to the world that's happening in front of you. And I think as a deaf actor, you do have to work really closely with actors, and actors are great at both communication and finding a way to problem solve. So, yeah, I think rehearsals have really helped deaf actors venture into a world of acting because there is a sense of practice, rehearsals, pattern making and communication.

Gaby Roslin: And trust. I presume it's about trust, which so much of acting is about as well.

Sophie Stone: Oh, 100%. Yeah, 100% trust.

Gaby Roslin: Well, you've got quite a cast. I mean, it's like name-drop central who you're with. I mean, go on. You do the name dropping.

Sophie Stone: Okay, so we have Helen Hunt, Bill Pullman, Sir Kenneth Branagh, and we have Alfie Enoch. We have so many people in the show that it meant we had sold out completely about two weeks before the rest of the cast were announced. So, yeah, it has been a beautiful experience being able to sort of get to know the people that you grew up watching, I suppose.

Gaby Roslin: That's wonderful. That's really wonderful. I'm so delighted for you. I just want to point out to everybody that's listening to this that how we're conducting this chat is we're doing it via Zoom, and you're reading captions, just in case people were wondering how we were doing this, because this is the Make a Difference Show, and we just know that helps a lot of people as well. So for anybody else who is deaf and they're thinking, "All I want to do is be an actor", I think it's really important that they know that it can absolutely happen. Look at you.

Sophie Stone: Yeah, I have been asked by a lot of schools to be representative of a role model, I suppose, but I don't consider myself in that way. I suppose visibility will always be the role model. So the more visible we are, the more we are showing that there's a space for you in this world. And so, yeah, I think hard graft and finding a way through problem solving and reassuring the industry that anything that they're concerned about, or they feel like they can't make room for you, can be resolved and can be up for conversation. We have a lot of accessibility consultants now. It's a bit like an intimacy coordinator, so having those people on set is a definite reassurance for a lot of the industry people on how to accommodate people like myself.

Gaby Roslin: So let's, you just said it's sold out. So congratulations! But for anybody that was thinking, "Oh, I want to go along and see The Cherry Orchard with that incredible cast, and with you especially, Sophie", a sort of brief synopsis of the wonderful play that is The Cherry Orchard, please.

Sophie Stone: Yes, so there's a definite class system in this show, and someone whose parents and grandparents were servants of this family house has now become a landowner, and this house is up for auction. So the rich family are at risk of being removed from their lifestyle. So he warns the family to sell the house so that they can keep the cherry orchard, and they don't listen. And he ends up buying it, so he takes over and the family have to leave. So it's a real rags-to-riches story and the fall from grace, I suppose.

Gaby Roslin: Well, break a leg. Have a wonderful run there. It's at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, until Saturday 29 August. Enjoy every moment, and it's a real privilege and an honour to speak to you today, Sophie. Thank you for joining us on the Make a Difference Show, and I think it's so important for all the other people out there who think, "But it won't happen for me." Yes, it can. It so definitely can.

Sophie Stone: Yes, yes, absolutely. I mean, it's taken many, many years to get here, but I feel like the industry is a lot more accommodating now because of the work that we've been putting in to try and open those doors and push those ceilings.

Gaby Roslin: Thank you so much again for joining us.

Sophie Stone: Thank you so much.