Genevieve raises the Barr

Despite landing her first big part purely by chance, at 23 years of age Genevieve Barr is already hurtling towards the career as an actress she’s always dreamed of. Cathy Reay tears the Yorkshire lass momentarily away from her new whirlwind life to see if she’s enjoying the ride

She has completed a degree in history and English at Edinburgh University, taught classes of school kids, is recognised as one of the best hydro-divers of her age in the country and now Genevieve Barr is putting all her talent, time and passion into one pot to chase her biggest dream yet: to be an actress. And, at 23, she’s already landed her first big job.

“Acting has always been in me, even when I was teaching; they are essentially very similar as you’re trying to hold the attention of a room full of people,” she explains. “I have always been passionate about it but it wasn’t until I started going for auditions that I realised it is what I want to do.”

Genevieve is midway through her first day of interviews publicising The Silence, an upcoming four-part BBC drama in which she plays the 18-year-old lead character Amelia. This is a pretty huge accomplishment for any actress, particularly one that is unknown and has not had professional training.

“I wasn’t looking for it at all. A friend asked if I wanted to audition for The Amazing Dermot, a one-off comedy showcase for Channel 4. I got the part, a very small role, and then from that the writers contacted me again to say they were looking for a deaf actress for a BBC drama and would I like to audition?”

Genevieve, having just started a Masters in Leadership at the Institute of London, rushed frantically between classes and auditions, finally scoring the part after the third round. “I read the script and completely fell in love with Amelia, and the more auditions I went through the more I felt like I wanted to act rather than teach.”

The Silence centres on a murder Amelia accidentally witnesses and the corruption, lies and danger she and those around her subsequently face.

It is a tense, thrilling drama in which disability is also heavily addressed; it focuses not only on what Amelia happens to see but also on her newfound ability to hear after she is fitted with a cochlear implant. Genevieve says Amelia’s reaction to being able to hear is very different to her own: “I prefer the hearing world because that’s the world I’ve grown up in but Amelia prefers the silent world, because that’s the world she grew up in. I had to take out my own hearing aid to film, which meant I couldn’t hear anything, but it was actually an asset to my performance because I got to understand her even more deeply.”

Joining an incredibly established British cast including Dervla Kirwan (who recently starred opposite Colin Farrell in the film Ondine) and Gina McKee (In The Loop) and with the production company that brought Skins and Shameless to television at the helm, Genevieve said it took a while to get used to the thrill of working on such a big project.

“My first week of filming was largely with Gina and the first big scene I had with her was in this tea room, where she smacks me around the head. So, having just shook hands and said pleased to meet you, we immediately dove into filming that, 20 times, and then as soon as we finished we had to do a really happy scene. She was so normal between each scene whereas I was feeling a bit angry, plus I had a really sore head!”

Although it was sometimes awkward walking around the set without her hearing aid in, the young actress said that she was surprised by the inclusivity of her colleagues. “It was nice how I don’t think any of them saw me as a deaf actress so much as someone that had never really done that much acting before. It was more my lack of experience that was unusual to them,” she says.

Surprised, perhaps, because she spent her early years believing that it wasn’t really possible for someone hard of hearing to be successful in the acting world. “In school plays I was always encouraged to go for leading roles but I would audition and then not get them and I didn’t know whether that was because of my disability, that I wasn’t coherent enough to deliver to a hearing audience, or if it was because I just wasn’t a good actress,” she explains.

“Maybe it was my confidence or maybe I thought it was too much of a risk to throw myself into something that I had a very small likelihood of being successful at.”

Consequently Genevieve looked to alternatives, and found a huge passion for teaching. After university, she joined the Teach First scheme and ended up working in a school recognised as one of the “roughest” in England. “I wanted to become a leader, to show my disability wasn’t going to be an issue for future employers and I thought that by doing something like Teach First I could prove that, having gone straight into the classroom without prior teaching experience, I could handle a job of any responsibility.

“I found myself plunged into a school of 900 pupils that I’d been told were ‘a living nightmare’.

They took advantage of my deafness in that it was the obvious thing to pick on but I didn’t take offence at that because I was anticipating it.

I had overcome whatever struggles I’d had with my disability and it didn’t have to dictate the rest of my life or who I would be.”

Genevieve is incredibly determined to never let her impairment stand in the way of what she wants to do. She’s thrown herself into acting classes and speech therapy, the latter because she wants “people to be more open to the idea of having a deaf actress in a hearing role”, and now with The Silence about to air she’s incredibly excited for her promising future onscreen.

“Getting The Silence has completely plunged my world into disarray; I have no idea what I’m going to be doing next. The world is your oyster, you can do whatever you want to do; I’m incredibly passionate about acting and I think there’s
always been something inside me that wanted to act but you can love so many things, there doesn’t have to be one thing you’re limited to; I am open to any prospect and opportunity that comes my way.

“I want to go on and be the best actress I can be, it doesn’t matter what role it is as long as I get the opportunity to do the best I can.

It’s a challenge; bring it on.”

• The Silence will air in Summer 2010 on BBC1