<P> Occasionally, the issue is further complicated, for example, by a woman playing a woman acting as a man--who then pretends to be a woman, such as Julie Andrews in Victor / Victoria, or Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love . In It's Pat: The Movie, filmwatchers never learn the gender of the androgynous main characters Pat and Chris (played by Julia Sweeney and Dave Foley). Similarly, in the aforementioned example of The Marriage of Figaro, there is a scene in which Cherubino (a male character portrayed by a woman) dresses up and acts as a woman; the other characters in the scene are aware of a single level of gender role obfuscation, while the audience is aware of two levels . </P> <P> A few modern roles are played by a member of the opposite sex in order to emphasize the gender fluidity of the role . Edna Turnblad in Hairspray was played by Divine in the 1988 original film, Harvey Fierstein in the Broadway musical, and John Travolta in the 2007 movie musical . Felicity Huffman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for playing Bree Osbourne (a male - to - female transsexual) in 2005's Transamerica . </P> <P> Actors working in theatre, film, television and radio have to learn specific skills . Techniques that work well in one type of acting may not work well in another type of acting . </P> <P> To act on stage, actors need to learn the stage directions that appear in the script, such as "Stage Left" and "Stage Right". These directions are based on the actor's point of view as he or she stands on the stage facing the audience . Actors also have to learn the meaning of the stage directions "Upstage" (away from the audience) and "Downstage" (towards the audience) Theatre actors need to learn blocking, which is "...where and how an actor moves on the stage during a play". Most scripts specify some blocking . The Director also gives instructions on blocking, such as crossing the stage or picking up and using a prop . </P>

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