This is a true performance piece. Our character is speaking out loud, vocalising his memories. We needed to create a character who could shift from solemn to happy and excited in one beat, with the rich depth of an actor who can bring multiple performance aspects to a single speech. We wanted to cast someone whose face tells a thousand stories to match the dozens of gravestones; it was all about capturing a sense of subtlety and nuance that conveys the emotional gradations of our hero. We wanted to be able to sense sadness in one beat, a Machiavellian sense of revenge in the next, and building rage and determination in the next. It demanded an actor who can make us feel everything in a way that’s emotionally relatable and transformative.