How is Aaron feeling heading to the party, is he managing to put what happened behind him and move forward after Amy took back her rape claim or is he still feeling unsettled amongst their friends?
I think in some respects yes, he's definitely trying to hold on to the friendships that he has, or thinks he might have, which is not really going his way because he doesn't get invited to the party at first. When he realizes that they're trying to distance himself themselves from him, I think that's when he starts to feel a little bit alone. He doesn't really have anyone, he has Abi in his corner and he has his work but in terms of social life is it's not great so he’s trying to cling on to that. When he does eventually get invited to the party, he's really trying to put it all behind him, to try and move on and hopefully have a laugh with his friends again.
Whilst at the party Amy has this quite adverse reaction when he touches her, is he shocked by that reaction and the severity of it?
Yeah, for sure, because he doesn't know that's how she still feels and her reasons for taking her claims back. It definitely comes out of nowhere for him and he doesn't ever expect her to get violent like that. The one thing that I had to constantly remind myself is that he does still care about her a lot. At no point even at this time is he ever feeling angry towards her. He’s probably quite angry at the situation itself, but not ever towards her. So when he gets that reaction from her it's really upsetting because he would never have expected her as a friend to lash out like that.
Do you think it makes him sit back and go back over that night and wonder if maybe there is more to what Amy’s saying?
Definitely yeah. I think he's still obviously trying to push that part of it out of his mind. But everyone saw what happened with Amy at the party, it’s quite embarrassing for him and he thinks that if other people are starting to see what she sees in him then they’ll really start to believe it and that's obviously very worrying as well. There's definitely a part of him that starts to think back, it’s also the guilt at what it's obviously doing to her as well, that’s really starting to eat him up because he can see how upset she is about it.
When everyone is gone Aadi starts to question him, what’s Aaron’s reaction to that?
He's really just trying to defend himself. As far as he's concerned he's not trying to play the victim here, he's just really trying to stress his point. He's trying to go through everything with Aadi and walk him through everything that happened that night to try and convince him of his side of the story. At no point is he thinking that he's manipulating Aadi into believing something that's not true, because he genuinely believes that what he's saying is true. He knows that from an outsider's perspective it might look like he's trying to gaslight Amy and he's trying to manipulate her into thinking that he's done nothing wrong but he really does believe that. He really wants Aadi to be on his side and he does feel a bit betrayed by Aadi’s response to him, the fact that he's taken Amy’s side so suddenly.
The next day there’s obviously a lot of tension between the two of them and we then see that Amy has collapsed after drinking and is rushed to hospital. How does Aaron react because this behaviour is extreme and like you said he does still care about her?
I think at that point, the guilt almost becomes too much, because now it's not just really affecting him he can see how much it’s physically affecting Amy. I think him knowing that he's responsible for that, and he's done that to his friend, just makes him feel terrible. I think that's a real turning point for him because that's really when he does start to look at himself and does really start to think about that night again.
Later in the week Aaron tries to buy Amy a new laptop when she spills coffee on hers, what happens there?
She thinks he’s trying to buy her off I think but it’s not like that for him. He’s trying to heal the rift I think, try and get back in her good books, but again it's not in a way of trying to shut her up or anything like that, it’s the guilt about how she’s feeling and the fact that he does care about her. It's a weird situation because he wants to help her get through it, even though obviously he's the reason that she's in this situation in the first place.
How hard are you finding it as an actor? Playing out Aaron’s journey where obviously you you know what he's done is wrong but Aaron isn’t there yet, have you found that hard to play?
Yeah, I think that's what I struggled with in the beginning, because it was always clear to me that what he's done is wrong. But I had to try and think about everything from his point of view, and he just doesn't think he's done anything wrong. The reason that he reacts and defends himself in the way that he does is because he truly believes he's innocent. It’s quite a difficult thing when he's outwardly defending himself and you know that he shouldn't be defending himself. As an actor you have to try and find a way to rationalize why he does what he does because he’s not an evil character.
What sort of reaction have you been getting from the audience?
It has been really varied and just seeing those conversations taking place has been great. Some people have come at it from a similar point of view to Aaron, and obviously while it’s wrong, they've understand that he didn't know what he was doing, it was potentially a lack of education and he's got himself in this awful situation and it's had terrible, terrible consequences. It is a story about his journey to realizing that and accepting that. Whereas other people have viewed it as rather than him trying to defend himself that he’s gaslighting Amy into believing that he's done nothing wrong. That was never the way that I thought about it but it's really interesting to see how other people have viewed it.
Are you happy that it has brought about these conversations, that people are actually talking it?
Yeah, for sure, it's just so important. It's such an important thing to tackle, especially in young people. Not only is it opening up conversations about consent, about what is right and wrong, but it is also important to reassure people if they have been through something like this that they shouldn't be made to feel like it's okay. So if anyone of any gender has experienced sexual abuse or something of this nature, it's important to let them know that there is stuff that they can do about it, and it's never acceptable for something like this to happen. I think that's the main thing and it's so great to get people talking about it because the fact that they are shows how relevant it is and how important it is.
Does Aaron still have a long way to go in this story?
Yeah, for sure, a very long way. And I think that for me that’s what this story was always about, a good person was always kind, loyal and caring, doing something terrible that has terrible consequences that affect his closest friends. It’s something that could potentially ruin his life and it's about his journey to accepting that and coming to terms with that.
Glenda Young
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor
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