2022 Play Readings and Auditions
Come and join us onstage this year. We have a fantastic season planned with lots of parts for all ages and types. Casting readings will be Mondays in January at 7.30, starting January 3.
At the moment these will take place on Zoom. If you are not already a member and do not receive emails from us, please contact Lindsay for the link to join. When the Covid situation improves we will be at Over Haddon Village Hall, School Ln, Over Haddon, DE45 1JE. Take a look below to see what our 2022 season has in store.
Dandy Dick by Arthur Wing Pinero
Casting readings 3rd/10th January
Performances at Chatsworth House June 8, 9, 10, 11.
Dandy Dick by Arthur Wing Pinero was written in 1893. It is a classic farce about a pious Dean who, in desperation to raise funds for repairs to his church spire, backs a horse in the upcoming derby... and it all goes horribly wrong. This hilarious comedy has a cast of eleven and covers a variety of ages. It is funny, beautifully written, and will work perfectly on the Chatsworth Stage. Rehearsals will begin at the end of March. The play is available to read online here.
Character breakdown:
The Dean - Male/Male identifying, playing age 50+
A wonderfully wordy, dignified, pious, somewhat pompous Dean of the Church of England. He is a widower with two daughters.
Georgiana - Female/Female identifying, playing age 40s/50s/60s
The Dean's sister, jovial, loud, horsey in manner and appearance, and generally "one of the boys"
Sir Tristram - Male/Male identifying, playing age 50+
An old friend of the Dean's. They were at Oxford together. Well preserved, jovial, proper 'English sporting gent'.
Major Tarver - Male/Male identifying, playing age 30s/40s
Hussar officer in love with Salome, the Dean's eldest daughter. Sickly - 'left half his liver in India'! A bit of a drama queen...
Mr Darbey - Male/Male identifying, playing age 20s/30s
Hussar officer in love with Sheba, the Dean's youngest daughter. Pompous, patronising, thinks very highly of himself...
Salome - Female/Female identifying, playing age 20s
The Dean's eldest daughter. Taller than Sheba, handsome, dark, spoilt, wordly unwise! In love with Major Tarver.
Sheba - Female/Female identifying, playing age late teens, early 20s
The Dean's youngest daughter. Shorter than Salome, very indulged by her father, wheedling and spoilt. Envious of her older sister - always trying to get one up on her. In love with Mr Darbey.
Hanna Topping - Female/Female identifying, playing age late 20s/30s/40s
The policeman's wife and former cook at the Deanery. She is buxom, friendly, popular and very smart.
Blore - Male/Male identifying, playing age 50+
The Dean's hilariously unscrupulous servant who has been with the family forever. Drops his "h"s and adds them in where they do not belong.
Noah - Male/Male identifying, playing age 30s/40s/early 50s
The police constable who arrests the Dean. He is not very bright (although thinks he's a bit of a sleuth) and is very jealous of any attention to his new wife Hanna.
Hatcham - Male/Male identifying, playing age any
Dandy Dick's groom. Loyal, brave and devoted to his charge.
Flowers for Algernon by David Rogers
Casting readings - January 17 and 24
Performing at the Buxton Fringe Festival in July
A one-act adaptation of Daniel Keyes' poignant tale about a simple man who has a successful experimental treatment to increase his intellect - but that comes at the expense of his happiness and peace of mind. This production will be part of the Buxton Fringe Festival. The exact dates of the performance have not yet been given, but the festival runs from 6-24 July. Rehearsals will begin in May.
Character Breakdown:
Charlie Gordon - Male/Male identifying, playing age 30+
A learning disabled man (IQ 68) who works hard to try to make himself smarter and is given the chance to enhance his intelligence through an experimental treatment. The treatment succeeds, but he then realises that those who have been kind to him were actually laughing at him. As the treatment wears off he faces a descent into his previous mental ability and inevitable death. A very challenging part requiring the actor to portray disability and genius with the emotional trauma that the process engenders.
Alice Kinnian - Female/Female identifying, playing age 30+
Charlie's night school teacher. She is sympathetic and encouraging and grows close to Charlie.
Dr Strauss - Any gender, playing age 30+
Surgeon who performs experimental operation on Charlie; a scientific expert who is only interested in Charlie's condition and has little empathy for him.
Professor Nemur - Any gender, playing age 30+
Psychologist and Dr Strauss' partner in the experiment. S/he has some misgivings about the experiment and more empathy than Strauss, but is still an academic at heart.
Burt Seldon - Male/Male identifying, playing age 30+
Lab technician/assistant who interacts with Charlie during his tests and treats him as an equal; sympathetic and caring.
Into the Woods, at Chatsworth, running on October 6-8, 13-15
We're working towards doing our first musical!! Steven Sondheim's Into
the Woods. It's a magnificent piece that won just about every award
going and it’s all about being careful what you wish for in life...….. It
twists together the plots of several Grimm fairy-tales and explodes their
‘happy ever after’ myths. It would be fantastic to do this as our first ever
musical.
We're currently doing a feasibility check - can we accommodate
musicians in the gallery at Chatsworth, can we afford the additional
costs (musical director, musicians, 12 weeks' rehearsal time, expensive
rights.....). It has twenty three characters - nine men and fourteen
women (although traditionally one actor plays several of the smaller
roles), so there’s something for everyone!
Most of the actors will need to be able to sing of course, but for many
of the parts, the acting is far more important than the singing (think Judi
Dench, who famously can't sing for toffee, but acted her way pretty well
through various Sondheim shows!). You can read more about the
characters here. And you can see the original cast recording of the
show on Broadway here.
We’ll have some readings in February (after we’ve cast the first two
plays) so that you can get a feel for it. Rehearsals will probably start in
early July - we’ll need a much longer rehearsal schedule than usual.
If Into the Woods turns out to be too much for the theatre/us at this
point in time, we have several fabulous plays up our sleeves as back
up - watch this space!
