Show and Character Audition Details

SPOILER ALERT FOR AUDIENCE MEMBERS. GO BACK NOW IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS.

Welcome to opening night of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society’s newest production, The Murder at Haversham Manor, where things are quickly going from bad to utterly disastrous. The play within this play has everything a theatre troupe NEVER wants to happen during performance. The Cornley Poly actors try desperately to carry through, carry onward, and just survive with some shred of professionalism or dignity (but not both).  This comedic farce will have you laughing to the end.

Audition Information:
Always keep in mind – these are (mostly) good actors in a play that goes wrong. This is not a play being done badly (mostly). Every role is physically demanding and some of them are nearly non-stop. A lot of well-practiced (for safety) tech, timing, and timed choreography required. There are areas of actual improvisation you will create for your ‘actor character’. Once the improv is set it stays SET unless there is an ACTUAL ‘goes wrong’ moment in performance (or a change is needed and director/actors/crew in the same scene will work it out).
Shamelessness is part of the job description in this play and the play within this play has every kind of theatrical mishap that has ever been turned into a fond war story. There IS room for interpretation and developments in each role. Discovery is a big part of our rehearsal process. Various British accents required for the actor part of your role but who knows how good an accent may be for your actor’s character in ‘Murder at Haversham Manor’.

Character Descriptions:

Annie the Stage Manager: Biggest journey of any character. Initially terrified by acting, but is willing to kill for it by the end. She starts small, but grows and grows. When she has to substitute as the leading lady, she goes from nervous to confident to downright competitive.

Trevor/Light and Sound Tech: Simply wants to get on with the show. Doesn’t like actors. Here for the course credit. Easily distracted. Does many things he shouldn’t including ‘hot mic’ moments. Least physically demanding role.

Chris/Inspector Carter: Director of the play-within-the-play ‘Murder at Haversham Manor’ and plays the esteemed Inspector Carter. Biggest day of his life. Everything matters to him. His pain is evident every time someone laughs…the pain deepens. Often knows what should be going on despite the fact that he may not have communicated it effectively.

Jonathan/Charles Haversham: Bland ‘real life’ personality yet sees himself as a 007 type actor. Excited and having fun. Cares about the play, but it’s mostly just for fun for him. Physically demanding role despite spending most of the play “dead”. Placed in situations where he must adjust his performance to accommodate for the mistakes of others (and of his own).

Robert/Thomas Colleymoore: Big presentational style/big ‘real life’ personality. Not a parody of a bad actor, just unaware of others around him and consciously unaware of things going wrong (mostly). Never learns from his mistakes. Stage presence. Always believes the show is going much more smoothly than it really is until it is completely in his face at the end.

Dennis/Perkins (Butler): Just wants friends. Believes doing well in the show means being more successful socially. Laughter could be a personal tragedy for him. Understands when they get things wrong (maybe not the third time). Somewhat “green” actor. Has trouble recovering from the unexpected.

Max/Cecil Haversham: Never been onstage before. Learned his lines and does exactly what he’s told to do. Zero ‘connection’ with other characters while onstage, but when he gets a laugh he breaks the fourth wall and engages as himself. Live performance naïveté. His mistakes are fundamental. Unrepentant but restrained glee at the audience response to him. Shouldn’t be as confident as he is in some things.

Sandra/Florence Colleymoore: Ambitions to go pro. The stakes are high. Physically demanding role. Also, some sort of comedic (but definitely unsexy) undergarment exposure is possible but there are alternatives as long as they are hilarious. Very protective of her role in the play-within-the-play as well as her role in the drama society. Will carry on with misplaced instinctual confidence.

Actual Stage Crew: Some of the actual tech crew will be seen and heard doing backstage things…sometimes onstage during performance.

Mystery and adventure abound as the Old Man sets out to discover what mysterious melody drew his wife away from a comfortable, predictable life keeping the moon full of light. Join the Old Man on this musical journey of storytelling, magic, heartache, and hope as he must choose between love and his duty to keep the moon full. Full of foot tapping songs woven with heart rending melodies, this Celtic inspired spectacle is sure to touch your heart and leave your soul  full of light!

SETTING:

Some time ago,  on land, and on sea

Character Descriptions:

You may be playing multiple characters. Characters are listed with the expected doublings depending on the number of auditioners and directors’ decisions after auditions.

THE OLD MAN:  An old man whose job it is to fill the moon with liquid light. His journey in pursuit of his missing wife forces him out of his complacent lifestyle.

MATHESON: The first-mate of the ship and narrator of the tale. Matheson loves telling stories so  much that he commands the attention of the audience and the respect of his sailors. 
     FINE LADY: She lives in town. Has a secret. 

THE OLD WOMAN: An old  woman who  has grown tired of her life filling the  moon with her husband. She leaves home in search of a forgotten memory.   
     MICKEY: Clerk’s young assistant. Wears his grandfather’s hat to work.
     CAPTAIN: Fearless leader and most eloquent speaker.
     BARTLEY: A witty aeronautical engineer.  Sibling of Solomon.
     BOATSWAIN  TWO: A boatswain’s apprentice.
     YOUNG WOMAN: The OLD WOMAN, a long time ago.

CALLAHAN: An ardent sailor. Never loses a fight
     BEN: He has a store in town but is currently sold out of everything.
     REBEL TWO:  Rebel soldier. Trying to start a fight.
     PERRY: A legendary hero of the imperial fleet. First Naval Lieutenant Pericles Llewellyn McWallander was thrown overboard by his mutinous crew. He now spends his days inside the belly of a “prison fish.”
     BUTCHER

MABELU:A sailor who has a good sense of humor and the best of intentions. He lost his precious dog years ago.
     PATRON: Plays the piano but doesn’t take requests.
     DOG: Her name is Lucy. Mabelu lost her years ago.

LLEWELLYN: The youngest, somewhat naive, spirited sailor whom the OLD MAN mentors and takes on as an apprentice at the end of his journey. (spoilers)
     BOATSWAIN ONE: Master boatswain.
     GHOST SINGER: A dead sailor with a penchant for cabaret.

COOKIE: An unhinged cook. Might be afraid of fire.
     CLERK: Overwhelmed and unenthused each and every day at the boat shop.
     REBEL ONE: Rebel captain. Trying to avoid a fight.
     BARTENDER: Goes by Bill but that is not his real name.
     FISHMONGER

Frederick Knott’s thriller is the story of Susy Hendrix, a recently blinded housewife who unwittingly possesses a doll filled with illicit drugs. Harry Roat, a brutal and sophisticated criminal, coerces two small-time thugs into helping him con Susy into giving up the doll. A battle of wits ensues as Susy and the young girl upstairs launch a counterplot against the thieves. The drama plays on the themes of darkness and light as Susy navigates through her sightless world, and the crooks signal each other with light through the Venetian blinds. -StageAgent.com-

Character Descriptions:

Mike Talman: Recently released con who is brought into a gang to search for drugs in an apartment occupied by Susy and Sam Hendricks. Used to work cons with Sgt Carlino. Pretends to be a friend of Sam’s to get Susy’s confidence. A follower, prone to violence. Mid 30s to mid 40s. Described as tall and rugged. *

Sgt Carlino: Old con partner with Talman. Pretends to be a police officer to get Susy;s confidence. Much the same as Mike Talman without the tall and rugged description. 30 to mid 40s. *

Harry Roat Jr: Leader of the gang; pretends to be a friend of Sams to get Susy’s confidence before beginning to terrorize her in order to get the drugs. Actually totally ruthless. Mid 30s to mid 40s. * (Talman and Carlino previously worked with/for a woman named Lisa who has instigated the search. Roat now claims to be controlling the con for her.)

Susy Hendricks: Protagonist, Young BLIND woman terrorized by thugs looking for drugs thought to be in her apartment. Very resourceful. Late 20s to late 30s.

Sam Hendricks: Sus’s husband, a professional photographer. The inadvertent cause of the problem after unknowingly transporting a container full of heroin through customs for Lisa. 30 to 40.

Gloria: Little girl who lives upstairs. 9-12 years old. Can be played by anyone able to pass as within those ages.

Policeman 1: Generic Policeman aged 25-45

Policeman 2: Generic policeman aged 25-45

Cecily, Reggie and Wilfred reside in a home for retired opera singers in Kent, England. Each year, on Oct. 10, there is a concert to celebrate Verdi’s birthday. Jean, who used to be married to Reggie, arrives at the home and disrupts their equilibrium. She still acts like a diva and refuses to sing. But the show must go on in this funny and poignant play. Quartet was recently made into a movie starring Dame Maggie Smith and Sir Billy Connolly.  
Setting: Modern day. Kent, England

Character Descriptions:

Cecily Robson – female, 70s+
Former opera singer. Has been living at the retirement home for a number of years. Hard of hearing, enthusiastic, had a vivacious sex life. 

Reginald Paget – male, 70s+
Former opera singer. Quiet, but incredibly passionate. Used to be married to Jean and has not recovered. 

Wilfred Bond – male, 70s+
Former opera singer. Boisterous. Loves to make inappropriate sexual comments to (and about) Cecily. Still in love with his late wife. 

Jean Horton – female, 70s+
Former opera singer. A true diva. Appalled that she’s now living in a retirement home. Reggie was one of her husbands, and she has had many.

In this classic Noel Coward comedy, Judith Bliss is a retired actress, who isn’t so sure she wants to stay retired. She,and her eccentric family have all invited guests to their country house for what becomes anything but “a quiet weekend in the country”.   Misunderstandings abound as  pairs shift and change and the overly dramatic hostess makes the most of it all. 
Setting: The Blisses  house in the west of England, not too far from London: circa 1925.

Judith Bliss – semi-retired country West End actress(London Setting: ’50 – 60)Very Theatrical most of the time, off stage and on.

Davi Bliss – her husband(50 -65, a writer known for the popular novels that he churns out.

Sorel Bliss – their daughter(19 – 22), romantic, reads poetry, but sharp in her criticism of the same, and of many other issues in life.

Simon Bliss – the son(20 – 25), aspiring artist, flippant, and untidy, and impulsive, as is the entire family.

Sandy Tyrell – house guest(25 – 35), somewhat athletic, infatuated with Judith Bliss, somewhat ingenuous.

Myra Arundel – house guest(30 – 40), sophisticated, sharp-tongued, sometimes bitingly critical, used to getting her way.

Richard Greatham – house guest(40 – 50), a diplomat, somewhat ’tightly-wrapped’, also besotted with Judith Bliss, the actress.

Jackie Coryton – house guest(20 – 30), a flapper(and dressed as such), timid, and shy, and completely apprehensive  of her  first meeting with ‘David Bliss, the writer’.

Clara – the housekeeper(45 -65), long employed by the Blisses, but also long-suffering, over certain perceived impositions on her good nature. But very loyal.