EvWe are delighted to announce the main roles in our production of Ben Hur. The standard of auditioning was incredibly high - and in all honesty we could have cast the leads several times over. 

Some minor roles are still under offer, but the main ones are all cast: 

Cast
Judah Ben Hur - Dan Houghton
Massala  - Rich Sandford
Myriam - Annie Walker
Tirzah - Alice Orlik
Esther - Parascovia Everett
Simonedes - Allison Abbott
Arrius - Sarah Gregori
Governor Gratus - Peter Carey
Drusus - Peter Carey
Joseph - Peter O Connor
Hortator - Thomas Bliss
Pontius Pilate - Thomas Bliss
Emperor Tiberius - Edward Gist
Jesus Christ - Edward Bliss
Prison Guard - Iris Ely
Malluch - Edward Bliss
Casworan - Phil Ely
Amrah - Sandi Martin

Additional supporting roles, crowd and unnamed minor characters will  played by members of the cast, Laura Jury, and two other performers currently sent invitations. 

Crew
Director/ producer - Laura Jury
Technician - Simon Slade
Rebelkah Horton - Stage manager
Jenny Abrahall - deputy stage manager
Sophie Rodgers - set design
Cecilia Forde - Costumes

Great news! We are so pleased to be returning to the live stage this year, with our production of William Shakspeare's Henry V. 

Yes! A theatre show, on an actual STAGE! - **AT LAST!!**

Tickets have gone on sale at Brixham Theatre - you can book now at http://brixhamtheatre.uk
(direct link at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/brixham-theatre/the-south-devon-players-present-shakespeares-henry-v/e-vpblzv) 

Brixham Theatre will have full covid safety procedures in place when it reopens in September 2021, and any questions relating to keeping your visit to Brixham Theatre safe, can be answered by emailing [email protected]

A great bit of driftwood on the beach that will be critical for making a specific prop for our theatre production of Ben Hur. Recycling is awesome & probably saved us about £10 (which is a lot to us!)! The realities of making theatre in the U.K. regions
#recycling #zerowaste #britishtheatre #equity

​Hello lovely people! 

We are really looking forward to meeting you on Sunday Aug 29th for the auditions. It's so wonderful to be slowly getting back to working on shows again.  We just wanted to share some additional information ahead of the day. 

COVID SAFETY
With times as they are, we would be hugely grateful if people attending could do a lateral flow test at home before coming. We won't be asking you for results, and will be working on a trust system,  BUT Should you find yourself testing positive, please dont panic - send us a quick message and we will arrange a Zoom/ Facebook Messenger meeting to audition later in the later afternoon / early evening. 

When you arrive, we are in the downstairs room at Chestnut Community Centre - doors will be open for a maximum of good ventilation with a through-draught. We would be really grateful for people to wear masks as there are likely to be quite a few people present. When doing your auditions, though, we will ask you to remove your mask so we can see your facial expressions. 
If, however, you rely on lip-reading, please let us know so that the casting panel can also remove our masks when speaking. 

We will be asking everyone to sign in and out. 

For those filling out audition forms at the community centre, please bring your diary, as the forms do ask about your availability - this is really important as we will use this information to create the rehearsal schedules for the selected cast. 

AMENITIES
Toilets and coffee/tea making facilities are available - we will be supplying coffee, tea, squash. The room and the adjoining loo are both fully wheelchair accessible. 

GETTING THERE
Chestnut Community Centre is a little out of town. For those who drive, the address and postcode is 1-3 Poplar Close, Brixham, TQ5 0SA for the satnav.

For public transport, the nearest bus up from town is the 18 - for which you can download the timetable at https://www.stagecoachbus.com/routes/south-west/18/brixham-kingswear/xdao018.o.  The stops are on a road parallel to the centre, so there is a short walk - the easiest is to get off at Laywell Lane and to walk up Chestnut Drive. 
Alternatively, if getting a taxi from town, Ace Taxis are pretty good, on 01803 882121, or there are usually taxis at the taxi rank in the town centre just around from the central bus stops. 

If you find you are running late, please drop a quick message to us to let us know.  

WHAT TO EXPECT
- Doors will be open by 12.30pm. 
-  We will start promptly at 1pm; with a brief introduction about the project, and an introduction of the crew members present. We will also throw open the room to any questions at this point. We aim to finish this part by 1.30pm. 
- The casting will consist of two parts. The first part will involve auditioning using character sides, where cast members will work with the scene excerpts. We may ask for some of these to be run twice, especially if someone has not requested character sides in advance, or has also decided to try out for a different character. 
- The second part will be a brief improvisation from each person, for up to two of the characters for whom they are auditioning. 

After the auditions have taken place, everyone will be free to leave. The panel will then catch up with zoom auditions for anyone needing to quarantine from Covid, etc, and then the panel will be discussing the castings. 

Please note that there is no right or wrong way to audition, and it will not be judged on second-guessing what the director may have in mind. We will also not be judging on the pronunciation of any obscure words or names. 

We will be looking at: 
- good time keeping
- pleasant interaction with others in the room
- definite choices about the scene you are auditioning with (it does not in any way have to be "the director's vision" but what we do like to see at this point is a convincing strong choice on how to play the scene.) 

We may photograph or video auditions for reference back during the casting decisions. Once the casting choices are made, those photos and videos will be deleted. 

We aim to have contacted everyone with the outcomes of the auditions by the end of the week. We do ask you to reply to any offers of roles as soon as possible, so that we can finalise the castings. 

On Sunday September 5th (same time and place) there will be a cast readthrough of the script, to work with the whole script, to cover things like pronunciations, cover actors agreements, and do other bits of housekeeping before the main rehearsals begin.

And that is about it. Do please get in touch with any questions that you may have ahead of the 29th, and it will be great to see you in person! 

Laura and the rest of the crew.

To get an idea of getting our shows advertising again after the pandemic, we ran a small survey about theatre-going. It wasn't enormous, we had 16 replies so far (it is stilopen) and we need to thank everyone who filled this out as it has revealed some very useful trends and information which we will be taking into account. For anyone wishing to still do the survey, it is online HERE  

For theatre practitioners elsewhere, putting this into context, this survey was mainly shared around local discussion groups and forums in the rural southwest of England, aiming at reaching "the ordinary person in the street" to capture their views and feelings. 

If you wish to share this information in a publication etc, please credit The South Devon Players Theatre & Film Company, 2021. ​

Open theatre auditions for a southwest-touring theatre production of Ben Hur, based on Lew Wallace's classic novel.

The auditions will take place on Sunday August 29th, from 12.30pm - 5pm at our rehearsal base of Chestnut Community Centre, 1-3 Poplar Close, Brixham, Devon, TQ5 0SA.

People are welcome to "turn up" but with Covid-safety in mind, it is useful to contact us in advance because if we get a lot of applicants, we may stagger the castings through the afternoon to reduce group sizes.

We will let everyone who auditions, know the outcome of the casting by the end of the following week.

The rehearsals will take place many Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons (schedule dependent on role and actors availabilities given to us at auditions) at a local community centre in Brixham, before being performed in Devon, Cornwall and up in Bristol. Most of the show dates are already booked and are all on Friday evenings and/or Saturdays.
We do prefer that all actors are based in the Devon area.

Full Covid-safety procedures will be followed in auditions, rehearsals and shows.

We have roles for actors aged 18 - 80, which range from main principal actors, as well as smaller roles, and crowd scenes. We expect that most actors will end up taking on more than one role, other than key characters Judah Ben Hur, Massala, Myriam, Esther and Tirzah.

All actors and stage crew are guaranteed a minimum of an equal share of 100% of the ticket sales (as shared equally among the cast & crew) although our fundraising volunteers are also applying for specific funding to increase that to full Equity rates for you. Profitshares with us are very "open-book" and include full unedited copies of box-office sales reports.

This is a self-employed role and as such all actors will need to declare whatever they earn from the project to HMRC as part of their annual self-assessment.

Costuming is part-sponsored by Tesco Bags for Life.

All actors and crew will also receive copies of individual character posters featuring their main character, portfolio photos from dress rehearsals, videos of the performance, and copies of any press/ blogs/ reviews/ feedback in which they are featured.

Actors of all levels of experience are very welcome. We look at your talent and suitability for the role at auditions, not at resumes.

Some roles will require action (combat etc) scenes which will be headed by our fight choreographers. Training will be given. There is no nudity, or visual sexual content. There are a couple of verbal references to rape in a single conversation. There is very little bad language; the word "bastard" is used by one character. The show itself will be largely suitable for all ages.


All ethnicities, gender identities, religions, disabilities, and other demographics equally welcomed. The audition venue is fully accessible. If you have any questions abut this, or making the auditions accessible, please do get in touch and discuss (or with any other questions).
More info at https://www.southdevonplayers.com/auditions.html