VERY well done to everyone who auditioned! 
It has been a long time of deliberations, but here is the cast list from the auditions! 
Everyone who auditioned should have received emails by now - I understand a couple of emails didn't get through immediately , but we should all be there by now. Regardless of the outcomes, I think everyone should be very proud of some very talented hard work, and I would be delighted to work with you all.


Robin Purdie – Jean Valjean
Lee Metherall – Thenadier
Lisa Highton – Madame Thenadier, Toussaint
Joan Smith- Mlle Gillenormand, elderly lady in street
Elizabeth Ampadu – Eponine
Nick De Jasay – Enjolras, sailor with Bernardo,
Sarah Gregori - Javert
Alex Slade – Gavroche/ Petit Gervais
Parascovia Everett – Fantine
Lily Marlow – Grown Up Cosette,
Natalia Everett – Little Cosette
Ruth Willis – Estella, market soldier, Madame Mabeuf, firing squad soldier
James Hoff – Factory Boss, Bishop, Fueilly, Champmantheiu
Sean Kilroy – Bambatabois/ Brevet/ firing squad soldier
Rueben Reed – Marius, Thenadiers Inn Guest
Rich Sandford – Grantaire, Bernardo, market convict
Sacha Spencer - Pedlar, Prouvaire (also recorded for when away), soldier
Laura Jury – Courfeyrac, Pedlar (understudy for Sacha for one show), Sister simplice, Factory Girl 2
Ida Ivanoff - Gendarme, Prosector, soldier.
Brooke Harris - Inkeeper, Joly, covering Fantine for one show for Parascovia.

Fabulous news! 

We have cast an amazing Hrogthar, and all principal casting for Beowulf is now complete. 

Now, finally, the hard work of planning and designing (so many props and costumes have to be designed to fit specific actors) can begin. 

The coming week will involve workshopping and preparing for the show  in full

Just as we thought we had it all cast at last, the actor due to take on the role of Hrothgar, has been gazumped on a house move due to take place tomorrow, and has had to go back upcountry - so we are casting again.... 

Please get in touch immediately to arrange an audition. 


URGENT CASTING:
Beowulf: a theatre show, in Devon.
Casting for:
Danish King (or Queen) "Hrothgar" age 45-75. Can be played male or female, major, critical role to the show. All levels of experience welcome as always in our theatre company.
The theatre show Beowulf, is a 6th century mythological setting, written from the famous 10th century Saxon epic poem. Hrothgar is the ageing Danish ruler, whose famed mead hall is plagued by a terrible monster; Grendel.

Payment is open-book profitshare (we split the money earned from tickets between each cast and crew member equally, alongside a full breakdown of all tickets sold and any deductions made by venues) plus character photos/ show videos etc for portfolios.

This would rise to full Equity rates if Arts Council funding application is approved (still, of course, plus the photos and videos for portfolios).

Rehearsals are already underway , on Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons in Brixham, Devon. We are looking to cast as soon as possible. Actor must be based in Devon, we cannot consider actors based outside the area because we need actors to be able to attend rehearsals and performances in person as these are live shows.

Performances are various Fridays and Saturdays spread between early November and early December, in Brixham, Plymouth, Exeter, Torquay, and filming (at Brixham) online to be streamed worldwide as part of the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival's digital section.

There may also be an additional performance of the first half, for a local school in Newton Abbott (currently in discussion).

You can read more about us on our website www.southdevonplayers.com
(facebook and twitter at @sdevonplayers )


Please email [email protected] immediately with any questions and to arrange an audition.
.

Quinn the Raven says come along to the Beowulf auditions at Chestnut Community Centre (auditions start at 1pm tomorrow- all comers welcome and everyone will be auditioned)
​
It’s also been arranged that when the show is cast and costumes, Beowulfs poster photoshoot will be with Quinn. (Yes there will be a cast photoshoot with Quinn!)

While Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon poem, it has a strongly Norse setting as well

Norse mythology, the Icelandic Sagas, and Icelandic folklore usually show the raven as a wise, all-knowing messenger and often a bird of prophecy, protector, and helper
#raven #beowulf #theatre #brixhamtheatre #acting #performingarts #devontheatre #britishtheatre #auditions #cute #norse #castingcall #actors #actorslife #theatrelife

 We are looking for an actor to take on the role of Quintus Arrius, plus some additional one-scene roles for our theatre production of Ben Hur. This is a touring theatre show (touring the southwest of England), on our biggest tour ever, set in the 1st Century Roman Empire, based on the novel by Lew Wallace. 

Covid Safety
Covid safety protocols are in place for the rehearsals and shows, in line with that provided by Equity. All actors and crew are asked to test themselves before attending. We keep a good airflow through the rehearsal space at all times, and the director & fight trainer together disinfect the space (a rented community centre room) thoroughly before the rest of cast and crew arrive, ahead of each session.  

Actor's roles: 
Recasting Quintus Arrius. 
Quintus Arrius is a pivotal character in the story of Ben Hur. Arrius is the Roman naval commander who is rescued during a sea battle by Judah Ben Hur, and later frees, and adopts Judah. 

The original character in the story is male although the original actor playing the role with us was female, so the casting is genderblind and based purely on "rightness for the part".
Age is unimportant, we are ideally looking for late thirties up to seventies, but happy to be flexible. It is not a role suitable for a child. As with the majority of actors in our show, the actor will also be asked to take on small additional roles in the show. The main scenes are below.

FULL speaking scene list for this actor
- (As Roman soldier): The arrest of Judah Ben Hur & family
- ( As Quintus Arrius): Arrival at the port in Misenum
- ( As Quintus Arrius): The Roman Galley
- ( As Quintus Arrius): The Sea Battle
-  ( As Quintus Arrius): meeting Emperor Tiberias in Rome
- (As gladiator): The Roman Games in Jerusalem 
-  ( As Quintus Arrius): Final scene where Arrius reunites with the Hur family

This role involves fight action (Sea Battle and Roman Games). Fight scenes are choreographed with out fight choreographer and cannot be "improvised"

No scenes for this show involve nudity or sexual content. 

The actor must be based in Devon, UK (Ideally in the Torbay area) because of attending rehearsals in person. 
 
We are delighted to consider any actor who wishes to apply, regardless of ethnicity, religion, nationality, or accent. 

Script, costumes, rehearsal refreshments all provided. 

Rehearsal Dates & Location
Rehearsals are already underway, and take place on a Wednesday evening 6.30pm - 9/ 9.30pm, and Sundays, 12.30pm to 4/ 5pm. Rehearsals are in a large community centre room at Chestnut Community Centre, 1-3 Poplar Close, Brixham, Devon TQ5 0SA. 

We expect 75% attendance for the rehearsals in which your character appears. For safety, we do require you to attend all mutually agreed fight calls for your gladiatorial scene. If you cannot attend rehearsals, you do need to let us know ahead of the session. Just as you rely on the other actors in your scene to be there to rehearse with, so they rely on you as well. (any absence due to Covid etc is treated as unavoidable and not treated as "missing rehearsals".) Ongoing no-showing may result in the role being recast

Show dates
Our confirmed show dates are as advertised on the left, with the note that we are in discussions about two additional performance dates. These would be either a Friday evening or a Saturday within/ close to the timeframe of the other shows. The potential locations are in Torquay and Exeter. 

Payment (financial) and remuneration (in kind)
- Equal profitshare. This is the money we earn from ticket sales performing at the venues, split equally among the actors and crew in that performance. We do not deduct for costumes/ props/ rehearsals/ advertising costs as those are funded by selling second hand items on ebay etc. All actors and crew are given full access to the final box office sales reports from venues, for openness, in all profit-share situations. 
- Portfolio photos and videos. We always do costumed/ character photoshoots for each actor, to promote the show, which the actors are also most welcome to use in their portfolios, and we may also be able to provide generic actor headshots. We also film the show for streaming and online screening, all cast and crew are also provided with the footage for their own portfolio/ showreel use. 
- Refreshments We always supply simple refreshments at rehearsals and backstage. These are tea, coffee, squash and biscuits. 
- Spotlight eligibility  Several actors have been able to get their Spotlight registrations at least in part based on credits working with our shows. A credit in a show with us, therefore, counts towards getting your Spotlight, if that is something you are working towards. 

NOTE: We are currently waiting to hear from the Arts Council re funding for full payments but as it is therefore we can only promise what we can guarantee. 

All actors and crew in our shows, join on a project by project basis, as self employed, freelance creatives, who must report their earnings to HMRC. 

​The show is fully insured. 

About the director
The show is directed by our theatre company founder Laura Jury. Laura is a freelance actor, as well as working with the South Devon Players as an actor, director and producer. She has been an actor since 1996, a director since 2000, and founded the South Devon Players in 2005, to make opportunities for local freelance creatives and those wishing to embark on a career in theatre. 
Laura is a member of the Equity trade union Directors & Designers committee. 
Laura is also autistic, this is stated openly in case it affects communication or why she may appear "different", but doesn't affect the creating of awardwinning theatre projects, and it does not affect the care and respect for the rest of the team! 

To apply
Please email Laura on [email protected] to arrange an audition.  Laura will ask to meet you for a face to face audition in Brixham, alongside Rich, the fight director, and some of the stage crew, as soon as is possible.  This will involve working with some excerpts of the show script. 

​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.

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

THEATRE - TORBAY/DEVON - PROFITSHARE
Character: Fluellen- Shakespeare's Henry V.

Gender: Any (castings for this show have all been genderblind)
Age: playing age 18-80
Pay: Equal profitshare of ticket sales (100% of ticket sales divided equally among actors & crew), plus show photos and a video of the full performance.
Rehearsal location/ Dates: Brixham, in Devon Sunday afternoons: Oct 31st, Nov 7th/ 14th/ 21st plus tech at the theatre venue on evenings Weds Nov 24th & Thurs 25th
Performance location / dates: Brixham Theatre in Devon: Fri Nov 26th (evening), Sat Nov 27th (matinee & evening)
To apply: email [email protected]

Requirements: Ideally can do a Welsh accent though this is an optional bonus! Should also be based in the South Devon area as will need to attend the rehearsals and performances in person.

Notes & general information: This is a recasting to join our team who have previously done broadcast performances online of Henry V for Bristol Shakespeare Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe. Sadly our lovely original Fluellen is moving up-country for a new "day-job" and will be unable to do the "on-stage" performances. We will be asking our new Fluellen to learn lines between the time of casting and the "physical" rehearsals, as the physical rehearsals will mainly focus on the blocking and tech for the stage shows. One to one sessions at mutual convenience, with the director over Zoom can be arranged in addition. The script has some small cuts in it but is largely the original full text, set and costume styling is a mildly post-apocalyptic near-future.

Video of previous "online" performance and featuring the full cast you'll be working with, also available.
Our website casting page, although currently geared to our next main production casting, explains how we work with all our castings and shows including full details of how the profitshares are worked, our inclusion and covid-safety policies, and example of our actors agreements: https://www.southdevonplayers.com/auditions.html
​
And here is a video from our founder (also the director of this production) also showing a clip of a previous Shakespeare show performance by our team - on the same stage as we will be performing Henry V: https://youtu.be/ggB6sYWnd30

Hello lovely people! 
Apologies for the delay in updating. 

Mailchimp
First of all, we think and hope that we have got the mailchimp glitches sorted out. It should all come out smoothly only Friday to everyone again as usual. We do ask anyone recieving our newsletter to let us know if anything seems glitchy though! 

Edinburgh Fringe Festival
In very good news, we are, for the first time, but not the last, bringing our shows to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. This year we will be taking Henry V, and next year Ben Hur. Many thanks to our actor Eve Germaine, for finding the details of such a fantastic opportunity! 

As soon as we have ticketing information, we shall of course be sharing the details all across oour website and social media. 

Henry V
The rehearsals are going fabulously well; it is a real privilege to work such brilliant cast! Everyone is almost off-book and thier characterisations are flawless - it is simply a case now of practicing the techincal aspects and the show will be ready. 

Ben Hur
A number of people have been asking for the audition packs and sides - which are already available. The information packs are on our website - and please email us on [email protected] for sides. 

Other
Over the past months three people have been able to get their membership of Spotlight approved based on their South Devon Players credits - which is a question we are often asked - so it does indeed look as if the credits are easily accepted. Again, all fantastic news for everyone building thier careers. 

And that, in a quick summary, is the main news of the last little while. 
​Stay safe, and keep well!