Two amazing local organisations supporting our work this week- we are so grateful to both.
Enormous thank you to Brixham Town Council for approving a grant to pay for our rehearsal space for the next 12 months covering the rest of our rehearsals for Ben Hur, and then for our following show Beowulf, creating loads of creative opportunities for local people. This is an enormous help- thank you so much to the Council
Also an equally huge thank you to Brixham Sea Rangers for providing the wooden oars for our lovely galley slaves in our theatre production of Ben Hur following our shoutout on Facebook.
#theatre #regionaltheatre #thankyou #britishtheatre #brixham #torbay #acting #actorslife #supportarts #supportheatre #benhur #gratitude

 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 southdevonplayers@gmail.com 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. 

We have updated our Covid-safety document in order to formalise and describe what we are doing to keep our actors, crew, and venue visitors/ staff safe. 

This is of course a living document as regulations may change at any time

Venues will have specific safety policies in line with the venue needs and legislation in place at the time of the shows, which we will also share with our cast & crew, and on the box office page. 

​Our document updated for December can be downloaded here: 

​Covid Safety Update
Just a note that over the Festive break, I have obtained a box of lateral flow tests to keep at rehearsals. I have also ordered a hand-held temperature check scanner.
As things stand, when we return to rehearsals after the New Year, we will be asking all actors, crew and anyone else visiting the rehearsal space, to complete a lateral flow test before coming. This will remain on an honour system, but if it tests positive please let us know and dont come in.
If you have run out of lateral flow tests, you will be able to come early and use one at the rehearsal hall.
We also will have the temperature scanner in use as a second line of defence as soon as it has arrived. If you do not wish for it to be used on you, please let us know ahead of time. I will not be recording data on temperatures, basically the attendance book will suffice as "you are reasonably believed to be all clear at the time of attendance".
Please note that we may update safety notes at any time as more information and any change to regulations comes in.
I apologise very much for all of this as it does feel like a lot of privacy invasion, however, it is really important we all not only look after ourselves and each other (after all we all want to make a hell of a great show!) , but also remember that at home or work, many of us have contact with people who are elderly, or have disabilities/ health conditions which make Covid a great deal more dangerous to them, so we don't want to take anything back to them.
Laura Jury

​Some of the Roman swords and shields and helmets arrived today for our theatre production of Ben Hur- and will be prepared for the show over the next little while.
Many thanks to funding from Tesco community fund via Groundwork.
Getting reenactment gear wherever possible is brilliant for us with historical- set shows because it can add a brilliant dimension of realism to the show as well as an educational dimension for learning about historical aspects for both actors and audiences.
#theatre #acting #actors #Romans #brixham #tescocommunityfund #benhur #devon #regionaltheatre #britishtheatre #actorslife #stageproduction

HENRY V ANNOUNCEMENT
Due to illness and related personal circumstances for some of the team, we have had to take what is an ultimately gut-wrenching but unavoidable decision to cancel Henry V at Brixham Theatre. This is the first time in 17 years since we formed, that we have ever had to cancel a performance.

We did look at rescheduling but we’re unable to find a suitable local venue for January that allows for professional theatre with fast costume changes, a workable backdrop and the tech, as well as audience numbers. After that logistically it becomes too much as we run close to Ben Hur (already contracted in a number of venues across three counties of the Southwest) .

We are all self-employed freelance actors and creatives working professionally on many different things with different companies and via our agents, so rescheduling then becomes increasingly difficult- getting us all in the same place at the same time especially in the summer when a lot more film and tv work comes in via our agents & contact would make herding cats look easy. 

So, we will be focussing on making Ben Hur even bigger and better than it was going to be, and coming back to a stage near you with a bang in the spring. You’ll see many of the same cast in Ben Hur!
​
We do apologize sincerely for all disappointment for audience- John at Brixham Theatre will be in contact with you in due course if you have bought tickets. We will continue working like mad behind the scenes, and see you on stage soon.

We had a brilliant meeting with our volunteer Vikki, to discuss the launch of the test phase of our free inclusion project, Theatre Buddies, helping local people struggling with isolation and loneliness to access and enjoy theatre- and make friends.
The draft ideas are at https://www.southdevonplayers.com/buddies.html

Due to autumn availabilities for Vikki, and Laura (group founder) being seriously ill and currently unable to take on extra things, Vikki and Laura sadly agreed that Theatre Buddies will publicly launch in Spring 2022. This allows more time for preparing the project. This is later than we would have liked but with illness and life commitments eating time this autumn, there has been no choice but to push it to Spring 2022. 

It will center around a befriender being available to meet with people who would like to attend our shows at the theatre but have nobody to go with and are anxious about going on their own. The befriender, Vikki, will provide that welcoming, friendly face at our shows. We are also considering having social meetups, maybe once every three months or so, where local people struggling with isolation, depression and loneliness, can meet up with others who have the shared interest of theatre. 

The second half of our Ben Hur stage production opens at the arena.
The Romans were famous for their gladiatorial games, spectacular and brutal in equal measure.
On Sunday, those of our cast who volunteered, began the training for our staging of the gladiatorial games.
Where we thought, we would get through safety, backgrounds, and basic moves, the cast picked it all up like lightening, and we actually ended up beginning the choreography for the fights.
If Day 1 of this is anything to go by, this is going to be absolutely incredible.
Some gladiators will live, some won't.
A lot of our staging of the latter part of the Games remains a hidden spoiler (after all, it culminates in the epic showdown between Judah Ben Hur and Massala) until show-day
but you will get to see bits of the leadup, as we follow the production.
*Note, please don't try any of this at home - our actors are training in strictly choreographed sequences, working to their own strengths and abilities, under the supervision of fight trainers, with safety-checked weapons - currently mainly foam "larp-safe" weapons.
#theatre #acting #BenHur2022 #BenHur #rehearsal #Brixham #Gladiators #Roman #actors #actorslife #Torbay #theater #staging #Devon #regionaltheatre #britishtheatre

The all important link to all the information: ​https://www.torbaylottery.co.uk/support/the-south-devon-players

The Torbay Lottery is a locally run lottery which supports verified local charities and non-profit / community organizations. You play from £1 (and can win up to £25,000!  We have already had two winners of smaller prizes) and in turn this helps raise funds for us as well. 

We would (naturally) be enormously grateful if you would like to sign up to support our work, in creating exciting new theatre, and providing inclusive, exciting opportunities for local people of all demographics and backgrounds to get involved in theatre, to build experience in theatre towards or as part of careers in the arts, and work towards their Equity cards & Spotlight registrations if they need to. 

100% of everything raised via Torbay Lottery goes directly into our work: hiring a room in a local community centre for rehearsals; costumes, props, insurances, printing posters and flyers to advertise the shows, developing free education packs for schools and audience members. 

​Our amazing deputy stage manager, Jenny Abrahall, captured these fab photos of some of the Ben Hur cast in rehearsal last Sunday. We hope to start bringing in costuming soon soon very he next few weeks (we are still in early days!) . The characterisation and focus of the cast is brilliant.
With many thanks to Crafty Cwtch and Tesco bags of life who are helping with sponsoring costumes and such - these are some of the amazing local actors who you’re helping!