And this weekend, our tour of Beowulf concluded with an excellent performance at Torquay's Royal Lyceum theatre.
Now, the plans for over Christmas and the New Year, include sorting out our props and costumes from Beowulf (putting them away) and getting our props and costumes etc, for Les Misérables. 

It has been a fantastic show run - after a shaky start and some recasts, it came to have fabulous feedback, with a small but an amazing cast, most of whom plan to return  to the stage with us in future shows and projects, and fabulous permanent relationships forged with new venues. 

We are currently embarking on our next theatre production, a dramatisation of the Anglo-saxon epic poem, Beowulf, which will be performed around the South Devon area and Torbay in November/ December 2022. 
We always create educational materials around each of our productions, and would like very much to hear from any schools or homeschoolers teaching this poem as to what materials they might especially find at use - created for free or "at -cost" which we can make available online. 
We would also very much like to hear from any schools in the area, or homeschooling groups who would be interested in arranging either a trip to one of our performances in November/ December, or to recieve the theatre show streamed online (available from the end of November). 
Please do get in touch at any time to discuss, we would love to hear from you. Our direct email is southdevonplayers@gmail.com


Our education side is led by our founder Laura Jury, who has a masters degree in education, focussing on the teaching of theatre, from the University of Exeter
The South Devon Players offers a new approach to theatre-making of world-class standard. Involving people of all levels of experience, from beginners to seasoned professionals, we create full scale dramatic productions primarily focusing on historical events, literature, and classical texts. 

We perform in our home-town of Brixham then tour around the Devon area, as well as streaming our shows online to global audiences. 

We were founded during the winter of 2005/6 to create inclusive opportunities for people in the Torbay area (and some from the wider Devon area) to get involved in creating high-quality theatre and thereby develop / further professional skills, careers and portfolios towards, and as part of, professionally working in the entertainment industry, led by three volunteer company directors.

People starting out with us have also gone on to work in large scale film & TV productions, to further training inclusive of RADA and Bristol Old Vic, working with us helps them obtain the credits needed for professional registration with the professional actors Spotlight directory, and Equity (the actors and entertainment creatives trade union) which in turns allows them to be able to apply to register with larger actors agencies. We also attract established professional actors seeking to expand and grow their portfolios. 

Audience feedback is also very positive from our shows and projects, frequently likening the quality of our shows to rival that of the Globe, and other famous theatre production companies. 

Our work, over the past few years, has won several awards including on a national and international scale; we are the All-England winner of the "Epic Award" 2017 (now rebranded as the Creative Lives Award) and the Theatre Partner Award in the Long Island Theatre Awards 2019 (New York), putting theatre from Brixham squarely on a national and international map.
You can read more about us at www.southdevonplayers.com, or www.facebook.com/sdevonplayers
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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)
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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 in the last few rehearsals before the first performances at Brixham Theatre. the cast are doing brilliantly, and from Sunday the final three rehearsals are full dress/ tech. 

Don't forget to get your tickets for the Brixham shows on April 8th and 9th
Shows at  www.southdevonplayers.com/benhurbrixham.html
Brixham Theatre
Bolton Cross, Brixham TQ5 8TA

SHOW TIME(S)
Fri: April 8th 7.30pm
Sat: April 9th 2.30pm & 7.30pm

Few rehearsals have resulted in some fabulous photoshoots for as many of the Ben Hur actors as could attend the shoots at Brixham Theatre last Sunday after rehearsals. Photos by Laura Jury at the South Devon Players and Paul at Brixham Theatre

Tickets are on sale at https://www.southdevonplayers.com/box-office.html for Brixham Theatre and all other show venues. 

Part of our show education packs for students traditionally, is a video showing ten words from the show in BSL (British Sign Language.)
Sarah Gregori has kindly created this video for our Ben Hur education pack, and also added in the full alphabet in BSL as well.
This video is subtitled as well.
Feel free to share to anyone who may find it useful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9URt2-OlrE

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.