First up was Deathrap – Ira Levin’s chilling comedy. We have five characters to cast and it’s an interesting challenge to find actors that can work together creating entirely truthful characters. It is essential that the audience believe in the situation for the thrills to work. We’ve seen about 6 or 7 people for each part from hundreds of suggestions. They read extracts of the play and it’s nothing like what you see on X-Factor of Britain’s Got Talent; I try and get the best out of each auditionee by making them feel calm and confident. I want them to leave thinking “that’s the best I could have done”.
So far we’ve managed to cast the terrific Stephen Pinder as playwright Sidney Bruhl. You may remember Stephen from his appearance in the 2010 production of Absent Friends as well as his time in Brookside as Max Farnham. Helen Kay, who appeared in both One for the Road and Absurd Person Singular here, will play his wife Myra Bruhl.
We also held auditions for Dick Whittington. We’ve already cast a couple of parts; Fine Time Fontayne and Richard J Fletcher are returning to the Coliseum reuniting a fantastic double act. Their comic timing is faultless and they both bring buckets of experience with them. Fine Time has been working in panto for many years as a performer, writer and director and Richard was trained in physical theatre which he superbly shows off on stage mastering the prat falls and slap stick routines. We have a few more characters left to fill and we saw a great range of actors yesterday. I can also confirm that we have the brilliant Andonis Anthony returning to play evil King Rat.
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Richard Fletcher in Sleeping Beauty last year |
Auditions for the chorus will be on Sunday 18 September. This is a great experience for young girls to get involved in a professional production. Hundreds apply each year so not everyone will get in. In fact, last year a girl was cast having unsuccessfully auditioned for the previous five years. She went away, worked hard to improve and appeared in Sleeping Beauty. Each year the teams rise to the occasion and add a huge amount to the show. It’s fantastic to see them interacting with the professional cast and learning from them.
It might be July but we’re already in panto mode over here at the Coliseum.
See you at the theatre.
Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director
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