#2021 Auditions
Canberra REP regularly has six shows each calendar year for which we hold open Auditions. During 2021 we are producing 7 shows.
If you have any questions please email or call
.
dates subject to change*
Audition Bookings are curerntly open for:
Rope by Patrick Hamilton
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
2021 productions already cast are Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Cosi and The Governor's Family.
Auditions for ROPE have been announced. Scheduled for 13 & 14 March at Canberra REP Theatre, space TBD.
Scripts are available from the venue between 10am and 4pm Monday to Friday. $5 refundable deposit on return.
ROPE by Patrick Hamilton
The classic thriller, made famous by Alfred Hitchcock’s film version starring James Stewart. When two wealthy students plot and commit ‘the perfect crime’ to prove their intellectual superiority, the arrogance of the thrill killers gradually comes undone as they invite family and friends to a dinner party with a difference!
CHARACTERS:
LEAD:
Wyndham Brandon
Male (20-30yrs) – Oxford undergraduate, confident, intelligent, athletic
(upper-class/RP English accent).
Charles Granillo
Male (20-30yrs) – Oxford undergraduate, impressionable, nervous
(upper-class/RP English accent).
Rupert Cadell
Male (30-40yrs) – a poet and former professor of Brandon and Granillo
(RP English accent).
SUPPORTING:
Kenneth Raglan
Male (20-30yrs) – friend of Brandon and Granillo; Oxford undergraduate
(upper-class/RP English accent).
Leila Arden
Female (20-30yrs) – friend of Brandon and Granillo; Oxford undergraduate
(upper-class/RP English accent).
Sir Johnstone Kentley
Male (50-70yrs) – father of the victim
(upper-class/RP English accent).
Mrs Debenham
Female (50-60yrs) – sister of Sir Johnstone Kentley
(upper-class/RP English accent).
Sabot
Male or Female (30-60yrs) – house-servant to Brandon and Granillo
(RP English or possibly European accent).
AUDITION EXCERPTS
Please prepare the following sections from the play. You do not need to know the material off-by-heart, but please be very familiar with it. A reader will be present at the auditions. Upper-class or RP (received pronunciation) English accents required.
BRANDON:
- ACT 1
Brandon: “Feeling yourself, Granno?” to Brandon “I am quite lucid – am I not?” - ACT 2
Brandon: “What in God’s name do you mean?” to Brandon: “Where is it now? Where is it now?”
GRANILLO:
- ACT 1
Granillo: “Well, Rupert?” to Granillo: “Coming! Coming along?”
- ACT 2
Brandon: “What in God’s name do you mean?” to Brandon: “Where is it now? Where is it now?”
RUPERT:
- ACT 2
Rupert: “I think, possibly, I approve of murder too much to approve of capital punishment” to Rupert: “But the point is that I have proved that I don’t disapprove of murder. Haven’t I?” - ACT 3
Brandon: “Are you going or are you not?” to Rupert: “Possibly. Nevertheless, may I look inside that chest?”
RAGLAN:
ACT 1
Raglan: “Hullo” to Granillo: “It was, I assure you. I’m very harmless”
LEILA:
ACT 1
Rupert: “You know, I’m coming to the conclusion that there’s some ulterior motive about this chest picnic” to Leila: “What – on moral grounds?
SIR JOHNSTONE:
ACT 2
Sir Johnstone: “Hullo…Hullo…Hullo…Hullo, hullo…” to Sir Johnstone: “I’m getting old, that’s my trouble”
MRS DEBENHAM:
ACT 1
Brandon: “Tell me, what do you think about films, Mrs Debenham?” to Brandon: “Well come along, the rest of you – if you want to, that is.”
SABOT:
ACT 1
Rupert: “Ah – good evening, Sabot” to Sabot: “Mr Brandon, sair?”
[Back to Top]
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard
Audition Character and acting notes - Auditions 22 & 23 May at Canberra REP Theatre, playing dates12-28 August 2021.
Auditions are in one hour blocks - with monologues first and group work following. Sessions start at 10am - 4pm, with up to six auditionees in each session.
Scripts are available from the venue Monday - Friday 10am - 4pm, for a $5 refundable deposit.
For the auditions:
Please prepare a monologue to memory – preferably from the play but not essential.
General Note:
Stoppard’s R and G are Dead, first performed in 1966, is a modern play based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, but RE-constructed from the point of view of two very minor characters who, in Shakespeare’s play, serve merely as not much more than a pair of plot devices.
Because Shakespeare gives Ros and Guil only the most simple characterisation, when they come to be the main characters in Stoppard’s play, they don’t have enough information to know who they are and why there are there. So they find themselves in a theatrical wilderness, unable to understand what’s going on, and struggling to deal with whatever fate throws at them.
The play has lots of clever dialogue, philosophising and contemplations on the themes of life, death and fate!
Characters:
The characters are all from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Rosencrantz
Guildenstern
Minor characters in Shakespeare’s play, now the central characters. Both are lost and confused, but try to make sense of their situation and both try to do what is expected of them. Ros seems to be more easy-going and accepting while Guil seems to be the deeper thinker of the pair. However, it’s not quite that simple. There is little differentiation and they are often mistaken for each other. The differences between them will develop during rehearsal.
Both actors should be skilled at brisk, modern dialogue; vocal and physical flexibility is very important. Gender is unimportant.
The Player
He is the leader/director of the Tragedians, an itinerant acting troupe. The player is clever and highly articulate. He is a survivor, pragmatic and manipulative.
Vocal and physical skills: good voice, able to deliver fast-paced dialogue, able to cover a range of vocal styles from modern to heroic style. Juggling, acrobatics, dance skills would be useful
The Tragedians
Wandering acting troupe. Four or five characters requiring a range of musical, vocal and physical skills. No dialogue, but lots of mime. The ability to play a portable musical instrument would be wonderful!
The group includes the character of Alfred, a young boy - women were played by youthful boys in Elizabethan times. Alfred can be played by a female actor.
Hamlet
Prince of Denmark. The classic misunderstood young-man-in-crisis from Shakespeare’s play, but with a lot less to say.
Ophelia
Hamlet’s ex- love interest and daughter of Polonius.
An emotional role.
Gertrude
Queen of Denmark, Hamlet’s mother, has married her brother-in-law Claudius very soon after her husband’s death. Maybe not wise about men, but she seems to genuinely care about Hamlet.
Acting skills: Shakespearean dialogue.
Claudius
King of Denmark, Hamlet’s Uncle, has married his brother’s widow. Seems rather manipulative.
Acting skills: Shakespearean dialogue
Polonius
Usually portrayed as an older man. Father to Ophelia, he is advisor to Claudius and keen to please him. Perhaps a bit foolish?
Acting Skills: Shakespearean dialogue
Laertes
Brother to Ophelia and son to Polonius. Appears only as a dead body in Stoppard’s play.
Soldier, Ambassador, Horatio
Each has small section of Shakespearean dialogue. Horatio gets to do the final speech
Acting skills: Shakespearean dialogue.
Attendants and other non-speaking parts
