Director Tim Hoyle writes:

I am delighted to be directing Alligators in what will be its first amateur production. It is a modern play about an ordinary family whose lives are suddenly shattered by something from the past resurfacing. After this can life ever be the same?

I am separating the casting reading for this production to cast the role of a young girl first.

This is a 7 year old called GENEVIEVE TURNER. This part can be shared between two young actresses, or an older teenage who is able to play a young girl convincingly. This is an essential role and appears in many scenes. It is a wonderful opportunity for whoever is cast.

The audition for this role will be on Sunday 6^th October 2:00pm in the Club Room. Please could anyone wanting to audition for Genevieve please contact me via the Abbey Theatre, or get your parent(s) to, so we can discuss it and I will send you the scene(s) for the audition.

Other Characters

DANIEL TURNER, late thirties (Genevieve’s father)

SALLY TURNER, his wife, mid-thirties (Genevieve’s mother)

RACHEL HORNE, his Solicitor, early-forties

CATHY, social worker, any age from early thirties upwards

The ages are from the script and are the playing ages.  Auditions for these roles will be held Tuesday 8^th October 8:00pm and Sunday 13^th October 2:00pm, both in the Club Room.

The play will run 22/1/20 – 1/2/20 and rehearsals will start 11/11/19 (with a break for Christmas).

Scripts will be available in the Members’ Room from early August.

Director Alan Bobroff writes:

Auditions: 5 and 7 November 2019

Rehearsals start: 16 December 2019

Performances:  26 February–7 March 2020

This is a beautiful and very emotional play, the film of which starred Judy Dench and Maggie Smith. It is a tale of unrequited love affecting a lady rather late in life. It is set in 1937 when Europe was on the brink of war and social attitudes were very different from those of the post war years. There are wonderful parts for some of our more mature actors.

The two principal characters are sisters who only have each other for company, living in a remote part of Cornwall. After a storm the ladies find a young man, Andrea, washed up on the beach. He is carried back to their cottage where they nurse him back to health.

Janet is the older and more dominant of the two sisters and had a romantic attachment with a man who was killed during the First World War. She obviously treasures her memories of him but Ursula the younger and softer sister has only her dreams and the longing to love and be loved. They are in their fifties or sixties, an age which at the time was much older than it is today. The presence, however, in their small cottage for several months of a handsome and charming young man stirs in Ursula feelings with which she really cannot deal.

CAST

URSULA: The younger of the sisters, playing age 50s–60s but by modern standards would seem much older. She is a spinster and has led a very sheltered life with no exposure to any kind of relationship with a man. She is upper middle class and speaks RP but rather differently from how we do today with no TV and only BBC to listen to. She is kind and warm-hearted and we see her experiencing feelings towards the young man which she does not understand but which we recognise as her falling in love.

JANET: The older of the sisters, and the more dominant of the two. She had a relationship with a man, albeit a rather chaste one, who was lost in World War 1 and whom she still mourns. Like many women of the time she has never had any contact with another man.  She recognises the feelings that Ursula is developing for the young man to which she is not entirely immune herself. This is demonstrated when a younger woman comes on the scene and shows an interest in him and Janet gives her short shrift.

ANDREA: The young man (playing age 20) who is shipwrecked. He is Polish and when he first appears speaks no English at all but is taught by Ursula as the play progresses. He is also a very talented violinist and the actor will have to be taught how to hold a violin and bow in order that he can mime and look like a violinist. A suitable instructor will be provided and this will entail the actor in spending more time outside the normal rehearsal schedule learning and whoever accepts the part must be prepared for this. He will also be expected to appear to be learning English and a Polish voice coach will be provided to help with the accent.

DORCAS: The cook/housekeeper, playing age 50s–60s.  She is the wife of a fisherman from the local village. She will have a strong Cornish accent. She regards the kitchen and all the domestic duties as her personal domain and would be regarded as a servant by the ladies.

OLGA DANILOF: A young woman, playing age 25-35, of East European origin. She is an artist visiting Cornwall to paint.  She is also the sister of a world-renowned concert violinist and recognises Andreas’s exceptional talent which she wishes to promote. She will require an accent although she is very well educated and cultured so her English is good.

DOCTOR MEAD: Playing age 60s. He is the local GP and a widower. He is probably not originally local, so a Cornish accent is not necessary. He is a keen amateur violinist and plays with the local hospital orchestral society. He will be required to mime a short piece on the violin.

alan@bobroff.com