Duets Auditions

Duets Auditions

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Date/Time
Wed 3rd September - Thu 4th September
7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Location
Nova Scotia

Duets Auditions

Auditions will be held on Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th at The Nova Scotia in Hotwells from 7 pm.

Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Place, Cumberland Basin, Bristol,  BS1 6XL.

As Duets is a collection of 4 short plays with one male and one female character in each we will be auditioning people in pairs, using 20 minute slots.  Please arrive at least 15 minutes before your slot to give yourself time to fill in a short form and to read the audition pieces.

Wednesday 3rd is primarily for people wanting to audition for Duets 1 and 4 (playing ages 30 – 65+) and Thursday 4th for people wanting to audition for Duets 2 and 3 (playing ages 25 – 40+), but if you can only make the ‘wrong’ date, or wish to audition for parts across the range that’s not a problem, but please let us know by sending a quick email to secretary@bristolcads.org.uk once you have booked your slot.

It’s very important that we have your EMAIL addresses so we can get in contact with you if the need arise to move the slots around slightly so that people get to audition in pairs. If you can sign up on the doodle with your email address, perfect; if you’d rather not (it will be public) that’s fine, but please email secretary@bristolcads.org.uk with your name a slot as soon as possible.

Synopsis

DUETS by award-winning writer Peter Quilter

Four pairs of characters, four crucial moments . . . Jonathan and Wendy are on a blind date and hoping to get it right this time. For a good reason, Barrie is not really interested in women but Janet is not put off. Shelley and Bobby have decided to take up the non-refundable holiday in Spain, booked before they agreed that divorce is now on the cards. And Angela, having her doubts about marrying for the third time, unwisely chooses her quirky brother, Toby, as her counsellor amid bad omens and OTT wedding dress. The result is a mixture of discomfort and a gloriously funny examination of the chaotic world of love, relationships and the hope that the grass is greener and that disappointment can be held at bay.

More information can be found in the character sketches below.

Character sketches

Character pen-pictures as starting point for work with actors and open to change. 

Duet I Blind date

Jonathan

Dresses quite expensively in what he considers to be ‘cool’, but fails! A not entirely accurate self-description in his dating profile but happy to talk about himself when faced with someone he likes. Believes he has an interesting past e.g. a volunteer fireman until he burnt his finger and passable ballroom dancer. Little success with the ladies and his one-time fiancée dumped him for the concierge of their holiday hotel in Tenerife. He gets nervous and jumpy around women and finds them difficult to read. His discomfort leads him to jabber. He has made his umpteenth and possibly final attempt at the dating game. Probably living on inherited money.

Wendy

Engaged twice, married once. The first engagement “drifted away”. She experienced her husband as a Hoover who sucked away her personality. She has taken a long time to more-or-less recover some of her previous assertiveness, but has some way to go. Amusing, sometimes inadvertently, prone to swearing on occasion and is somewhat bruised by the failed attempts at finding an acceptable new partner. She, also, could do with some support in dressing well.

Playing ages for both characters 30-65+. Both actors cast will probably be of a similar age.

Duet II Secretarial Skills

Barrie

It’s his birthday. Wealthy and dresses well, albeit a little eccentrically at time. He is happily gay, ‘out’ and comfortable in his own skin. Has lots of energy. To strangers he appears straight but, very occasionally, puts on a camp act (complete with stereotypical gestures) when it amuses him to do so. He has a well-developed sense of humour. Barrie can be impulsive – he’s decided he wanted the birthday party three hours before the party is due to start. He has strong, and amusing, views about marriage, the protocol of marriage ceremonies and how marriages should end.  Despite his intelligence he naively fails to spot Janet’s ploys.

Janet

Very capable, bright, cheeky, funny and although Barrie is her boss acts as his equal. She also loves him. Has no trouble in pushing Barrie around. Says/pretends she can’t be bothered to find a man to settle down with. Appears to make light of the major stumbling block between Barrie and her – the fact he appears to be entirely relaxed about his sexual orientation. She is very good at keeping up the banter as she cleverly and subtly appears to reel Barrie in. On the surface Janet seems to cope well with the potential pain of a non-consummated marriage to him. Preferably (but not essentially) at least one actor to be able to perform with a believable American accent.

Playing ages – for Janet late 20s to late-30s and Barrie 40+

Duet III The Holiday

Shelley

Preferably sounds Essex girl (or has a ‘whatever!’ accent) and appears none too bright. However, she deliberately mispronounces some Spanish words and then demonstrates that she is sharp and perceptive with a vocabulary to match e.g. “You xenophobic heathen”. Shelley is a romantic at heart and is distressed by the prospect of divorce and uses alcohol and a caustic wit to mask/cope with her distress. She is very hurt by Bobby’s infidelity but also explains away her dalliance as being acceptable because it was with a childhood sweetheart. Despite the tensions she is inclined to mother Bobby. Towards the end of the Duet she takes a risk but is she being reckless or courageous?

Bobby

Is just a little tipsy but irritated by Shelley being drunk, which she is often. He is cuttingly critical of her; a pattern that has existed for some time. Bobby wants her to be happy after the divorce. He shows signs of caring for Shelley from time to time and tries to look after her but doesn’t seem to be able to sustain this tender side of his character for very long. Although seeming to ‘man up’ over the divorce he too may be finding the forthcoming divorce challenging and painful.

Playing ages – Shelley 25+ and Bobby 25+. Both within around 5 years of each other.

Duet IV The Bride-to-be

Angela

Angela needs help to believe that her imminent, third, marriage is the right thing to do. She slips into her habitual mode of dealing with brother Toby. She wants to be sure that getting married hasn’t become a habit as well as the reassurance that the flowers and other practicalities are under control. Angela gets tense and panicky as several bad omens pop up in her memory, especially when she breaks a mirror. She wonders why she has chosen Toby as a counsellor and confidante.

Tony

Like his sister Angela, Tony comes across as quite posh. He has little emotional intelligence and a compulsion to be honest and ‘rational’. He has a history of inadvertently upsetting Angela and manages to do so at this difficult time too. Since their parents passed away he has done his best to be Angela’s prop but often fails. Despite some of his jibes about her track record in marriage Tony admires Angela and her tenacity; something he lacks. He delivers many funny lines but often has no idea how funny/amusingly crass he is being.

Playing ages – Angela 30 to late-40s but could be older Toby 30-60s. A preference for Toby to be older than Angela but not essential.