Play Readings & Auditions
Auditions:
Our summer 2012 production will be BRENTON VERSUS BRENTON by David Tristram. Our director will be Stephen Scammell and it will be produced by Philip de Glanville
Initial auditions took place in March but some parts remain to be cast. Further auditions will be held on Tuesday 8th May from 7.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. at P8 drama studio at Frome College - for location map go to:-
http://www.fromecollege.somerset.sch.uk/frome/content/parents/frome_college_map.php
Rehearsals will start mid May
Performances : 10pm nightly , from Monday 9th July Saturday 14th July inclusive Upstairs at the Cornerhouse
A little about this play ....
Its a bonkers play! ... A spoof of the American 80s soaps and mini blockbuster series. Set in Chicagos biggest advertising agency. Fast talking, fast moving and full of visual gag opportunities. Every character is very much exaggerated, but against each other all appear quite normal in this crazy world. The plot twists and turns as secrets are exposed, and fortunes change. Dark secrets and skeletons are aplenty in all the characters wardrobes, and as can only be expected in any 80s soap worth its whisky chasers, meaningful looks, and shoulder pads, this one act play reaches its denouement with satisfying ridiculous revelations.
Characters in Brenton v Brenton
(Please note Stephen has deliberately not put ages down for the characters as they could range some twenty years with regard to compatibility of casting, and he does not wish to deter anyone from auditioning)
Deke Brenton
Hard boiled head of Chicagos hottest advertising agency. A fast talking, hard hitting ruthless business tycoon. Oblivious of his own failings, and used to getting his own way. Soon to have his fortunes changed by the arrival of his string of ex wives. A desperate man, in desperate times.
Brett Howard
Dekes only surviving member of staff. Quirky, creative type. Bespectacled and nervous in a Clark Kent way, but loving and caring. Not sure how he ended up working for such a schmuck as Deke Brenton. Prone to illness and nervous habits.
Foxglove Brenton (Foxy)
Dekes grown up daughter, yet childlike and traumatised by her parents separation and lack of love and affection. She skulks and shuffles around the offices in a lost world of trauma and loneliness with curious pets for company. However, soon to be brought out of her shell and start to blossom.
Lana Brenton
Dekes estranged wife. Glamorous, and deadly in equal measure. Out to get Deke, and ruin him ... anyway possible. Cold, calculating and not very pleasant. Actually a perfect match for Deke, but a whole lot sharper.
Matt Kirby
The Brenton family lawyer, and Lanas brother. Sombre, laconic, dead pan ... grey. A living ghoul of a lawyer. Happy to fleece anyone ... especially family.
Blanche De-Ville
Dekes first wife. Older than Lana, but otherwise the name says it all. Also out to get Deke, and very much enjoy seeing him fall from any possible height.
Play Readings:
Our monthly play readings usually take place on the second Monday of the month and are held "Upstairs at The Lamb" (now renamed The Cornerhouse) situated at the top of Bath Street, Frome. Readings start at 7.45 p.m. so arrive in good time, get a drink at the bar and head upstairs for a great evening.
August '12
Time for a summer break but we'll be back in September (on Monday 10th to be precise) so watch this space. Happy holidays!
2nd July '12
Time for a good farce which means the master, Ray Cooney, and his much performed Out of Order. When Richard Willey, a Government Junior Minister, plans to spend the evening with Jane Worthington, one of the Opposition's typists, things go disastrously wrong, and he sends for his PPS, George Pigden who, through Richard's lies, sinks further and further into trouble and ends up going through an identity crisis! A hugely successful sequel to Ray Cooney's Two Into One, Out Of Order received the 1990 Olivier Award for Comedy of the Year. Cast: M6 and F4.
11th June '12
Our Country's Good is a 1988 play written by British playwright, Timberlake Wertenbaker, adapted from the Thomas Keneally novel The Playmaker. The story concerns a group of Royal Marines and convicts in a penal colony in New South Wales, in the 1780s, who put on a production of The Recruiting Officer. It is based on a true story. A large mixed cast.
14th May '12
Time for some more Ayckbourn and his surprisingly lighthearted but, as always, funny play entitled Improbable Fiction. Six aspiring authors meet on a winter's evening to discuss their work. The chairman, Arnold, attempts to persuade the group to collaborate on a piece of writing, an idea that is quickly dismissed. However, as Arnold is clearing up after the meeting there is a clap of thunder, a black-out and then the story that would have resulted from the collaboration takes place before his very eyes. Sharp comedy and affectionate satire characterize this zany, imaginative play. M3 (30s, 40s, 60s) F4 (18, 30s, 40s). Setting: the hall of a large house.
April '12
A change to some much broader comedy, and a nice dose of nostalgia, with John Dighton's classic "The Happiest Days of Your Life". A real period piece which everyone enjoyed.
March '12
Time for some wit which meant time for some Oscar Wilde and his social satire, An Ideal Husband.
February '12
It was time for a heavyweight and so we turned to Arthur Miller's Death of a Saleman which delivered all the punches with brilliant writing and beautiful tenderness. A great play reading night.
January '12
After the festivities and over indulgence we settled down to enjoy one of the series of plays featuring the The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild by David McGillivray & Walter Zerlin Jnr.
December '11
There will be no play reading this month but we will be back in the New Year. Happy Christmas!
November '11
A great turn out for The Germans and The Kipper and the Corpse both episodes of the iconic TV series Fawlty Towers. Such were the howls of laughter that we will try to make a date with more episodes this time next year.
October '11
2011 celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Terence Rattigan, one of the greatest British dramatists of the twentieth century, and it was a delight to join in those celebrations by reading his Second World War classic play, Flare Path.
September '11
To welcome us back to play reading nights we read a play which will be our spring 2012 production, The Graduate by Terry Johnson adapted from the novel by Charles Webb. It was a lovely taster for what is to come next year when we bring it to life on the Merlin stage!
August '11
We took a well earned summer break but normal service was resumed in September.
July '11
A summer bonanza! Three one act plays which are contenders for our production in next year's Frome Festival. We read Brenton versus Brenton by David Tristam, Two Fat Men by Gillian Plowman, and The Erpingham Camp by Joe Orton.
June '11
The Memory of Water by Shelagh Stephenson, winner of the Olivier Award for Best Comedy in 2000, was the play choice this month. Three sisters, whose paths in life have diverged widely, meet after the death of their difficult mother Vi. The general verdict was a delightful play.