A Double Bill “The Proposal” by Anton Chekhov & “Black Comedy” by Peter Shaffer

PRODUCTION DATES: 22ND June to 12th July 2009 @ the Dolphin Theatre, UWA (a gorgeous little, professionally fitted proscenium arch theatre to perform in!) Auditionees will need to: •demonstrate a flair and energy for high farce. Comic ability and timing plus a sense of humour is a must! •Prepare a comic monologue (maximum 2 minutes) from a modern comedy. Auditionees may choose to prepare an excerpt from either of the above plays (OPTIONAL). Auditionees may nominate to audition for both plays in one audition with the option for double casting. “The Proposal” by Anton Chekhov, trans (1916). Julius West, directed by Jo Williams. Web-link www.one-act-plays.com/comedies/proposal.html SETTING: CHUBUKOV's country-house in pre-revolutionary Russia, c. 1890. CHARACTERS STEPAN STEPANOVITCH CHUBUKOV (Male, 50’s-60’s) A landowner of a provincial Russian estate, lets his daughter do all the work while he enjoys a lazy retirement. A Flamboyant, colourful character with a flair for conflict. NATALYA STEPANOVNA, (Female, mid-late 20’s) Chubukov’s daughter, a potential spinster in waiting and in love with Lomov. She is feisty, hard working, plain and argumentative. IVAN VASSILEVITCH LOMOV (Male, 35). A neighbour of Chubukov, a large and hearty, but very suspicious landowner. An ultra-sensitive hypochondriac, neurotic and all round wimp, the comic centre of the play. “Black Comedy” by Peter Shaffer, directed by Meredith Daniel. Web-link http://members.fortunecity.com/bookdepository/plays/black/comedy2.html SETTING: BRINDSLEY’S apartment in South Kensington, London. The production uses a reverse lighting scheme to depict a situation in total darkness. The first several minutes of the play take place in pitch black for the audience, but when the fuse blows, the stage lights come up and the actors are seen stumbling around as if cast into a world of darkness. CHARACTERS BRINDSLEY MILLER: A young sculptor, intelligent and attractive, but nervous and uncertain of himself. CAROL MELKETT: His fiancée. A young debutante; very pretty, very spoiled; very silly. Her sound is that unmistakable, terrifying deb. quack. MISS FURNIVAL: A middle-aged lady. Prissy and refined. Clad in the blouse and sack skirt of her gentility, her hair in a bun, her voice in a bun, she reveals only the repressed gestures of the middle-class spinster - until alcohol undoes her. COLONEL MELKETT: CAROL's commanding father. Brisk, barky, yet given to sudden vocal calms which suggest a deep and alarming instability. It is not only the constant darkness which gives him his look of wide-eyed suspicion. HAROLD GORRINGE: The bachelor owner of an antique-china shop, and BRINDSLEY's neighbour, HAROLD comes from the North of England. His friendship is highly conditional and possessive: sooner or later, payment for it will be asked. A specialist in emotional blackmail, he can become hysterical when slighted, or (as inevitably happens) rejected. He is older than BRINDSLEY by several years. SCHUPPANZIGH: A German refugee, chubby, cultivated, and effervescent. He is an entirely happy man, delighted to be in England, even if this means being employed full time by the London Electricity Board. CLEA: BRINDSLEY's ex-mistress; dazzling, emotional, bright and mischievous. The challenge to her to create a dramatic situation out of the darkness is ultimately irresistible. GEORG BAMBERGER: An elderly millionaire art collector, easily identifiable as such. Like the Electrician, he is a German.