Performances are Oct 4, 5, 11 & 12 at 7PM and Oct 6 & 13 at 2 PM.

Characters

• Chris Bean (The director of the show – also plays Inspector Carter). A first-time director but a fairly decent actor if maybe a little melodramatic. Maybe he’s been in a Shakespeare play once. He tries his best to keep the show on track while gritting his teeth at the ineptness which surrounds him. Note: The actor cast in this role will need to be comfortable performing on a seven-foot-high platform with no railing.
• Jonathan Harris (Plays Charles Haversham, deceased). Poor guy. He’s been cast as a corpse but has trouble playing dead. Don’t worry – he actually has some lines as the play progresses. Note: The actor cast in this role will need to be comfortable performing on a seven-foot-high platform with no railing.
• Sandra Wilkinson (Plays Florence, the fiancé of the deceased who is having a secret affair with his brother). She is the company’s leading lady; a bit of a diva who thinks she’s more talented than she really is. (Or maybe she’s not too bright? There’s room for interpretation.) Note: The actor cast in this role will need to be comfortable being in an enclosed box for up to 5 minutes.
• Max Bennett (Plays Cecil, brother of the deceased who is having a secret affair with Florence – also plays Arthur the gardener in Act II). This role is fairly open to interpretation. Is he the company’s typical male ingenue? Their go-to character actor? A bit of a ham who likes applause?
• Robert Grove (Plays Thomas, the deceased best friend and Florence’s brother). This is the sort of actor who always gets cast as the ‘best friend’ or ‘brother.’ Earnest and optimistic, he always believes the show is going much more smoothly than it really is. Note: The actor cast in this role will need to be comfortable performing on a seven-foot-high platform with no railing.
• Dennis Tyde (Plays Perkins the butler). Probably the worst actor of the bunch. Has difficulty pronouncing big words and has to write a cheat sheet on their sleeve. Note: The actor cast in this role will need to be comfortable performing on a seven-foot-high platform with no railing.
• Annie Twilloil (The stage manager). Generally able to solve problems quickly. When she has to substitute as the leading lady, she goes from nervous to confident to downright competitive.
• Trevor Watson (The sound tech guy). Occasionally misses his cues or forgets to turn his mic off. Generally stays backstage until he too must substitute as the leading lady. (This is the least physically demanding role and is less of a time commitment.) Note: The actor cast in this role will need to be comfortable being in an enclosed box for up to 5 minutes.

Audition Materials Here

A perusal copy of the script is available HERE.

Line Breakdown by Character for those interested.

ABOUT THE SHOW: The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society has received a substantial bequest and is putting on a performance of The Murder at Haversham Manor – a 1920s murder mystery play, similar to The Mousetrap, which has the right number of parts for the members. Before the play starts the audience sees the backstage staff doing last-minute adjustments to the set, including trying to mend a broken mantelpiece and find a dog that has run off. During the performance, a play within a play, a plethora of disasters befalls the cast, including doors sticking, props falling from the walls, and floors collapsing. Cast members are seen misplacing props, forgetting lines, missing cues, breaking character, having to drink white spirit instead of whisky, mispronouncing words, stepping on fingers, being hidden in a grandfather clock and being manhandled off stage. One cast member is knocked unconscious, and her replacement (the group’s technician) refuses to yield when she returns. In another scene, an actor repeats an earlier line of dialogue, cuing the other actors to repeat the whole dialogue sequence, ever more frenetically, several times. In the climax, virtually the whole of the remaining set collapses.

Time Period: Present Day