Calendar Girls Auditions
By Tim Firth
https://www.thebradleyplayhouse.org/audition/calendar-girls-auditions
Director: Tina Huey
Stage Manager: Jessica Hall
Audition information:
Sunday, April 12 6:30-8PM Sloat Rehearsal Space
Monday, April 13 6:30-8 PM Sloat Rehearsal Space
Time commitment:
Rehearsals:
Three evenings per week
All day Sunday, May 31
Every evening tech week, June 1-4
Performance dates: June 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14
Character age range: M & F: 20-75
AUDITION MATERIALS & REQUIREMENTS:
-Please plan to arrive at the start time and stay until the end time.
-Arrive early for parking and paperwork.
-Audition materials will be available in the drop-box outside the theater doors at least 2 weeks before the audition dates. Please only take one copy of the role(s) you are auditioning for.
-We are actively seeking and welcoming actors of all races, ethnicity, national origin, religion, mental and physical abilities, sexual/affectional orientation, gender and its expression.
-Should you have specific needs or you have questions or concerns, please contact Tina Huey at
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SHOW DESCRIPTION
Inspired by a true story, this comedy-drama follows a group of Yorkshire Women’s Institute friends who hatch a bold plan: a charity calendar with nothing to hide but their humor and courage. What begins as a lighthearted idea soon grows into a national sensation, testing friendships and changing lives with warmth, laughter, and heart.
ROLES AVAILABLE WITH CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS:
Please note: The ages listed in the description are the characters' ages, not necessarily the actors' ages.
An English accent is required for auditions. There are many resources on YouTube that can be of help.
WOMEN ROLES
CHRIS (50s): You want Chris at your party. She will talk to people she doesn’t know, and things to say to all silences and generate laughter. Part of this is because Chris is at home in crowds, holding court, being the center of attention. Without Chris in her life, Annie would be better behaved, her life less fun. The two of them are like naughty schoolgirls.
ANNIE (50s): Annie will join in mischief but is at heart more conformist and less confrontational than Chris. After Chris has put a waiter’s back up in the restaurant, Annie will go in and pour calm. The mischievousness Chris elicits saves Annie from being a saint. She has enough edge to be interesting, and enough salt not to be too sweet.
CORA (45/50s): Cora’s past is the most eclectic, her horizons broadened by having gone to college. This causes a tectonic shift with her more parochial parents. She came back to them pregnant and tail-between-legs, but Cora has too much native resilience to be downtrodden. She is the joker in the pack, but never plays the fool. Her wit is deadpan. It raises laughter in others, but rarely in herself. Her relationship with her daughter is more akin to that between Chris and Annie. Cora doesn’t need to sing like a diva but must be able to sing well enough to start the show with Jerusalem and sing the snatches of other songs required.
JESSIE (60s/70s) Get on the right side of Jessie as a teacher and she’ll be the teacher you remember for life. Get on the wrong side and you will regret every waking hour. A lover of life, Jessie doesn’t bother with cosmetics — her elixir of life is bravery. Jessie goes on rollercoasters. Her husband has been with her a long time and is rarely surprised by her actions. Jessie bothers about grammar and will correct anyone regarding their abuse of the apostrophe.
CELIA (35-45) The fact that Celia is in the Institute is the greatest justification of its existence. A very glamorous woman more at home in a department store than a church hall, she always looks like she’s drifted in from another world. Which she has. She is particularly enamored of Jessie, despite the fact Jessie has very little time for most Celias of this world. There is a rebelliousness in Celia to which Jessie responds. It’s what sets Celia apart from the vapid materialism of her peer group and made her defect.
RUTH (45-50): Ruth’s journey is from the false self-confidence of the emotionally abused to the genuine self-confidence of the woman happy in her own skin. Ruth is eager to please but not a rag doll, and despite being Marie’s right-hand woman she is desperate to be the cartilage in the spine of the Institute and keep everyone happy. She has spine herself — if she was too weak no-one would want her around. But they do, and they feel protective of her because they sense there is something better in Ruth than her life is letting out. They are proven right; at first it is whatever her dominant husband Eddie wants – in the end she breaks away from his influence.
MARIE (50s): Marie has gradually built the current ‘Marie’ around herself over the years as a defense mechanism. She went to her Oz, Cheshire, and found Oz didn’t want her. She came back scorched. The WI is a trophy to her, which justifies her entire existence. There is a lingering part of Marie that would love to be on that calendar. Bossy and controlling she likes to boast to boost her low self-esteem.
LADY CRAVENSHIRE (60s) Lady Cravenshire really doesn’t mean to be so patronizing. But the WI girls seem from another world. The world of her estate workers. When she makes an entrance, she must make an entrance. She is dressed to outplay the others, with a bigger hat than Marie. She is not a tweed-wearer. She must glide in like a galleon. She is very upper class.
ELAINE (20s): A beautician. She doesn’t mean to be so patronizing, but Jessie seems to be from another planet which her Gran inhabits. Her clinical white uniform and well made up face express the modern world she lives in.
BRENDA: A small cameo comedy role. A visiting speaker to the Institute who is less than inspiring on the subject of broccoli. She is a naive lady who knits her own clothes, votes for the Green Party & loves all country pursuits. Very gushing about a rival Institute.
MEN ROLES
JOHN (50s): John is a human sunflower. Not a saint. Not a hero. Just the kind of man you’d want in your car when on a long trip. When he dies it feels like someone somewhere turned a light off.
ROD (50s): You have to be a certain kind of guy to stick with Chris and Rod loves it. He can give back what he gets, and has a deadpan humor which has always made Chris laugh. He drinks a lot but never so much as to have a problem. He would work every hour to make his shop a success. And John was his mate, even though the relationship was originally channelled through their wives.
LAWRENCE (late 20s): Hesitant without being nerdy, Lawrence is a shy young man with enough wit to make a joke and enough spirit to turn up at the WI hall in the first place. When he arranges the shots he is close to female nudity but sees only the photo.
LIAM (late 20s): Liam would like to be directing other things than photoshoots for washing powders. He’s not so unprofessional as to let it show, but we can sense a slight weariness at having to deal with these women. There’s a resigned patience to his actions and each smile he makes we feel is professional. For Liam, this photoshoot is a job. And not the job he wanted.
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