Auditions: Great Male Roles In Serial-killer Thriller

By Agatha Christie and Frank Vosper.

From 10am by appointment (other times by negotiation)
Email director Laurie Mills for a script and/or audition time: lowenz@slingshot.co.nz or call on 021 791 199.

Rehearsals start March 15
Sun 7-9:30pm, Tues & Thurs 7.30-10pm (no rehearsal on Easter Sunday, 19 April)
Season: May 9-30

Cecily Harrington has led a staid and proper existence. After winning a large amount of money in a sweepstake, she desperately yearns for a life of adventure. Enter Bruce Lovell, a handsome stranger who sweeps her off her feet. In a whirlwind romance, she recklessly abandons her job, friends and fiancé to settle in the remote and blissful surroundings of a country cottage. However, her newfound “love from a stranger” is not what it seems and in a tense final scene, Cecily discovers the ghastly truth of her new love.

An intense and chilling psychological thriller that examines the sadistic mind of a serial killer and the extremes to which the power of suggestion can be pushed.

The Director
Laurie Mills has been involved with community theatre throughout his adult life in Auckland, much of that time as an actor/director at Howick Little Theatre. His most recent productions have been One Man, Two Guvnors (Dolphin Theatre), The Ladykillers, The Great Gatsby and I’ll Leave It To You (all HLT). He has also directed numerous productions for Howick Youth & Children’s Theatre, including last year’s Once In A Lifetime.

Roles
All characters except Bruce are English; he has a slight American accent. Age ranges are indicative. The play is set in the 1930s.

Louise (Aunty Loo-Loo): (50s-70s) Cecily’s well-meaning aunt. A professional fusser with her heart in the right place. At first she seems to be overly possessive of Cecily and critical of her plans, but later in the play is seen to be caring and rightly concerned at Cecily’s situation. A major supporting role.

Mavis: (20s-early 30s) Cecily’s erstwhile flatmate and good friend. Mavis is a pleasant, calm woman, with a firm manner. She is knocked sideways at Cecily’s decision to change her life so completely, and is distrustful of Bruce and his motives. Mavis is also anxious to see that Cecily’s former fiancé Nigel is aware of the situation, and ensures he remains available to take action. A major supporting role.

Cecily: (20s-early 30s) Although destined for a bland and predictable future with Nigel, she amazes even herself with her capacity to re-evaluate her life and set off on an unpredictable adventure with a man she hardly knows. Later in the play she is forced to consider the result of her actions. And is she all we see her to be in the way she deals with Bruce and her suspicions? A leading role.

Bruce: (20s-mid 30s) Bruce is an enigma in the UK of the 1930s. His manner is a strange mixture of shyness and utter unselfconsciousness. What is the truth about this man? Cecily – and the audience – are beguiled by his charm, but we are not surprised when another side of his nature starts to show, and his intentions appear to be cause for suspicion. A leading role.

Nigel: (30s-early 40s) Cecily’s fiancé, newly arrived back in England after some years in the Middle East. His engagement to Cecily has been long-standing; he is startled and depressed at her change of heart, but refuses to stop caring for her and, along with Mavis, is instrumental in protecting her life. A ‘typical Englishman’ – neat, almost a military man. A major supporting role.

Hodgson: (50s-70s) the countryman with a direct manner, a true local flavour, employed by Cecily and Bruce as their gardener. He says what he thinks, and is sometimes very funny when doing so. A supporting character role.

Ethel: (late teens-early 20s) Hodgson’s niece, who is employed as a sort of maid for Cecily and Bruce. She’s not, it seems, particularly bright. A supporting character role.

Dr Gribble: (50s-60s) A man of charm and sweetness of manner. He becomes concerned for Bruce’s health at a time when we are more worried about Cecily. A supporting character role.