A Festival of W.S. Gilbert Plays – Auditions
Auditions for Season 4 – 2024
A Festival of W.S. Gilbert Plays
Artistic Director: Diana Burleigh
Directors:
Sarah Berry (Rosencrantz & Guildenstern)
Ben Klein (Comedy & Tragedy)
Naomi Tooby (The Hooligan)
Danielle Zuccala (Creatures of Impulse)
AUDITION TIMES and DATES
Auditions will be on Monday July 22nd from 7-10pm, and Saturday July 27th from 2-5pm in Mount Waverley.
To register for an audition timeslot, please fill out the Audition form below.
This is a festival of four one-act plays. All performers need to audition. Please fill out the form, and advise which role(s) you wish to read for (maximum 3 roles). All successful auditionees will be cast in one advertised role, and also cast in a smaller role in a second play.
2024 PERFORMANCE DATES
Thursday 21st November, 8pm
Friday 22nd November, 8pm
Saturday, 23rd November, 2pm
Saturday, 23rd November, 8pm
Sunday, 24th November, 2pm
at Malvern Theatre
29 Burke Road
Malvern East, 3145
Formal rehearsals will start in September with likely Monday and Wednesday evenings, and Sunday daytime rehearsals. Each performer’s schedule will vary depending on which plays they are in. A full schedule will be available at the first rehearsal if not before.
Please be advised that all performers will be required to contribute a show fee of $50, to help balance production costs. All performers must be GSOV members; those not already joined will therefore incur an additional $20 GSOV membership fee.
AUDITION EXCERPTS
Scripts for the four plays can be found at – All play texts
Auditionees should read all the character descriptions and prepare the excerpt for the particular role(s) they are seeking. It is not necessary for the dialogue to be memorised. The character ages are only guides as per the storyline.
If you are having trouble reading the table, you can download the descriptions here: Character Table
The Hooligan
| Character | Description | Dialogue |
| Nat Solly
Male 20+ |
The eponymous hooligan, sentenced to death for a serious crime. Rough upbringing (the text is written in Cockney accent), but feels remorse for his crime. The script notes that he changes clothes on-stage so the role may require a modest state of undress. | (Monologue)
Page 3 “Abaht ‘er? No fear…” to “…nineteen to the dozen!” (p4) |
| Warder Mathers
Male Any age |
Prison warder. Shows some compassion towards Solly and provides counsel. Standard English accent. | Page 1
“Funks it, it seems…” to “…and that’s unnerved you.” (p3) |
Comedy & Tragedy
| Character | Description | Dialogue |
| Clarice de Quillacq | An extremely skilled actress, with a penchant for quick-thinking improvisation, whose beauty and talents have caught the eye of the lecherous Regent of France. She has schemed with her husband to entrap the Regent and expose his debauchery | Page 4
“Pauline! you here? Why, my darling child…” to “…they are not to be worn at all this season.” |
| Duc d’Orleans | A womanising picture of pre-revolution French aristocracy, immensely rich, very used to abusing power for his own desires, but very concerned with saving face amongst his allies in the nobility | Page 9
“Clarice, sit down here, with me…” to “What forbearance!” And page 10 (Clarice begins) “No, no, Duke, I cannot allow this.” to “…I had earned it, and I loved you for it.” |
| Phillipe de Quillacq | A proud, chivalrous soldier-turned-actor, former member of the Regent’s Body Guard. Madly in love with his wife Clarice, he is ready to defend her honour | Page 10
(Clarice begins the dialogue.) ”Yes—I have deceived you—cheated you…” to “…I hope so.” |
| Pauline | Younger sibling of Clarice, deeply concerned for Clarice’s emotional wellbeing. (Possibility of having a quick-change into nobility) | Page 4
“But what in the world has caused this calamity?” to “…the proud and honoured position you have attained!” (p5) |
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern
| Character | Description | Dialogue |
| King Claudius
Male 50+ |
A statesman mature in years, yet still haunted by a public humiliation in his foolish youth so strongly he is prepared to sacrifice his own son, Hamlet! Short-sighted. | Page 1
(Queen begins the dialogue) “Nay, be not sad, my lord!” to “…the punishment of those that laughed at it was capital.” (p2) |
| Queen Gertrude
Female 50+ |
Unswervingly devoted – at least in public – to her husband, King Claudius, but may think him something of a fool. Troubled that her son has too many dark thoughts and he needs to be redirected; possibly fearing he may become a little too much like his father. Willing to do and say what is needed. | Page 1
“Nay, be not sad, my lord!” to “…Ah, they are here!” (p2) |
| Ophelia
Female 20+ |
Daughter of a courtier (Polonius) who has been unwillingly betrothed to Prince Hamlet. She and Rosencrantz are childhood sweethearts. Willing to do and say what is needed. A canny observer. | Page 3
“Alas, I am betrothed!” to “…With lucid intervals of lunacy.” (p4) |
| Hamlet
Male 30+ |
Son of the King and Queen. A rather forlorn king-in-waiting with nothing to do and too much time to think. Serious and gullible. A Child Man. | See below. Please read the monologue provided below. It is not found in this full form in the script. |
| To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them. To die—to sleep, No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to: ’tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep; To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there’s the rub: For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause—there’s the respect That makes calamity of so long life.For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, Th’oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely, The pangs of dispriz’d love, the law’s delay, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of th’unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscovere’d country, from whose bourn No traveller returns, puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of?Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pith and moment With this regard their currents turn awry And lose the name of action. |
||
| Rosencrantz
Male 20-30+ |
A courtier, a childhood sweetheart of Ophelia and companion to Hamlet. Willing to do and say what is needed. Cunning and persuasive. | Page 7
“Give me, then, the play…” to “…All the most fairly famed tragedians” (Hamlet concludes, p8) |
| Guildenstern
Male 20-30+ |
A courtier, friend to Rosencrantz and companion to Hamlet. Willing to do and say what is needed. An under-estimated logistician. | Page 9
(Queen begins the dialogue) “A fair good morrow to you…” to |
Creatures of Impulse
| Character | Description | Dialogue |
| Boomblehardt, a Miser
30 – 50+ |
A man who is very protective of his coin, believing that the value of money trumps everything else. He goes about the town conversing and parading around his coins but he is friendly and even lends Martha a helping hand when he learns of her strange predicament. | Page 1
(Peter begins dialogue) “You’ve got some more happiness…: to “…Now where’s Mistress Martha?” |
| Peter, a Young Farmer
18 – 25 |
A youthful, cheeky and friendly boy, who fancies Pipette… and every other woman under the sun. He is abrasive and overconfident, underestimating the powers of the Strange Old Lady and finding himself cursed because of it. However, he means well. | Page 4 (monologue)
“All cowards?” to “I’m one of those who are not.” And page 8 (monologue) “I. She’s no more a fairy than I am…” to “…and she’ll depart…. instanter!” |
| Sergeant Klooque
20 – 30 |
An upstanding gentleman when he is with his regiment, but now that he finds himself back in his home town he isn’t as strict with himself. With a naturally intimidating physique he is an accomplished soldier. However, he is also a flirt who doesn’t mind embracing Martha or leaving Pipette flustered just because he can. | Page 6
“Ah home at last…” to “…his mother and his aunt!” |
| Martha, Landlady of the Three Pigeons
30 – 50 |
Runs the inn smoothly, being well regarded by all. She is hardworking and headstrong. She tries everything to fix her own problems before getting others involved, including her problems with the Strange Old Lady. | Page 2: “Well, it’s no use…” to “Peter, you’re a goose.”
And page 16: “Go away! go away!” to “Go away – get out of this – go away.” (p17) (There are 4 Martha lines.) |
| Pipette, her Niece
18 – 25 |
Martha’s incredibly shy niece always stumbles over her words and clams up. She fancies the Sergeant who has come to stay at the inn she works at and is constantly left flustered by him. Pipette is also the ultimate people pleaser, trying and failing to charm the Strange Old Lady. | Page 12
“Well, you’re such a dear old lady…” to “All day long!” |
| A Strange Old Lady
50+ |
A very, very, very old fairy who simply wants to be left alone at the inn without paying a single guinea for her room! She taunts, ridicules, toys with and curses the other characters as they try to make her leave the inn. She is a very self-assured and self-centred old lady. | Page 8
(Peter begins dialogue) “Do you see that?” to “…how long would you stop there?” (p9) |
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Background reading can also be found at:
Comedy and Tragedy
The Hooligan
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
Creatures of Impulse
General Audition Form for GSOV Concert Party, Events, and Performances.
Thank you for your interest in Auditioning for GSOV. Please fill out the form, and we will be in touch.
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