BLACK COMEDY - Blackwood Players Non Equity Auditions

BLACK COMEDY

“A clever British Comedy”

Written by Sir Peter Shaffer

Directed by Stuart Partis

Assistant Director – Lauren Hollis

AUDITION DATES

Sunday 10th June 7:30pm

Tues 12th June 7:30pm

PERFORMANCE DATES

Preview 6/9

- 5 evening shows 7/9, 8/9, 9/9, 14/9 and 15/9 at 8:00pm

- 1 matinee 15/9 at 2:00pm

*Sir Peter Shaffer is one of the world's leading playwrights - 'The Royal Hunt of the Sun', Equus', and, most famously, 'Amadeus'.

* 'Black Comedy' dates from 1965. The original cast included Derek Jacobi, Albert Finney & Maggie Smith. It is a one-act play, of approx 80 minutes duration.

In this play the usual conditions of light and dark are reversed: when the lights are 'on' we see nothing but darkness; when they are 'off' we see the characters behaving as if they were in a black-out. Carol and Brindsley, an engaged couple, have invited a millionaire to see Brindsley's sculpture, and to impress him have 'borrowed' antiques from a neighbour. Carol's formidable father is also expected. The lights fuse, and the arrival of several unexpected visitors effectively wrecks the evening.

* List of characters (by Peter Shaffer):

Brindsley Miller is a sculptor in his twenties, intelligent and attractive, but nervous and uncertain of himself.

Carol Melkett is his fiancee; a young debutante, very pretty, very spoilt, very silly. Her voice is that unmistakable, terrifying deb quack.

Miss Furnival is a middle-aged spinster, prissy and refined, wearing the blouse and sack skirt of gentility, her hair in a bun, her voice in a bun, she reveals only the repressed gestures of the middle-aged spinster - until alcohol undoes her.

Colonel Melkett (Carol's father) is very much an English army officer. He is brisk, barky, yet given to sudden vocal calms which suggest a deep and alarming instability.

Harold Gorringe is the camp owner of an antique-china shop and comes from the North of England (for an Australian audience any regional English accent). 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. His hair falls over his brow in a flossy attempt at elegance.

Clea is Brindsley's ex-mistress: late twenties, dazzling, emotional, bright and mischievous. The challenge to her to create a dramatic situation out of the darkness is ultimately irresistable.

Schuppanzigh is a middle-aged German refugee, 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.

Georg Bamberger is quite evidently a millionaire, dressed in the Gulbenkian manner.

But it is a one-act play, and lines are fairly evenly divided between the six main characters.

It is essential that all actors are confident in learning lines, as the play is so full of 'business' that lines need to be learnt asap, as it is virtually impossible to rehearse with scripts in hand.