Auditions for the festival plays

Auditions for the Festival of English Language Theatre in 2008
Time: Sunday 24 August, 2 pm onwards
Place: FINNBRIT (Fredrikinkatu 20 A 9)

The third Festival of English Language Theatre will be held in November 2008. The Finn-Brit Players are entering four short plays for the festival. Auditions for the FBP plays will be held at FINNBRIT (Fredrikinkatu 20 A 9) in 24 August starting at 2 pm. A short description of the plays and available roles are below. To audition, you just need to turn up at 2 pm—there is no need for any advance preparation. If you would like to audition, but are unable to come to the auditions, you can audition based on previous perfomances; please contact Jack Leo (jack at finnbritplayers.com; 050 384 6740).

Here are the plays:

Zoë Chandler: Plastic Soup. When eco-warrior and businesswoman meet, a battle for love and water takes place in a disused railway tunnel in an inner-city park. Directed by Zoë Chandler. 2 male roles, 2 female roles.

Anton Chekhov: The Bear. When Grigory Smirnov arrives to collect a debt he is owed, the widow Pavlov refuses to pay and insults Smirnov by calling him a bear, which results in a challenge to a duel. Directed by Jack Leo. 2 male roles and 1 female role.

Mickle Maher: An Apology for the Course and Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening. In this modern adaptation of the Faust legend, John Faustus, accompanied by his unspeaking servant Mephistopheles, delivers his apology to the audience. Directed by Rebecca Clamp. 2 roles, either male or female.

Oana Velcu: St. Peter Thought He Knew It All. St. Peter has lost the keys to Heaven and is desperately searching for them in a jet plane, where his encounters with the passengers show that life is not always straight forward? Directed by Oana Velcu. 3 male roles, 2 female roles.

Auditions: After Dinner

The scene is a suburban pub bistro on Friday night. Three office workers — Dympie, who needs to control everything, Paula who lets her, and the recently widowed Monika — are desperately seeking for a good night out. At an adjoining table sit Gordon, recently abandoned by his wife, and Stephen, looking for something more than the usual one night stand. As the night proceeds, inhibitions and social restraint are abandoned, exposing the foibles, pain and humour of the characters' inner lives. It is an acutely observed but tender-hearted account of relationships and behaviour. Andrew Bovell is an Australian playwright and his comedy After Dinner has enjoyed over 20 productions first in Australia following New Zealand, England and Ireland. This will be the first time the play has been performed in Finland.

Directed by Anna Kauppila and produced by Steve Porter.

If the 2nd Dec is problematic for many who would like to audition, we might be able to hold a second audition. Also, if you would like to audition on a previous performance, please contact Steve at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Auditions are open to everyone, old faces and new, so don't be shy and get involved!

Date: Sunday 2 December, 3pm
NOTE change of time, not 1:30pm as previously stated. Doors are open 3pm-7pm, please arrive by 6pm at the latest.
Place: FINNBRIT, Fredrikinkatu 20A

 

Another audition round for Blake, Sunday 2 Sept

good news: since so many people couldn't make it last time, Joe White has decided to have another round of auditions for Mr. & Mrs. Blake. so if you missed your chance last time, you're welcome to try again!
time: Sunday 2 September at 2PM
place: FINNBRIT, Freda 20 A

Poetry & Jazz meeting - Spring 2007

It's Poetry and Jazz time again!

Or at least it's time for the preliminary meeting. No need to have any finished material ready until January - this meeting is just to see who's interested and decide on a theme for the programme, which will again be focusing on original works.

So, if you'd like to be involved in Poetry & Jazz March 2007, come along on Monday December 11th at 19:00. The probable location - to be confirmed later - is the NEW FINNBRIT PREMISES: FREDRIKINKATU 20 A 9.

Contact Joel Holmberg (joelarno at netti.fi) to register your interest and receive confirmation of where the first meeting will be held.

Auditions for the spring production, 2007

In May 2007, The Finn-Brit Players will be performing two shows on the 'Puoli-Q' stage at Q-Teatteri. One is August Strindberg's classic Miss Julie (directed by Jack Leo) and the other a double bill of one-act French plays, consisting of The Maids by Jean Genet (directed by Fionna O'Sullivan) and The Bald Prima Donna by Eugene Ionesco (directed by Bruce Marsland). Overall producer Laura Robinson.

The audition is at FINNBRIT, Fredrikinkatu 20, December 10th at 2pm.

The auditions are open; you don't need to be a member of the Players to audition, though you will have to join to be in the production, if cast. There are a total of twelve roles in the two shows, some larger and some smaller. No preparation is needed for the audition, but taking a look at the plays in advance can't hurt. There's a short description of the plays below, and the following links are worth checking out:

The script of Miss Julie in the original Swedish
The Bald Prima Donna, or The Bald Soprano, on Wikipedia
The Maids, on the Shotgun Players' site
Goldfish Publishers on The Maids
Miss Julie on the National Theatre of Scotland's site

Whether you would like to be onstage, backstage, or participate otherwise, come along to the audition to find out more and get yourself involved!

Miss Julie

The setting is a country house somewhere in Southern Sweden in the late 19th century. Miss Julie is the count's daughter; Jean is his footman. Their encounter during Midsummer night results in a collision of passion, and a conflict of sex and class arises which ultimately leads to the downfall of Miss Julie, an aristocrat by birth but not by nature. Strindberg's Miss Julie is classic of 19th century drama, and its naturalistic approach had a great influence on many of the plays of the early 20th century. Although the issues of class and social status are no longer as central as in Strindberg's day, the drama of Miss Julie is still a gripping one, with all the hot, steaming passion of Tennessee Williams, but covered by a veneer of Nordic propriety.

Two short French plays, 'Pas de Deux'
Three French maids, two short plays, one night to remember.

Two modern classics of the French theatre, translated into English, these plays pose similar questions about reality, in a modernist vein. How much of what you see is really real?

Based on a real-life case that shocked France in the 1930s, Jean Genet's The Maids explores the claustrophobic relationship between two sisters, their mistress, and her lover. Nothing is what it seems in this story of murder, suicide, and lies. In harmony with the themes, the staging will use fleamarket-type set and props. The part of the mistress may be cast as a man.

The Bald Prima Donna, sometimes translated as The Bald Soprano, was described by its author, Eugene Ionesco, as 'a pseudo-play in one act'. It follows the tradition of absurdism, with elements of farce and surrealism. The action takes place in 'a small, typical, old-fashioned, middle-class English living room' and revolves around two married couples: the hosts and the guests. In addition, there is a maid and a fire chief. Much of the play involves twists of language and logic, and the conversation is frequently littered with non sequiturs. In typical fashion for Theatre of the Absurd, this results in a combination of comedy and pathos: a critique of social convention and 'small talk'. From a sedate 'English' beginning, the play tracks a descent into the chaos of the characters puffing around the room as a railway train, before 'normality' is restored.