Travels With My Aunt
Auditions
Saturday 25 August 2012 1:30 pm
Des Smith directs Giles Havergal's 'Travels With My Aunt'
adapted from the novel by Graham Greene
At
Stables Theatre
Cnr Arthur St & Main Highway
Ellerslie
Auckland
Map
Synopsis
The play begins when Henry Pulling, a conventional and charmless bank manager who has taken early retirement, meets his Aunt Augusta for the first time in over fifty years at his mother's funeral. Despite having little in common, they form a bond. Henry finds himself drawn into Aunt Augusta's world of travel, adventure, romance and absence of bigotry.
He travels first with her to Brighton, where he meets one of his aunt's old acquaintances, and gains an insight into one of her many past lives. Here a psychic foreshadows that he will have many travels in the near future. This prediction inevitably becomes true as Henry is pulled further and further into his aunt's lifestyle, and delves deeper into her past. Their voyages take them from Paris to Istanbul on the Orient Express, and as the journey unfolds, so do the stories of Aunt Augusta, painting the picture of a woman for whom love has been the defining feature of her life.
Henry returns to his quiet retirement, but tending his garden no longer holds the same allure. When he receives a letter from his aunt, he finally gives up his old life to join her and the love of her life in South America, and to marry a girl decades younger than himself.
Contact details
Des Smith
email: dsmith@idc.com
telephone: 021 323 513
Rehearsals
Commence Tuesday 4 September 2012, Tuesdays and Thursdays each week from 7.30pm, Sundays from 12.30pm
Season
Thursday 8 to Saturday 17 November 2012 - 10 performances
About the director
Des is delighted to be returning to the Theatre Company he calls home. Having acted in a number of plays with ETS over the year, Not Now Darling and Picasso at The Lapin Agile ETS took a leap of faith giving Des his directorial debut with The Weir in 2007. The play went on to win best production in the annual ACTT awards. Des followed this with The History Boys in 2010 and the play won best comedy.
Des's directorial style is to give the actors a solid framework and vision to work within and then work in a creative and fun environment that allows all members of the team from the actors to the technical crew to contribute and discuss ideas that work within the overall vision. 'When people are allowed to give of their creativity and ideas freely without fear the journey is an experience everyone will remember with pleasure and the result is something that an audience can feel the energy and love of what has been created by all involved.' Des Smith.
Cast Required
Although the cast list numbers 24 (15 males, 9 females) there are only 4 cast members required aged 20 to 80. Cast can be male or female. The ability to portray different characters of differing age and gender is the key. All cast members play Henry Pulling as well as a range of other characters. It is important that those auditioning have the ability to drop in and out of a wide variety of characters seamlessly and without the aid of costume changes to enable the audience to know by accent, voice change and mannerisms the character you are portraying.
adapted from the novel by Graham Greene
At
Stables Theatre
Cnr Arthur St & Main Highway
Ellerslie
Auckland
Map
Synopsis
The play begins when Henry Pulling, a conventional and charmless bank manager who has taken early retirement, meets his Aunt Augusta for the first time in over fifty years at his mother's funeral. Despite having little in common, they form a bond. Henry finds himself drawn into Aunt Augusta's world of travel, adventure, romance and absence of bigotry.
He travels first with her to Brighton, where he meets one of his aunt's old acquaintances, and gains an insight into one of her many past lives. Here a psychic foreshadows that he will have many travels in the near future. This prediction inevitably becomes true as Henry is pulled further and further into his aunt's lifestyle, and delves deeper into her past. Their voyages take them from Paris to Istanbul on the Orient Express, and as the journey unfolds, so do the stories of Aunt Augusta, painting the picture of a woman for whom love has been the defining feature of her life.
Henry returns to his quiet retirement, but tending his garden no longer holds the same allure. When he receives a letter from his aunt, he finally gives up his old life to join her and the love of her life in South America, and to marry a girl decades younger than himself.
Contact details
Des Smith
email: dsmith@idc.com
telephone: 021 323 513
Rehearsals
Commence Tuesday 4 September 2012, Tuesdays and Thursdays each week from 7.30pm, Sundays from 12.30pm
Season
Thursday 8 to Saturday 17 November 2012 - 10 performances
About the director
Des is delighted to be returning to the Theatre Company he calls home. Having acted in a number of plays with ETS over the year, Not Now Darling and Picasso at The Lapin Agile ETS took a leap of faith giving Des his directorial debut with The Weir in 2007. The play went on to win best production in the annual ACTT awards. Des followed this with The History Boys in 2010 and the play won best comedy.
Des's directorial style is to give the actors a solid framework and vision to work within and then work in a creative and fun environment that allows all members of the team from the actors to the technical crew to contribute and discuss ideas that work within the overall vision. 'When people are allowed to give of their creativity and ideas freely without fear the journey is an experience everyone will remember with pleasure and the result is something that an audience can feel the energy and love of what has been created by all involved.' Des Smith.
Cast Required
Although the cast list numbers 24 (15 males, 9 females) there are only 4 cast members required aged 20 to 80. Cast can be male or female. The ability to portray different characters of differing age and gender is the key. All cast members play Henry Pulling as well as a range of other characters. It is important that those auditioning have the ability to drop in and out of a wide variety of characters seamlessly and without the aid of costume changes to enable the audience to know by accent, voice change and mannerisms the character you are portraying.
No characters are listed for this production.