[NEohioPAL] Auditions for Hay Fever by Noel Coward directed by Kevin Kelly at Western Reserve Playhouse

[Western Reserve Playhouse]

*Hay Fever* by Noel Coward, directed by Kevin Kelly

*Performances:*

November 2 to 17, 2018. Friday and Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 2 pm. And
there will be one extra special Sunday Performance during this run TBD.

*Auditions:*

Take place on August 23 and 24, 2018 from 6:30 to 9:30 pm. Please sign up
at

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/5080E49A9AD29A2FC1-hayfever
<https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080E49A9AD29A2FC1-hayfever>

*Location: *

Bethel Luthern Church

3852 Everett Road

Richfield, Ohio 44286

*Callbacks:*

Take place at Western Reserve Playhouse from 2 pm to 4 pm.

*Preparation:*

Cold readings from the script.

*Rehearsals:*

Begin Monday October 1 at 6:30 pm. Rehearsals will normally
run Sunday through Thursday 6:30 to 9:30 pm.

*THE PLAY*
*Hay Fever* is a wonderful cross between high farce and an English comedy
of bad manners. The play is set in an English country house in the 1920s,
and deals with the four eccentric members of the Bliss family and their
outlandish behavior when they each invite a guest to spend the weekend.
Each – unbeknownst to the rest – invites down a house guest for a quiet
weekend! The self-centered behavior of the hosts finally drives their
guests to flee, while the Blisses are so engaged in a family row that they
do not notice their guests' furtive departure.

Hay Fever takes place in the comfortable English country house of the Bliss
family. Judith, the mother, is a retired stage actress; David, the father,
is a novelist. Their grown children, Simon and Sorel, still live at home.
As the play opens, Simon and Sorel are exchanging insults about mutual
friends and speculating that their mother is up to something in inviting a
young man – who turns out to be called Sandy Tyrell – to the house for the
weekend.

Meanwhile, Sorel has invited the diplomat Richard Greatham, while Simon
adds to the growing household with his guest Myra Arundel. Finally, David
comes downstairs from his study to add one last visitor to the list – a
young woman named Jackie Coryton.

After some internecine squabble and banter, Judith announces her decision
to come out of retirement and revive one of her greatest hits, *Love’s
Whirlwind*. As she and the children begin to perform one of their favorite
scenes from the play, they are interrupted by the arrival of their guests.
The family members greet their visitors and then leave them to fend for
themselves.

And that is just Act One!



*THE CHARACTERS (5F, 4M)*
*Judith Bliss* – an actress of a certain age who has retired (several
times) from the stage.
*David Bliss* – her husband, a writer of novels that the entire family
argue about; inclined to a little dalliance on the side
*Simon Bliss* – their son, a painter of aggressive daubs
*Sorel** Bliss* – their daughter, an accomplished instrumentalist (but
skills NOT required, though welcome!)
Both of the children are every bit as theatrical, as egomaniacal in the
nicest possible way, as their parents.

*Richard **Greatham* – a career diplomat who “always says something
exquisitely diplomatic”
*Myra Arundel* – a society lady of whom Judith says “she uses sex like a
shrimping net”
*Sandy Tyrell* – a younger “anyone for tennis” sporty chap who has fallen
in love with Judith having seen her in some dreadful melodrama
*Jackie **Coryton* – a scared little thing who has been picked by the
husband David

*Clara* – the long-suffering maid, who used to be Judith’s dresser, and is
quite coarse with it
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.neohiopal.org/pipermail/neohiopal-neohiopal.org/attachments/20180814/5afaedf8/attachment.html>