Casting Callout - A Night at The Bardic Arms By Poets in Progress (PIPs)

A fantastic original prose poetry script (think Under Milkwood) by a group of local poets, with six fantastic roles for actors over 40.

PIPs are currently looking for 6 actors to form the cast. All must be comfortable with long prose dialogue, though the final performance will likely be script in-hand and will be recorded as an audio drama for use on the PIPs and Wyldwood Arts Forest of Dean Fringe Festival online archives.

Approx 30 hours of rehearsal will be held in the Forest of Dean between Jan-Mar 2024 for final performance at a Forest pub as part of the Forest of Dean Fringe Festival in March 2024. Exact rehearsal schedule to be agreed with the cast.

While this production will be developed on an unpaid basis, PIPs will split any profits between the cast members as a goodwill gesture (likely to be circa £50 each).

Auditions will be a self-taped recording of a short video of you reading the relevant character’s script excerpts. Feel free to read for as many characters as you like. Video production quality is not too important as long as we get a sense of your characterisation - a simple phone video will be perfect!

For audition scripts or any queries please email Siân Jones - sian@vsjones.com or on 07703047224 (phone/text/messaging apps).

All audition clips to be received by 30th November 2023

We’re really keen to make the audition process as simple and accessible as possible, so don’t be afraid to get in touch with queries!

Character Profiles:

Gwen Jones

Female, playing age 50+. Actor must be comfortable performing a strong Welsh accent.
Gwen is the pub landlady, born and bred in the Usk Valley before moving to the village. She’s well liked and friendly, but doesn’t suffer fools. She’s very proud to run a ‘proper’ pub - just good company and good beer (no TVs, games machines, fancy menus etc).

Betty Bloom

Female, playing age 40+. Playing accent is flexible, ideally Forest of Dean but any down-to-earth working class accent would work.
Betty is the barmaid at the pub. She’s very down-to-earth and only moved away from the village briefly during an ill-fated marriage. She is now happy to be back and embraces her reputation as a bit of a gossip and a psychic.

Bill Williams

Male, playing age 50+. Playing accent is flexible, but ideally Bristol or wider West Country.
Bill is a retired sailor, who has travelled widely in his life. He misses life on the sea and his old boat the ‘Letitia’, and has many lost loves (as well as a child he’s never met). He drinks a lot of ale and slips easily into reverie, often re-living his maritime experiences whilst talking with fellow drinkers.

Charles Montcrieff

Male, playing age 40+. Playing accent is flexible, but ideally quite well-spoken.
Charles is a retired consultant psychiatrist. He is quite cagey about his past, though people know he practiced in an upmarket area of London before retiring to the village. However, after a few drinks his carefully maintained facade slips, revealing bitter regrets and difficult beginnings.

Rory Roberts

Male, playing age 50+. Playing accent is flexible. Actor must be comfortable with singing in a brassy, theatrical style.
Rory is a hapless romantic. He joined the army as he had few other prospects upon leaving school, though he truly wanted to become a famous musician and singer (he really comes alive when he starts to sing). He moved back into the house he grew up in when his parents died, and really just wants to find someone to share his life with. His ill-fated romantic efforts are something of a running joke among the others.

Myrtle Wilson-Hogg

Female, playing age 50+. Playing accent is flexible, but ideally either very well-spoken or South African.
Myrtle is not local, and only comes to the pub as her car breaks down nearby in a storm. She has a very superior attitude, and sees most of the others in the pub as beneath her. She is also in an especially foul mood due to being stranded and forced to walk to the pub in the rain and gales. Originally from the UK, she spent most of her life in South Africa with her recently deceased husband, before returning to search for a long lost relative.

 Image Credit: Poets in Progress

Alt Image Text: Two line drawn images, on of a woman reading a poetry book, the other of a pub signed with the name ‘The Bardic Arms’