WANTED: Actors for theatre production

Men and women 18 - 50 Years old, Western Cape

Norman McFarlane is directing an amateur production of Further Than The Furthest Thing for the Hottentots Holland Dramatic Society, at The Playhouse Theatre in Somerset West.

The award winning play in two acts, by Zinnie Harris, tells the tale of an isolated South Atlantic island community in crisis, when faced with a natural catastrophe, compounded by dark secrets out of the community’s past.

Based on the island community of Tristan da Cunha, the story tells of events that occurred in 1961, which resulted in the entire population being evacuated to Southampton, their difficulty in adjusting to city living, and the struggle to return to their isolated home and way of life.

The cast has three male roles and two female roles:

Bill Lavarello: A community leader, is in his mid to late 50’s, and like most of the island community has lived almost his entire life on the island, save for some time during the war.

Mill Lavarello is Bill’s wife:She in her early 50’s, and has lived her entire life on the island. She is a tough woman, and in her relationship with Bill, is definitely the stronger of the two.

Francis Swain: Mill’s nephew is Bill and Mill’s adoptive son. In his early 20’s, Francis has spent some months working in Cape Town, and returns to the island as the story commences. Mill dotes on Francis, often favouring him over Bill.

Rebecca Glass:A young island woman in her early 20’s. Francis’ childhood sweetheart, she is pregnant, but not by Francis.

Mr Hansen:A businessman from Cape Town in his mid 40’s, has come to the island with Francis with the intention of establishing a crayfish-processing factory.

According to the history of Tristan da Cunha, the population (about 300) are descended from English, American, Italian and Dutch people, and coloured people from St Helena and South Africa. Ethnically speaking, the roles could therefore be played by white or coloured people.

The islanders have lived an isolated existence, largely cut off from the rest of the world. Their language is accordingly archaic, and the dialect somewhat peculiar.

They do speak with an accent, and because of the peculiarity of the dialect, the accent is important. A dialogue coach will work with cast members who require coaching.

The part of Rebecca calls for one nude scene, where she emerges from the sea after a swim. If need be, Rebecca could wear a flesh-coloured uni-tard in this scene.

There is some graphic profanity in the part of Francis, which is essential to the plot. Accordingly, the show will be classified R13. Please note that this dialogue forms part of the audition script.

The magnitude of the various roles, in order of number of lines, is Mill, Bill, Mr Hansen, Francis, Rebecca.

Auditions will take place on Sunday May 10, at The Playhouse Theatre, Lourensford Road in Somerset West, at 6.30pm, with a possible call back on Sunday May 17 at the same time and venue.

Rehearsals will commence in the week following the call back audition, initially twice weekly for the first month, thereafter three times per week, one of which will be on either Saturday or Sunday.

Those interested in auditioning are encouraged to prepare by downloading and reading the audition script, from http://goo.gl/0eQFu4

Provisionally six shows are planned, opening on or about October 20, with an option to extend the run by up to four additional shows, advanced bookings dependent.

• Casting had ended