A Street Like This: Casting Call
A new play by Alison Carr with songs by Ross Millard, co-created with a community company
One normal street, three different people, one massive sinkhole.
A Street Like This is a new piece of music theatre. It has been developed with a community cast in Sunderland. Our community company are the Greek chorus of our street. They sing, play music and introduce us to a very ‘normal’ street. However, when a sinkhole opens up, the residents are thrown into a world of new possibilities that take us from the ordinary to the extraordinary.
Writer: Alison Carr
Director: Annie Rigby
Designer: Imogen Cloët
Music Director: Ross Millard
Sound Designer: Garry Lydon
A Street Like This is produced by Unfolding Theatre. It is supported by Foyle Foundation, Sir James Knott Trust & Arts Council England.
Roles
We are casting for the roles of Poppy and Doreen.
We are looking for 2 female performers to join performer Alex Elliott, music director Ross Millard and our community company to tell this story. We are looking for performers who live or have a base within 25 miles of Sunderland.
Co-creating with communities is at the heart of Unfolding Theatre’s creative practice. We are looking for performers who love to work in community contexts and who have strong music/singing skills.
POPPY
Age: 20-30
Accent: North East
Ethnicity: Open to all
Skills: Strong singer
Poppy lives at Number 6, or ‘The Dump’ as she knows the neighbours call it. Garden full of litter, broken furniture, a filthy mattress. Rotting window frames, bin bags piled up inside and out. She has papered the windows with old newspapers to stop people looking in.
Poppy inherited the house from her hoarder parents. When a sinkhole opens on the street, it presents a possibility. Could she throw the contents of her house into the hole?
DOREEN
Age: 40-60
Accent: North East
Ethnicity: Open to all
Skills: Strong singer
Doreen lives at Number 25. Beautiful bright paintwork - the handiwork of her brother, Paul, who moved in during the pandemic and has never left. Doreen keeps a packed suitcase under her bed for... to be ready. She doesn’t know what for.
When the sinkhole opens up at the bottom of her drive, Doreen feels a strange pull towards it. Up until now her life has been quiet, unseen, unremarkable. Is this the moment it changes?
Dates
Deadline for expressions of interest: 12noon Friday 3 March 2023
Auditons: 8-9 March 2023 in Sunderland. Online auditions are available on request.
Rehearsals: 12 June – 28th June 2023 plus additional visits to evening workshops
Performances: 29th June 2023 at The Fire Station plus 2 North East touring weeks in Sept/Oct 2023 (dates TBC).
Fee
£575 per week plus holiday pay.
How to apply
Please send an email expressing your interest to annie@unfoldingtheatre.co.uk by 12noon on Friday 3 March 2023 including:
The role you would like to be considered for
A link to your Spotlight page or CV
Any access needs – Unfolding Theatre has an access budget to support artists to apply for and work for the company. We welcome applications from disabled performers.
If you are invited to audition we will ask you to prepare 1 short monologue (modern) plus 1 song. We will send up to 2 short extracts from the production to prepare in advance.
Any questions? Email Annie.