FEMALE OF THE SPECIES
March 11th 2010 06:40
:
AUDITIONS
Category: Get out
FEMALE OF THE SPECIES
A Comedy by Joanna Murray-Smith
Director - Erik Strauts
Auditions will be held in the
STIRLING COMMUNITY THEATRE
7.30pm on Tuesday 23rd March 2010
(callbacks Thu 25th if required)
Cast: 1 female & 1 male (50/60s), 1 female & 1 male (30s), 1 female & 1 male (20s).
(male 20s part suitable for a black man but does not have to be)
A delicious adult comedy/farce/satire.
The story is actually inspired by an incident in 2000, when Germain Greer was held up at gun point in her own home by one of her most ardent devotees. While superficially the play appears to commenting on the social impacts of feminism and the responsibilities of authors, it is actually far more about those old comic standbys - motherhood and generational conflict, all be it given a feminine twist.
Synopsis: Margot Mason is a feminist writer suffering from writer's block; she cannot meet the deadlines for her next book.
Molly Rivers, a deranged former student of Margot's, arrives unexpectedly at her country home with a gun, handcuffs Mason to her desk and threatens to kill her.
Molly blames Margot's ideas and influence for her motherÂs suicide and the destruction of her own dreams. Margot's daughter Tess arrives, exhausted from her house full of children. Margot has accused Tess of throwing her life away to embrace the role of housewife. Tess agrees with Molly that her mother should be shot.
Tess's sensitive stockbroker husband, Bryan also arrives to debate the virtues of Margot's best-sellers, her inconsistent philosophy, and her inability to mother. Even a macho taxi driver (Frank) and her flamboyantly gay publisher (Theo) comment on Margot's feminist failings.
Setting: The elegant study of Margot Mason's country house. Sometime in the last 10 years. The action of the play is continuous.
The author: Acclaimed internationally, and one of Australia's more prolific playwrights, Joanna Murray-Smith at last count had written fourteen plays, three novels and a host of film and TV scripts. She has been nominated for an AFI Award. She has won two Victorian PremierÂs Awards, the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and awards at the Edinburgh Fringe and from the London Theatregoers. Female of the Species premiered in Melbourne in 2006 and in 2008 was performed in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth and also in the London West End.
For further information contact the Director, Erik Strauts
E-mail: strauts@bigpond.net.au. Ph: 0438 275 814
PRODUCTION DETAILS
Auditions:
7:30 pm, Tue 23 Mar, Stirling Community Theatre.
No appointment necessary, but please contact Erik if intending to audition (more info avail).
If not available 23 Mar, contact Erik for alternate arrangements.
Rehearsals:
Discussion of play two evenings in early Jul, dates to be arranged once cast.
Rehearsals will commence mid Jul.
Rehearsals Tue & Thu evenings, Sunday afternoons or evenings, times TBA.
Performances:
8:00 pm Fri 24, Sat 25 Sep, Fri 1, Sat 2, Fri 8, Sat 9 Oct.
4:00 pm Sun 26 Sep, Sun 3 Oct.
THE ROLES
All are played as recognisable and sharp caricatures, in order to create effective and wicked satire.
MARGOT MASON, 60-ish, handsome, elegant, impressive, a monster. Celebrated feminist, academic, mother and author of numerous best-sellers including the classic guide to women-power The Cerebral Vagina. An iconic feminist battle-axe. Feisty, vain, intellectually bullying, foul-mouthed and charmingly arrogant, but there are signs of a certain faltering. Lead role - 60 pages.
MOLLY RIVERS, early 20s, bright, idealist. Disturbed former student of Margot's and also daughter of one of Margot's biggest fans. She blames Margot for warping her mother's mind with her hit book The Cerebral Vagina. Following Margot's advice, Molly's mother gave Molly away as a baby so that she wouldn't be enslaved by motherhood and then killed herself. Molly has had herself sterilized to preserve her creativity, only to be told by Margot that she has no talent. Lead role - 56 pages.
TESS THORNTON, 30s, lost. Margot's estranged and neurotic daughter. A weary wife and mother, overwhelmed by her 3 children and her husband who takes her for granted but never shows himself to be the commanding male in bed she longs for. She has gone AWOL from her family in search of solitude. Conveniently, she wanders into the home of her constantly disparaging mother who she knows despises her life choices. Lead role  43 pages.
BRYAN THORNTON, 30s but boyish, handsome, genial, thick. Tess's emasculated SNAG husband. A stockbroker. The quintessential nice guy very straight, a whiz with numbers, but slow in every other department. Supporting role 28 pages.
FRANK, 20-something, handsome, masculine, ethnic (could be black). A rugged neanderthal who tried to become a new man, took up baking and talked endlessly about his feelings to his wife, only to find that she didn't fancy him any more. Supporting role 17 pages.
THEO HANOVER, 60-ish, dapper, handsome, refined but also flamboyant. Margot's over-the-top gay publisher and acquaintance from her University days in the 60s. Unknowingly to all, including himself and even Margot (until the last couple of pages), Tess's father. Supporting role - 11 pages.
A Comedy by Joanna Murray-Smith
Director - Erik Strauts
Auditions will be held in the
STIRLING COMMUNITY THEATRE
7.30pm on Tuesday 23rd March 2010
(callbacks Thu 25th if required)
Cast: 1 female & 1 male (50/60s), 1 female & 1 male (30s), 1 female & 1 male (20s).
(male 20s part suitable for a black man but does not have to be)
A delicious adult comedy/farce/satire.
The story is actually inspired by an incident in 2000, when Germain Greer was held up at gun point in her own home by one of her most ardent devotees. While superficially the play appears to commenting on the social impacts of feminism and the responsibilities of authors, it is actually far more about those old comic standbys - motherhood and generational conflict, all be it given a feminine twist.
Molly Rivers, a deranged former student of Margot's, arrives unexpectedly at her country home with a gun, handcuffs Mason to her desk and threatens to kill her.
Molly blames Margot's ideas and influence for her motherÂs suicide and the destruction of her own dreams. Margot's daughter Tess arrives, exhausted from her house full of children. Margot has accused Tess of throwing her life away to embrace the role of housewife. Tess agrees with Molly that her mother should be shot.
Tess's sensitive stockbroker husband, Bryan also arrives to debate the virtues of Margot's best-sellers, her inconsistent philosophy, and her inability to mother. Even a macho taxi driver (Frank) and her flamboyantly gay publisher (Theo) comment on Margot's feminist failings.
Setting: The elegant study of Margot Mason's country house. Sometime in the last 10 years. The action of the play is continuous.
The author: Acclaimed internationally, and one of Australia's more prolific playwrights, Joanna Murray-Smith at last count had written fourteen plays, three novels and a host of film and TV scripts. She has been nominated for an AFI Award. She has won two Victorian PremierÂs Awards, the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and awards at the Edinburgh Fringe and from the London Theatregoers. Female of the Species premiered in Melbourne in 2006 and in 2008 was performed in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth and also in the London West End.
For further information contact the Director, Erik Strauts
E-mail: strauts@bigpond.net.au. Ph: 0438 275 814
PRODUCTION DETAILS
Auditions:
7:30 pm, Tue 23 Mar, Stirling Community Theatre.
No appointment necessary, but please contact Erik if intending to audition (more info avail).
If not available 23 Mar, contact Erik for alternate arrangements.
Rehearsals:
Discussion of play two evenings in early Jul, dates to be arranged once cast.
Rehearsals will commence mid Jul.
Rehearsals Tue & Thu evenings, Sunday afternoons or evenings, times TBA.
Performances:
8:00 pm Fri 24, Sat 25 Sep, Fri 1, Sat 2, Fri 8, Sat 9 Oct.
4:00 pm Sun 26 Sep, Sun 3 Oct.
THE ROLES
All are played as recognisable and sharp caricatures, in order to create effective and wicked satire.
MARGOT MASON, 60-ish, handsome, elegant, impressive, a monster. Celebrated feminist, academic, mother and author of numerous best-sellers including the classic guide to women-power The Cerebral Vagina. An iconic feminist battle-axe. Feisty, vain, intellectually bullying, foul-mouthed and charmingly arrogant, but there are signs of a certain faltering. Lead role - 60 pages.
MOLLY RIVERS, early 20s, bright, idealist. Disturbed former student of Margot's and also daughter of one of Margot's biggest fans. She blames Margot for warping her mother's mind with her hit book The Cerebral Vagina. Following Margot's advice, Molly's mother gave Molly away as a baby so that she wouldn't be enslaved by motherhood and then killed herself. Molly has had herself sterilized to preserve her creativity, only to be told by Margot that she has no talent. Lead role - 56 pages.
TESS THORNTON, 30s, lost. Margot's estranged and neurotic daughter. A weary wife and mother, overwhelmed by her 3 children and her husband who takes her for granted but never shows himself to be the commanding male in bed she longs for. She has gone AWOL from her family in search of solitude. Conveniently, she wanders into the home of her constantly disparaging mother who she knows despises her life choices. Lead role  43 pages.
BRYAN THORNTON, 30s but boyish, handsome, genial, thick. Tess's emasculated SNAG husband. A stockbroker. The quintessential nice guy very straight, a whiz with numbers, but slow in every other department. Supporting role 28 pages.
FRANK, 20-something, handsome, masculine, ethnic (could be black). A rugged neanderthal who tried to become a new man, took up baking and talked endlessly about his feelings to his wife, only to find that she didn't fancy him any more. Supporting role 17 pages.
THEO HANOVER, 60-ish, dapper, handsome, refined but also flamboyant. Margot's over-the-top gay publisher and acquaintance from her University days in the 60s. Unknowingly to all, including himself and even Margot (until the last couple of pages), Tess's father. Supporting role - 11 pages.
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David Jobling
