Audition dates:

• Sunday 11th May @ 6pm
• Monday 12th May @7pm
• Recalls: Wednesday 14th May @7.30pm
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  Contact: ptcmuchado2025@gmail.com

Production dates:

• PTC on Tour: 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, 27 July and 1,2,9,10 August

About the Play:

Much Ado About Nothing

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Stuart Watson

I do suffer love indeed, for I love thee against my will.

Bantering bachelor Benedick's "merry war" of words with witty Beatrice seems fated to keep them apart, provoking their scheming friends to plot a happy ending for the quarrelsome couple.

Meanwhile bashful young Claudio loves sweet, naïve Hero and is loved in return.  Nothing, it seems, can prevent their marriage.  But the path of true love never runs smooth.  Foul play is afoot as devious  Don John plots to split the young lovers asunder.

Putney Theatre Company On Tour brings Shakespeare's dazzling comedy of romance, deceit and self-discovery to open-air venues around southwest London and beyond.  This concise, rollicking, sunny production will be "as merry as the day is long."

PTC on Tour - Explained

This production marks a new kind of project for the company as PTC go "on tour" to venues around London (we have produced open air shows in the past, some of which have been performed at two venues, but this will be our longest tour by far).

We have arranged 10 performances over 5 weekends at 6 open-air venues, which are:

Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th July: Lillington and Longmoore Gardens, Pimlico

Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th July: The Winchester House Club, Putney

Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th July: St Margaret's Church, Putney

Friday 1st and Saturday 2nd August: Surrey Docks Farm, Rotherhithe

Saturday 9th August: The Hurlingham Club, Fulham

Sunday 10th  August: St Mary's Church, Mortlake

(All the performances are afternoon matinees except for Friday 1st August, which is an early evening performance beginning at 6.30pm).  Consequently, this will be a longer-term commitment than other PTC shows.  We will perform an abridged, high-energy version of the play, running approximately 80 minutes, performed by a company of around 10 actors, most of whom will play more than one character.  In addition, to insure against members of the company being absent because of illness or other personal circumstances, we will employ a system of understudying, so actors should be prepared to learn multiple roles.

The aim is to create our own troupe of travelling players, ready to pitch in, set up, and put on a show wherever we find ourselves.  It should be a summer adventure for a tight group of likeminded theatre-and-Shakespeare-crazy enthusiasts!

Rehearsals

Rehearsals will take place, mainly in the open air, and mainly in Putney, on evenings and weekends from mid-May to mid-July.  Actors should expect to be called for 2 to 4 rehearsals a week during that period.   It is assumed that if you audition you are available for all the performance dates.

Audition preparation

Actors should fill in an online audition form and attend on one of the audition dates above .  Please aim to arrive 10 minutes before the scheduled start time.

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS AN AUDITION FORM:

You will be asked to pick two characters to audition for  - your first and second choices.  You should prepare the audition pieces associated with those roles.  That means make yourself familiar with them and understand them.  You are not expected to learn them.  Everyone (all genders) should also prepare the audition piece for Dogberry.  We would like to see what you can do to try to make it funny! 

Click on the file name below for the audition pieces.

Much Ado About Nothing Audition pieces.pdf

Characters

NOTE: Apart from Benedick, Beatrice, Claudio and Hero, characters could be played by actors of any gender.  Audition pieces are available for the 8 characters below.  Other roles (Ursula, Margaret, Borachio, Antonio, Friar Francis, Conrad, Verges etc) will be doubled, some with the roles below, and some played by other members of the ensemble.  The company will comprise around 10 actors in total.

Benedick (male, playing age 20s-40s) a witty, worldly-wise, playful man

Beatrice (female, playing age 20s-40s) a witty, worldly-wise, playful woman

Hero (female, playing age 20s) a warm-hearted young woman

Claudio (male, playing age 20s) an impulsive young man

Don Pedro (playing age 20s-40s) a powerful noble

Don John (playing age 20s-40s) Don Pedro's discontented illegitimate sibling

Leonato (playing age 40+) a respectable gentleman (or woman) Hero's parent

Dogberry (any age) a ridiculous, clownish police officer

Ensemble: 2 or more actors, male or female, any age.

PLEASE NOTE

We are committed to improving diversity in our casting, and unless stated for artistic reasons, we aim to actively adopt an inclusive casting policy.

This is an amateur production. You do not need to be a member of Putney Theatre Company to audition, but actors and crew will need to become a member of Putney Theatre Company to take part in the show for £30 a year. A  £30 show fee will also need to be paid by all actors in the production. We encourage you to become a member of PTC anyway, even if not cast. 

Our company is run by volunteers and we expect all actors cast in a play to volunteer for Front of House duties at least once a year. Our shows could not go up without our Front of House volunteers.