Next month we will be holding open auditions for our upcoming panto, Beauty and The Beast.  All are welcome to come along.  There are parts for actors of all ages, no prior experience is needed, you don’t need to prepare anything in advance and you don’t need to bring anything with you except yourself (under-18s are most welcome but do please bring a parent or guardian with you).  We also invite you to come along if you’d like to help us out behind the scenes with what’s going to be a big production both on- and off-stage!

We’re delighted to confirm that Ron will once again be directing our panto.  He directed our last panto, the very successful Dick Whittington, and before that our smash-hit murder-mystery spoof Murdered to Death.  More recently Ron has also appeared on-stage, playing Good Gravedigger, Bow Street Runner and Maypole in Virtue Triumphant.  The script he has chosen for Beauty and The Beast is by Sean Baker, who wrote our “Dick Whittington”, so with that writer-director combo once again we are confident that we have the “magic beans” needed to “grow” another successful show!  (that’s the wrong panto – Ed)

What will being in Beauty and The Beast entail?

• Production dates for Beauty and The Beast are Thursday 16^th– Saturday 18^th February 2017 (half-term week), with 4 performances in total – 3 evening shows plus a Saturday matinee.
• Rehearsals will start in October, after the conclusion of our next production 7 Ages of Man (more about that show soon, by the way).
• We will be rehearsing on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at the Old Day School in Bluntisham.  Rehearsals will start at 7.30pm and continue until around 8.30-9pm
• Rehearsals will be every week until production week (with a break at Christmas).  Cast members need to be available for most rehearsals (ideally all rehearsals, but we do understand that sometimes real life gets in the way).
• Depending on the rehearsal schedule you may not be required to attend every rehearsal, although you’ll still be welcome to come along even if your character has the night off.
• During production week there will be extra rehearsals on the preceding Sunday, 12^th February, and on two of the three evenings before opening night.

If you would like a part but are unsure which one to audition for, don’t worry – director Ron will be happy to suggest a suitable part to audition for on the day.

If you’d like to know more please contact us at backstage.amdram@gmail.com

Beauty and the Beast – List of Characters

Bad Fairy

Good Fairy

Belle – Heroine

Delphonse – Wheeler Dealer – Father to Belle and her sisters

Annalise – Belle’s sister

Colette – Belle’s sister

Monsieur Jasson – Police Commissioner

Bidet – Bounty hunter –comedy duo

Cliche – Bounty Hunter –  comedy duo

Trigger – Panto Horse

The Beast/Prince

Mrs Potts – Dame

Chip – servant

Cogsworth – servant

Lumiere – servant

Babette – housekeeper to the Beast

Beech, Willow, Pine and Elm – Talking and moving trees

Child

6 Villagers