Audition Notice – Private Lives
‘PRIVATE LIVES’
By Noel Coward.
Performances: 16th November – 8th December (Previews 12th & 14th November).
SYNOPSIS
In Private Lives, passion, laughter, romance, anger, and love set the stage for a battle of the sexes as divorced couple, Amanda and Elyot, find themselves unwittingly thrown together in Coward’s classic comedy of manners. Unknowingly booking adjoining rooms while on honeymoon with their respective spouses, Victor and Sybil, Amanda and Elyot are forced to face their true feelings for each other. Realizing they have made a pair of mistaken marriages, the divorcees attempt to escape their mismatched partners. With haste, and under the cover of darkness, they flee their honeymoon hotel and unsuspecting spouses in search of privacy at Amanda’s secluded Paris flat. Despite their passion for each other, Amanda and Elyot begin to bicker violently, just as they had done during their marriage. It is clear that the couple cannot live with each other, but cannot live without each other either. When they are discovered several days later by their jilted spouses, all four lovers must finally acknowledge just who is really suited to whom. Fast-paced, witty, and passionate, Noel Coward’s comedy is a delightful romp.
Auditions will be held on Tuesday 31st July. Doors open at 7:30 and auditions start at 8:00.
Auditionees will be required to do the pre – provided monologue for the 4 main characters in their best upper crust English accent. This will be done in the first stages of the audition process. We will then work on scenes from the script.
Those auditioning for Elyot and Amanda will be asked to sing unaccompanied as they are both required to sing during the play. Please make a note on your audition sheet if you can play piano, for the role of Elyot. (This is not mandatory for the role). Please note that Elyot and Amanda both smoke on stage during this production according to the script. (We will not be using real cigarettes).
The role of Louise is a small featured role and is spoken entirely in French. Will need comic timing and expression.
Contact Details
For a copy of the required audition Monologue and/or Script, or if you have any questions please contact Jan Mahoney by email on jandmahoney01@gmail.com or call 0428 202 038
The Roles.
Elyot Chase – Aged 30 – 40 looking. Must be able to sing solo. Would be nice if he could play the piano to accompany himself, although this is not mandatory.
Elyot Chase, a handsome man. When the play begins, he is honeymooning at Deauville, France, with his second wife. Five years earlier, he had divorced Amanda, to whom he had been married for three tumultuous years, and then travelled around the world. When he sees Amanda again, he realizes that she is his true love. Elyot, first performed by the playwright himself, represents the witty, irreverent, sophisticated Englishman that the playwright admired and saw himself as exemplifying.
Amanda Prynne – Aged 28 – 35 looking. Should be comfortable singing.
Amanda Prynne, Elyot’s first wife, newly married to Victor Prynne. She, too, is honeymooning at Deauville as the play opens. She is the most vivacious character in the work. She is not only beautiful but also spirited, independent, and unconventional—a fit partner for Elyot.
Sibyl Chase – Aged 23 – 28 looking.
Sibyl Chase, Elyot’s bride. Conventional, unimaginative, and innocent, she is Amanda’s antithesis and suggests the playwright’s dim view of the “nice” English girl. She implies to Elyot that she will tailor life to suit his whims.
Victor Prynne – Aged 35 – 45 looking.
Victor Prynne, a handsome man a few years older than Elyot. Stuffy and stodgy, he lacks a sense of humor. Like Sibyl, he is shocked by the elopement of Elyot and Amanda; when he and Sibyl catch up with the other couple, he chivalrously offers to divorce Amanda even though he deeply loves her. Sibyl is his true soul mate, and their fierce quarreling at the end of the play, mirroring the battles between Amanda and Elyot, indicates that the conventional Victor will end up paired with her.
Louise – Aged 30 plus (can be any age) – Must speak fluent French.
Louise, Amanda’s French-speaking maid. She makes a brief appearance in the third act. Her inability to speak English and her incomprehension of the bizarre occurrences in the apartment provide a number of laughs.
Note: Castle Hill Players hold 6 auditions each year on a Tuesday night at the theatre. They are advertised two weeks prior on this website.