The Knack Theatre – The Jasmine Suite
Location: Melbourne, Victoria
Audition / Call Type: Theater
The Jasmine Suite by Michael Olsen is running from 28 June to 08 July 2023. This two-hander is produced by The Knack Theatre and directed by Greg Gorton.
Attached are the two roles, what we would like from you during auditioning, and other details you may wish to know before applying.
Kathryn
Kathryn is a woman in her mid-thirties who is bored with her life. She tried to make it more exciting by sleeping with a work colleague, but that didn’t improve things. Now, she is trying a role-playing game that is getting too real. Real enough that she thinks she just killed someone. Real enough that she got shot.
The actor playing Kathryn must be comfortable:
Performing intimate scenes involving kissing and touching the neck, upper chest, and abdomen.
Speaking in a BAD English accent and switching between it and their natural voice.
Eating strawberries – unfortunately, this is a strict requirement.
All female-presenting actors are welcome to audition for this role. As all actors are welcome to audition for the role of Richard, please let us know when auditioning if you feel uncomfortable being involved in intimate scenes with people you are not ordinarily attracted to.
Please prepare/perform this scene for your audition:
Kathryn enters. She has been shot in the abdomen, and while she has been able to stop the bleeding, she knows that without medical attention, she will not last the night. She sees Richard waiting for her. Kathryn knows Richard betrayed her, but the only way to survive is to hide this knowledge. Instead, she tries to tell calm him down by telling a story.
Kathryn:
When I woke up today and got up and dressed myself, I suddenly began to feel as if everything in this life was open to me, and that I knew how I must live. Dear Richard, I know everything. A man must work, toil in the sweat of his brow, whoever he may be, for that is the meaning and object of his life, his happiness, his enthusiasm. How fine it is to be a workman who gets up at daybreak and breaks stones in the street, or a shepherd, or a schoolmaster, who teaches children, or an engine-driver on the railway….
My God, let alone a man, it’s better to be an ox, or just a horse, so long as it can work, than a young woman who wakes up at twelve o’clock, has her coffee in bed, and then spends two hours dressing….
Oh it’s awful! Sometimes when it’s hot, your thirst can be just as tiresome as my need for work. And if I don’t get up early in future and work, Richard, then you may refuse me your friendship.
(This monologue you may recognise from “Three Sisters”. You may substitute in any monologue you feel comfortable giving that gives some optimistic view – but present it in the context provided.)
Richard
Richard is in his twenties to early thirties. He is in love with Kathryn, a slightly older work colleague with whom he once spent a drunken night. He would do anything for her, including risking his own life.
The actor playing Richard must be comfortable with the following:
Performing intimate scenes that involve kissing and touching Kathryn on the neck, upper chest, and abdomen.
Speaking in a BAD Italian accent and switching between it and their natural voice.
Eating strawberries – please let us know if you have an allergy or intolerance.
ALL actors are welcome to audition for this role, including those auditioning for Kathryn. While Richard was originally written as a man, the writer has expressed flexibility for the right actor.
While Kathryn is played as a woman character, her role is open to any female-presenting actor. If you have an issue with this, please inform us – this will not exclude you from auditioning.
We have included a monologue for you to perform, taken from “Love” by Patricia Cornelius. However, if you wish to perform a different monologue, you are welcome to. We do encourage you to choose one that highlights the complexities of being in love.
If you choose to perform this monologue, please aim to perform it as though the character pities the person they are talking about rather than finds them disgusting:
Kathryn is crying on the ground, filled with self-pity at her failure of a life. Richard is impatient but still loves her. Right now, however, it is hard not to see her as pathetic.
Richard:
The moment I saw you I thought,
you are beautiful, really beautiful,
so beautiful, and small.
Beautiful and small. I loved you.
I saw you and I couldn’t keep my hands off you.
Wanted to touch you, pick you up, feel your beautiful little body in my hands.
Something about how little you were, how I could hold you, how I could lift you right off the ground, made me feel a big man. And a good man, a really good man.
I wanted to look after you. Never wanted that before. Now look at you. Fuck. Look at you, you look like an old crow. Fuck. Look at you.
You used to have some pride in the way you looked, dressed up you looked beautiful. It felt good to be seen with you. Like, feast your eyes on this, and she’s mine. Now who wants you, looking the way you look, who’d come near you? You’re a slag, an old rag. Get up. Fucking get up would you, you fucking useless scrag. Get up!
Payment: Paid
City or Location of call: Melbourne, Victoria
Please submit to: theknacktheatre@gmail.com by 02/24/2023 6:30 PM
https://calendly.com/theknacktheatre/the-jasmine-suite-auditions?month=2023-02&date=2023-02-25
This casting notice was posted by: The Knack Theatre
