Encourage students to try out for The Comedy of Errors
November 27, 2007 | EditorPlease share this information with students who may interested!
The Comedy of Errors (From Wikipedia):
The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare’s early plays, written between 1592 and 1594. It is his shortest and one of his most performed for a major part of the humor comes from slapstick and mistaken identity, added to the puns and wordplay. The Comedy of Errors, along with The Tempest, is one of only two of Shakespeare’s plays to observe the classical unities.
The Comedy of Errors tells the story of two sets of identical twins. Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant, Dromio of Syracuse, arrive in Ephesus, which turns out to be the home of their twin brothers, Antipholus of Ephesus and his servant, Dromio of Ephesus. When the Syracusans encounter the friends and families of their twins, a series of wild mishaps based on mistaken identities lead to wrongful beatings, a near-incestuous seduction, the arrest of Antipholus of Ephesus, and accusations of infidelity, theft, madness and demonic possession.
Characters:
- Solinus, the Duke of Ephesus
- Egeon, a merchant of Syracuse
- Emilia, his lost wife, now Lady Abbess at Ephesus
- Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse, twin brothers, sons of Egeon and Emilia
- Dromio of Ephesus and Dromio of Syracuse, twin brothers, bondsmen, each serving his respective Antipholus
- Adriana, wife of Antipholus of Ephesus
- Luciana, her sister
- Luce, kitchen-maid to Adriana, also referred to as Nell
- Balthazar, a merchant
- Angelo, a goldsmith
- Courtesan
- First merchant of Ephesus, friend to Antipholus of Syracuse
- Second merchant of Ephesus, to whom Angelo is in debt
- Doctor Pinch, a conjuring schoolmaster
- Messenger
- Gaoler, Headsman, Officers, and other Attendants
A copy of the script is available at: http://books.google.com
Audition dates:
Monday, December 3 at 7 p.m., Truax room 206
Tuesday, December 4 at 7 p.m., Truax room 206
Call-backs: Wednesday and Thursday, December 5 and 6 at 7 p.m.
Rehearsals:
Monday, December 10, 7 p.m. – first cast meeting
Tuesday, December 11, 7 p.m. – full cast
Wednesday, December 12, 7 p.m. – full cast
Rehearsals continue Monday thru Thursday evenings starting January 14 at 6 p.m.
Performance dates: March 6, 7, 8, 9, and 13, 14, 15, 16
About doing a monologue for an audition:
- Select a monologue that will show you at your best.
- It should be memorized and fully developed from a published play.
- Two minutes, no more.
- Read the entire play, not just the scene you are doing. Know who your character is, why they are doing what they are doing, where they are, and what they are after in the scene.
- Avoid monologues with strong dialects, yelling, screaming or crying.
- Avoid Shakespeare, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, William Inge, Neil Simon, Anton Chekov, George Bernard Shaw, Christopher Durang or Henrik Ibsen.
- Wear something comfortable and nothing that will upstage you, the actor. Remember, you want to be remembered for your performance and not for your personal appearance. No costumes, no props.
- Avoid complex introductions - let the piece speak for itself.
- Practice, practice, practice. Get friends to watch and listen. Relax, it’s only make-believe.
Monologue sources; use these as starting points, then read the entire play:
http://www.monologuearchive.com/
http://members.tripod.com/litagothic/monologues.html
http://www.monologuearchive.com/o/oneill_eugene.html
http://www.notmyshoes.net/monologues/
http://www.actorpoint.com/monologue.html
http://epicwords.tripod.com/monologues.html
http://www.angelfire.com/realm/theatre/index.html
http://demoening.homestead.com/mono.html
http://www.geocities.com/superstar611_ho/mono.html
http://www.stageandsong.com/monologues.php
http://www.stageagent.com/monologues/