Black Comedy Auditions

A crowd-pleasing slapstick comedy composed of several colorful, duplicitous characters who stumble around a pitch-black room – all in full view of the audience, who watch the events unfold in full light.

Lovesick and desperate, sculptor Brindsley Miller has embellished his apartment with furniture and objects d’arte “borrowed” from the absent antique collector next door, hoping to impress his fiancée’s pompous father and a wealthy art dealer. The fussy neighbor, Harold Gorringe, returns just as a blown fuse plunges the apartment into darkness and Brindsley is revealed. Unexpected guests, aging spinsters, errant phone cords, and other snares impede his frantic attempts to return the purloined items before light is restored.

*The play takes place in an apartment in London England in the 1960’s so we would like the actors to use British (and German) accents.

*There is a lot of physical comedy in this show. Some characters will be required to trip and/or fall down. The actor playing Brindsley will be required to carry chairs on and off the stage.

We are looking to fill the following roles:

BRINDSLEY MILLER - a young sculptor, mid twenties, intelligent and attractive, but nervous and uncertain of himself.

CAROL MELKETT - Brindsley's fiancee. A young debutante; very pretty, very spoiled; very silly. Her sound is that unmistakable, terrifying debutante quack.

MISS FURNIVAL - a middle-aged lady. Prissy and refined. Clad in the blouse and sack shirt of her gentility, her hair in a bun, her voice in a bun, she reveals only the repressed gestures of the middle-class spinster -- until alcohol undoes her.

COLONEL MELKETT - Carol's commanding father. Brisk, barky, yet given to sudden vocal calms which suggest a deep alarming instability. It is not only the constant darkness which gives him his look of wide-eyed submission.

HAROLD GORRINGE - the bachelor owner of an antique-china shop, and Brindsley's neighbor, Harold comes from the North of England. His friendship is highly conditional and transactional: sooner or later, payment for it will be asked. A specialist in emotional blackmail, he can become hysterical when slighted, or (as inevitably happens) rejected. He is older than Brindsley by several years.

SCHUPPANZIGH - a German refugee, cultivated, and effervescent. He is an entirely happy man, delighted to be in England, even if it means being employed full time by the London Electricity Board.

CLEA - Brindsley's ex-mistress. Mid-twenties; dazzling, emotional, bright, and mischievous. The challenge to her to create a dramatic situation out of the darkness is ultimately irresistible.

GEORG BAMBERGER - an elderly millionaire art collector, easily identifiable as such. Like Schuppanzigh, he is German.

Audition Dates:

Sunday, August 11, 2024 6:30 - 8:00 pm

Monday, August 12, 2024 6:30 - 8:00 pm

Auditions are at Beatniks on Conkey on the theater side.

You will be asked to read scenes from the script.

The only preparation necessary would be to practice your British and/or German accents.

Show Dates:

October 18, 19, 20 and 25, 26 and 27

7:30 pm on Friday and Saturday shows; 2:00 pm on Sunday shows

Download a poster HERE
Auditions and Performances are at Beatniks on Conkey, 420 Conkey Street, Hammond