Taming of The Shrew - Applications close 28th FebAbout the audition: We are auditioning for an ensemble cast of 6 so all roles are up for grabs! The Audition will be run as a workshop to assess how you work as part of an ensemble and there will be an opportunity for you to perform a monologue and a short scene as well as show off your sight reading skills. You will not be expected to learn the scene by heart and are more than happy to see how you lift the characters off the page as part of a script-in-hand rehearsal but we do expect that your monologue will be performed off-script. There will also be an element of dance and movement to this piece so please only apply if you are comfortable to do so. Remember the audition is as much for you to see if you wish to work now/in the future with us as it is for us to see if you are right for the role. Details of the roles are below Why not follow our Facebook Auditions page or follow us on our new twitter @RDTCAuditions account to be kept informed of any further information, updates and forthcoming auditions. |
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About the production:
Production:
Taming of The Shrew
Genre:
Dark comedy
All-female cast
A six hand, multi-role, 90 minute show based around a woman obsessed with control and perfection who battles with her short temper and 'inability' to love.
Short synopsis:
Katherine and Bianca are sisters, unalike in many ways. Bianca, the youngest, a student, wishes to marry and encourages her suitors with charm and allure. Katherine, a writer, discards and mocks all her wooers out of suit, cutting them with her wicked words and tempestuous outbursts. Their father has other ideas – he will not allow Bianca to marry until Katherine’s wed.
When two gentlemen begin to fight for Bianca’s love they hatch a plan to engage a boisterous man to ‘tame’ Katherine into a state of honourable marriage…
A stranger, mistaken identity and the persistence of unrequited hearts what could possibly go wrong..?
View an in-depth synopsis
Production:
Taming of The Shrew
Genre:
Dark comedy
All-female cast
A six hand, multi-role, 90 minute show based around a woman obsessed with control and perfection who battles with her short temper and 'inability' to love.
Short synopsis:
Katherine and Bianca are sisters, unalike in many ways. Bianca, the youngest, a student, wishes to marry and encourages her suitors with charm and allure. Katherine, a writer, discards and mocks all her wooers out of suit, cutting them with her wicked words and tempestuous outbursts. Their father has other ideas – he will not allow Bianca to marry until Katherine’s wed.
When two gentlemen begin to fight for Bianca’s love they hatch a plan to engage a boisterous man to ‘tame’ Katherine into a state of honourable marriage…
A stranger, mistaken identity and the persistence of unrequited hearts what could possibly go wrong..?
View an in-depth synopsis
Key Characters:
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Katherine (Kate) Eldest Daughter of Baptista Minola. |
A writer, well presented, perfectionist. Short tempered, quick witted, violent and has a sharp disposition. This manifestation of her character seems routed in her jealousy for her younger sister, caused by her own insecurities. Petruchio sets his mind on marrying her, she does not requite him to begin with and puts up her best fight, only to eventually reside herself to accept her affections for him and settle in marriage with her match. |
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Bianca (Be)
Youngest Daughter of Baptista Minola. |
A student, idealistic, romantic.
Determined to be unaligned with her sister, she proves her self the very opposite and makes every effort to keep it so. Softly spoken, kind and attentive. She is wealthy and unassuming, perhaps a little naive and her relationship with Kate gets ever strained as she must keep turning away the men dote upon her all becasue her father has ruled that she cannot marry until Kate is wed. |
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Petruchio
A stranger from Verona. |
Eccentric, boisterous, ill mannered.
Seeking a wife, determined to prove the others wrong he sets out to 'tame' Katherine despite the warnings of her vile temper and shrewish nature. He aims to show her she has met her match and eventually woos her with his own sharp tongue, tireless temper and infuriating pedanticism. |
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Baptista
Father to Katherine and Bianca. |
Good natured, seems to have good intentions, overbearing.
Believes he is protecting his girls by imposing rules of circumstance to allow their engagement. He is desperate to see Kate wed and imposes such rules to try and encourage kindness from her and protect Bianca from her own idealistic flaws which may see her wed to a man who seeks only her fortune and her beauty. |
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Lucentio
A young student from Pisa. |
Well meaning, idealistic and tenacious.
Arrives in Padua to study but when he stumbles into Kate and Bianca he is immediately sidetracked by Bianca's beauty. He believes he is in love from first sight and so disguises himself as a literary tutor named Cambio in order to be given access to woo her. He wins her love but when his father pays him a visit all manner of confusion ensues. |
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Tranio
Lucentio’s servant. |
Sarcastic, suspicious and comical.
By swapping identities with his master he plays a pivotal role in Lucentio's plan as he bargains with Baptista for Bianca's hand in marriage. |
Other roles which will form part of the ensemble:
Hortensio & Gremio
Two love-rivals for Bianca.
These men work together to see that Kate is wooed so they can work their charms on her little sister, they direct Potruchio towards Kate as a challenge he can't refuse.
Hortensio disguises himself as a music tutor in order to compete for Bianca's affections.
They are both unsuccessful in their aim to woo.
Grumio
Potruchio's fool.
The clown and light relief of the play
Blondello
Lucentio's second servent who assists in their plot
Christopher Sly
Principle character in the prologue, a rogue who is made to believe he is a lord