Current Auditions:

Want to be involved but don’t want to act? There’s always plenty to do backstage – see our membership page for details.

Non-members are welcome but please read the notes on this page.

Membership Commitment – as part of your membership we expect all members to support the theatre by assisting with our Front of House Operations when the theatre is open for performances by either Stewarding, working on the Bar or Coffee Bar. We term this as a “Duty” and members are expected to do eight “Duties” per membership year.

New Members will be asked to do three duties before the run of any production they are cast in. Existing members should ensure that they have fulfilled their quota of duties before auditioning or they may not be considered for a production. All members should do a minimum of three duties within a four month period.

The Crescent Theatre is committed to the promotion of equal opportunities within the theatre, and affiliated projects, through the way we manage the venue and provide services to the community. No person should experience discrimination or lack of opportunities on the grounds of gender, race, religion, age, sexual orientation or disability. In the provision of services and in regards to the membership and visiting companies, the Crescent Theatre is committed to promoting equal opportunities for everyone.  Click here for our Statement of Commitment on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. If you need any reasonable adjustments to enable you to access an audition, you can let us know in advance by filling in an online audition form.

Please note the opportunities below are unpaid

Please note

While auditions are intended for members, non-members are welcome to attend on the understanding that, if successful in reading for a part, you would be expected to become a member of the theatre. This entitles you to take part in all theatre activities and to concessionary ticket prices. In return you will be expected to attend all rehearsals and performances and to undertake your required allocation of front of house duties. Your membership subscription must be paid by the end of the second rehearsal. Membership fees for a year are £60 (£25 if unwaged). More details on Crescent Membership can be found in the membership pages.

Unless stated otherwise, the venue for all readings and auditions is the Crescent Theatre.

Wait Until Dark

17th October – 24th October 2026

I am excited to have been chosen to direct Wait Until Dark for the Crescent’s October production. This is a suspense thriller by Frederick Knott, whose other famous play was Dial M for Murder. It concerns Susy Henderson, a young blind woman who becomes the target of three criminals searching for a heroin-filled doll hidden in her apartment. Believing her blindness makes her easy to deceive, the men use elaborate lies and impersonations to gain her trust and discover the doll’s whereabouts. As Susy uncovers their scheme, she uses her intelligence and resourcefulness to fight back.

Characters

  • SUSY  (early 30s to early 40s) A recently blinded young woman who lives in a Notting Hill apartment with her husband. Initially vulnerable and uncertain, she proves intelligent, observant and courageous as she gradually uncovers the criminals’ deception.
  • MIKE  (twenties) A small-time con man pretending to be an old friend of Sam’s in order to gain Susy’s trust. Unlike the other criminals, he eventually develops sympathy for Susy and shows signs of a conscience.
  • ROAT  (early 40s to early 60s) The play’s main villain. Ruthless, cunning and psychologically intimidating, he masterminds the conspiracy to recover the doll. He uses disguises, lies and violence to control both Susy and his accomplices.
  • CROKER  (thirties) Another member of the criminal trio, he poses as a police detective to deceive Susy. Less intelligent and more easily manipulated then the others, he nevertheless helps to maintain the elaborate fraud.
  • GLORIA  (mid-teens) A spirited teenage neighbour who frequently visits Susy’s apartment. At first mischievous and immature, she matures during the play and becomes Susy’s most loyal ally.
  • SAM  (early 30s to early 40s) Susy’s husband, a professional photographer. Kind and dependable – although occasionally inattentive to Susy’s difficulties – he unknowingly becomes involved in the plot when he accepts a doll containing heroin from a stranger.

The age ranges quoted above are (mostly) based on the ages of the actors who appeared in the original production at the Strand Theatre in 1966. They are a guideline, and I am prepared to be flexible about these for the right actors. The roles have been listed in order of ‘most lines’ to ‘fewest lines’, although all actors will have plenty to do during the play!

 

Intimacy

  • There will be a low level of ‘husband and wife’ intimacy between Sam and Susy Henderson, who got married about six months before the play begins – hugs and goodbye kisses – that sort of thing.
  • Two characters get stabbed in the final scene – one fatally. There is a protracted physical confrontation between Susy and Roat in this scene. Susy gets lightly touched several times, and Roat is grabbed and stabbed! I am hoping to hire a professional fight director to arrange all the moves for us.

I will be looking for actors who can react to each other’s characters with truth, intensity and playfulness. The cast will ideally become a well-oiled machine, focussed on delivering a complicated plot with clarity to the audience, but hopefully determined to have fun at the same time!

Auditions

  • Sunday, 19th July at 2pm
  • Tuesday, 21st July at 7pm

If any call-backs are required, these will take place on Monday, 27th July at 7pm.

At the auditions, you will be asked to read one or more extracts from the play, either in twos or in threes. Click on the links below if you wish to view the extracts before the audition (recommended).

Please click here to sign up for your audition, telling us a little about yourself, which role(s) you are interested in, and which date you will be attending.

 

Rehearsals

Rehearsals will begin on Sunday, 2nd August at 10:30am.

Thereafter, rehearsals will generally take place on :-

  • Tuesday evenings, from 7:30pm until approx 10pm
  • Friday evenings, from 7:30pm until approx 10pm
  • Sunday mornings, from 10:30am until approx 1:30pm

There are a very small number of rehearsals that do not follow this pattern, but a complete list of rehearsal dates will be provided at the auditions.

Please note that with a relatively small cast, it is really important that you are able to turn up to rehearse when you are called. Obviously, not everyone will be called for every rehearsal during the first few weeks of the rehearsal process, but as time moves on we will need everyone to be there. When you sign up for your audition, please make it very clear to us in advance if there are any dates for which you will have prior commitments.

Hope to see you at the auditions!

Colin Simmonds  (Director)

wud@crescent-theatre.co.uk

Measure for Measure

7-14 November 2026 (note: nine performances, including three matinees)

In a town where sex before marriage is punishable by death, Juliet (not that one) is pregnant by her fiancé, Claudio. Claudio’s sister, Isabella, pleads with the governor of the town, Angelo, to pardon her brother. Angelo says he will free Claudio if Isabella will have sex with him. If she won’t, then Claudio will die. What should she do?

That’s the moral dilemma at the heart of Measure For Measure. It’s about state
control and personal liberty, vengeance and forgiveness, the commodification of female sexuality, and a whole lot more. It’s one of Shakespeare’s ‘problem plays’, which means it doesn’t fit easily into the categories of histories, tragedies and comedies. The play ends in three marriages and a proposal, but they are a long way from a conventional happy ever after ending and nobody’s laughing.

As a result, for a long time Measure for Measure was a curiosity for Shakespeare nerds only, and we haven’t performed it at The Crescent Theatre in nearly forty years. But since the Epstein and Weinstein scandals and the #MeToo movement, Isabella’s threat to expose Angelo’s sexual coercion and his reply, “Who will believe thee, Isabel?” leaps off the page. This isn’t just a hypothetical moral parable, this is happening now.

So there has never been a better time to put this strange, knotty, fascinating play in front of an audience, and my goodness, it’s got some great parts for actors! I am looking for twelve actors, five female and seven male, to play the following roles. Inevitably, some roles are bigger than others but everyone will have plenty to do. Please note, Francisca and Mistress Overdone, Juliet and the messenger, and Abhorson and Barnardine will be doubled.

I have included indicative playing ages to help you know which roles you might be suitable for but they are not cast in stone. What matters is the relative ages of the cast; everyone might be older or younger than this so if there’s a role you really want to play then go for it.

FEMALE ROLES

  • Isabella (twenties to thirties) A postulant Poor Clare nun. She hasn’t taken her vows yet so she is not a novice and she therefore wears plain, secular clothes, not a habit.
  • Escalus (thirties to sixties) A loyal servant and adviser to Duke Vincentio.
  • Francisca (forties to sixties) The Mother Superior at the convent Isabella wishes to enter. The Poor Clares are a cloistered order but the Abbess may leave the convent and speak to the public when necessary. Doubles with
  • Mistress Overdone (as Francisca above) A brothel keeper.
  • Mariana (twenties to forties) Former fiancée to Angelo. He broke off the engagement when she lost her dowry. She is required to sing in the show.
  • Juliet (twenties to thirties) Engaged to Claudio and pregnant with their child. Doubles with
  • Messenger (as Juliet above).

MALES ROLES

  • Duke Vincentio (thirties to fifties) The ruler of Vienna who hands responsibility over to his deputy, Angelo, and then spends the rest of the play disguised as Friar Lodowick, a monk.
  • Angelo (twenties to forties) The Duke’s deputy who takes over when the Duke goes away.
  • Lucio (thirties to sixties) Described as ‘a fantastic’ in the dramatis personae, he’s gossipy and nosey.
  • Claudio (twenties to thirties) Isabella’s brother and engaged to Juliet.
  • Pompey (thirties to sixties) A pimp, works for Mistress Overdone.
  • Provost (thirties to sixties) A combination of policeman and sheriff, responsible for the administration of justice in Vienna.
  • Abhorson (thirties to sixties) The state executioner doubles with
  • Barnardine (as Abhorson above) A long-term prisoner.

INTIMACY 

Little or none. Angelo propositions Isabella but it is not a seduction and she rejects him.

AUDITIONS

Monday 27th and Tuesday 28th July at 7.30pm. Let me know if you can’t make either of those dates and I’ll try to arrange to see you at a different time. 

To audition, please fill in the online form here: https://forms.gle/jUxHYHBVKDA4oM9HA 

REHEARSALS

Rehearsals start on Monday 24th August and the pattern is mostly Monday, Thursday and Saturday afternoon, with two Wednesdays at the end of October. All but one rehearsal will be at The Crescent Theatre.

You can download the audition pieces below. You don’t have to learn them but you are likely to give a better audition if you are familiar with them.

Andrew Cowie

Director

M4M@crescent-theatre.co.uk

 

Audition Pieces

Angelo+Isabella
Claudio
Claudio+Isabella
Pompey monologue
Overdone+Pompey
Mariana
Lucio+Duke
Francisca
Escalus+Pompey
Duke Vincentio monologue