Auditions for Shakespeare in Hollywood directed by Jude Hines will be held at the Arts Theatre on 1 and 2 February by appointment.
If you enjoyed the Rep’s Baskerville or the Guild’s The 39 Steps last year, then this is the play for you.
Ken Ludwig’s Shakespeare in Hollywood
Commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare in Hollywood made its world premiere in 2003 at Arena Stage, winning the Helen Hayes award for Best New Play of the Year.
Synopsis (2 Acts) 120 minutes
Take the glitz and glamour of 1930s Hollywood, populated by real-life, yet delightfully exaggerated, personalities of the movie scene. Add a sophisticated German director with an artistic vision, a couple of misplaced supernatural beings, and one of William Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies of all time, and you get Ken Ludwig’s Shakespeare in Hollywood, in which Max Reinhardt’s problematic 1934 production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” — sure to be box office poison — is further complicated when Oberon and Puck, fresh from a wood outside Athens, find themselves transported from the land of legend and classical myth all the way to Hollywood and in the middle of a suspiciously familiar story. Oberon may be the all-powerful King of the Fairies — but he has never dealt with ambitious starlets, prying gossip columnists, or the odious Will Hays, the all-powerful King of Censorship. And Puck may be an old hand at jolly mischief, but he has encountered nothing like the cool sunglasses and hot beauties of Hollywood! When the enchantment of the silver screen meets the magic of Fairyland, all merry hell breaks loose, and we are treated to transformations, chase scenes, and the kind of havoc that only that certain love-juice can wreak. Shakespeare in Hollywood is a supernatural screwball romp, full of entertainment, and even a little bit of education. Featuring key players from Hollywood and from the 1930’s silver screen including Louella Parsons, Joe. E. Brown, Jimmy Cagney and Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller)
Cast of Characters Oberon, Puck (can be M or F), Jack Warner, Max Reinhardt, Will Hays, Daryl, Olivia Darnell, Lydia Lansing, Louella Parsons, Dick Powell, Joe. E. Brown, Jimmy Cagney. NB: Other than Puck and Oberon, these were real actors/people of the time. Please look them up pre-auditioning.
NOTE: The play is written for 8 M and 4 W (see note re Puck). The actors playing Hays, Brown, Cagney, Powell and Daryl double as Albert, Harry, Sam, Groucho, Tarzan and the Cowboy. It can also include an ensemble (non- vocal) for several scenes.
Note to Auditionees: Auditionees will be sent a copy of the script when they book. Please choose preferred character/s that you wish to audition for. You will be asked to read the role/s with others. You are not required to learn the script for the audition, but the script will be used for the audition. We appreciate and welcome both diversity and flexibility. Rehearsal time will be 8 weeks prior to the July season.
“Lights, camera, action — there’s plenty of it in Ken Ludwig’s fantastical farce … Ludwig has constructed an amazingly dense and layered romp [and] clearly had a ball fusing Shakespearean diction with the wisecracking verbal jousting that characterized pre-World War II comedies.” – The Boston Globe
