Gigi Robarts Gigi is thrilled to be directing her second play for the Tower Theatre Company. Other directing includes Tartuffe, Black Widow, Loveplay, The Children's Hour (in the round) and Hay Fever, all performed with the Putney Arts Theatre. Gigi has directed two productions for KDC - Jake's Women at the White Bear Theatre and The Long Run at the Landor Theatre. Gigi also directed Huis Clos, performed in French at the Baron's Court Theatre by Something Wicked productions. Gigi lived in New York and worked as an actress/voice over talent. Acting credits include : Beverly in Abigail's Party, Lady Teazle in The School for Scandal, Olivia in Twelfth Night, Amanda in Private Lives and Stepmother/Dandini in Cinderella. Audio books : Weis' Mistress of Dragons, Tracy Chevalier's The Virgin Blue and Graham Swift's Last Orders.

Performance Dates & Times : Tuesday 17th - Saturday 21st January at 7.45 Matinée Saturday 21st January at 3.00. At the Bridewell Theatre, off Fleet Street Auditions are for Members only. Click here for details.   Audition Dates & Times : Tuesday 8th and Thursday 10th November at 7.30 at the St Bride Institute (above the Bridewell Theatre), Bride Lane, London EC4Y 8EQ. Possible recalls will be during the evening of Sunday 13th November between 6.00 and 10.00 Read-through and rehearsals will commence the week of the 14th November (to be confirmed) and will be pretty intense. There will be a break over Christmas week. The get-in will be on Sunday 15th January and cast and crew may be needed all day Monday 16th January for technical and dress rehearsals. Assistant Director / Stage Manager : Luise Weiner Costume Design : Katreena Watherston Lighting Design : Rich Evans

The Director writes :
How about a little hot southern comfort Mississippi style!

Suicide, murder, adultery, domestic violence and alienation are just for starters and the curtain ain't even gone up!

It's 1974 in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. Haunted by the shadow of their mother's suicide our three dysfunctional protagonists, the Magrath sisters, reunite at their grandfather's estate. Each sister grappling with her own ‘crime of the heart' in this moving Pulitzer prize-winning play which is rarely performed on these shores!
Babe has just shot her husband and is on bail from prison. Lenny is celebrating her 30th birthday, lighting her lone candle in a cookie and Meg is back after a failed singing career in Hollywood.
The real sparks fly as the three sisters take on each one's skeleton in the closet with funny and heart-wrenching consequences.

The characters are :

Lenny Magrath : Eldest sister (30-40)
• Lenny is highly strung, sensitive, self-conscious and thoughtful
• Has devoted herself to caring for their ailing grandfather
• Lenny hasn't sustained a relationship apart from a brief fling with Charlie, a man she met through ‘Lonely Hearts of the South'
• Sister rivalry between her and Meg – they often clash and argue
• Constrained psychologically by her 'shrunken ovary'

Meg Magrath : Middle sister (25-35)
• Meg is fun loving, reckless and a rebel at heart, she is the most grounded and realist of the sisters and is very protective over Babe
• She has "psychic powers"
• Can be thoughtless and hard towards Lenny
• Her aspirations to be a singer have failed
• Discovered her mother's body as a child – later she went crazy and found herself in a funny farm
• Is she back to rekindle her relationship with Doc, her high school sweetheart

Babe Magrath : Youngest sister (20-30)
• Strong-willed, volatile and the most innocent and yet the most troubled
• Angelic and spacey but can raise hell when angry
• Facing charges of attempted murder for shooting her husband, Zachery Botrelle
• Only sister to have married
• Perceptive and thoughtful, she is the confidante of both sisters

Chick Boyle : Sister's cousin (30-45)
• Selfish, judgmental and thoughtless – doesn't hesitate to say what's on her mind
• Believes she knows what's best for everyone
• Lives next door with her husband Buck and their two kids Peekay and Buck Jr.
• Often drops in unannounced with gossip, advice or just plain criticism
• Social climber and feels utterly superior to her Magrath cousins

Doc Porter : Meg's high school sweetheart (30-40)
• Handsome, romantic, tender and quietly seductive
• Walks with a slight limp which gives him more charm
• Married a Yankee woman and has two kids
• Appears to still have a soft spot for Meg

Barnette Lloyd : Babe's young attorney (25-35)
• Intense, bright, passionate and disciplined
• Aspiring and ambitious lawyer starting his own business
• Has been hired to defend Babe
• Holds a huge personal vendetta against Babe's husband whom he blames for ruining his father's life
• Secretly has a crush for Babe

These are possible playing ages only and there is room for some manoeuvre, so please still come to the audition if you are interested and your playing age is not quite within the range shown. I'm hoping for workable Southern accents.

For the auditions, please look at the following four scenes :
Lenny/Chick – pages 5/6/7
Babe/Barnette – pages 34/35
Meg/Doc – pages 49/50
Lenny/Meg/Babe – pages 42/43/44

Please read the play before auditioning. Contact the Tower Office if you would like a reading copy of the play.
If you have any questions about the production or are unable to audition on the dates shown please contact Gigi Robarts and we can arrange an alternative.