Audition Notice : ‘Five Women’ : A new play developed by the Tower Theatre Company

Performance dates and venues : Tuesday 26th May – Saturday 30th May at 7.30 Matinée on Saturdays 30th May at 3.00 to be performed at the Tower Theatre, Stoke Newington

These auditions are for Tower Theatre Company Members only. Click here for details. If you would like to join the company you will need to take a company audition. To arrange this please contact one of the auditions co-ordinators : Peter Westbury or Stephen Brasher The next company auditions are scheduled for 2nd February and 1st March.

Audition Dates & Times : Wednesday 5th February and Thursday 6th February between 6.45 – 8.30 and 8.15 – 10.00 at the Tower Theatre, Stoke Newington These will be group workshop auditions with two slots each evening. There are 8 places available in each audition slot. Recall auditions will be by invitation only and will take place on Sunday 9th February. You must be available for the recall audition to be considered for this production. During the initial audition we will use some source material to explore and play with different themes and ideas. We will be looking for devising skills, creativity and ability to work as an ensemble. Please also prepare a song (no longer than two minutes) to perform unaccompanied.

If you plan to audition, follow this link to the audition form. Please complete and print it to bring along with you. Rehearsals will take place all day Sunday and on Thursday evenings starting on Sunday 1st March. Additional rehearsals will be added in the final weeks. Due to the nature of the show cast members are expected to attend all rehearsals. There will be required reading and research before and during the rehearsal period. Cast members should also be available all day Sunday 24th and Monday 25th May for the get-in and technical rehearsals. To confirm your audition place or if you have any questions about the production or audition please contact the director, Angharad Ormond.

Director : Angharad Ormond
Writer : Lucy Moss
Musical Director/Composer : Rosie Hayes

Angharad Ormond has been a Tower Theatre Company member for five years and was the winner of the 2017 Frank Smith award which recognises the most outstanding newcomer to the Company. She has been seen on stage as Laura in The Priory, Nell in Little Nell, Daphne in Sailor Beware! and as Cathy Jackson in the musical The Return of the Marionettes. She trained at Drama Studio London and began directing for the Tower in 2017 with Kindertransport, shortly followed by an immersive production of George Orwell’s 1984. Last year she brought her unique style to Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales in a modern reimagining. Angharad also works as a Clinical Psychologist and she brings her training and experience into her work as a director.

“A fast-paced, hilarious, heartbreaking and intricate piece of highly relevant theatre…a really strong empathic feminist voice running through the entire thing” – audience member on The Canterbury Tales

“This highly original production bursts with energy, utilising puppetry, music, singing, and choreographed movement so, at times, it resembles a futuristic Les Miserables.” – Camden New Journal on 1984

“(the) Tower’s production is a finely-crafted piece of storytelling, and under Angharad Ormond’s shrewd direction becomes a haunting evocation of a troubled childhood.” – Filmic Forays on Kindertransport

The director writes:

‘Who was Jack the Ripper?’ a question still being asked over 130 years after the infamous murders in London’s East End. Despite their brutality a glamour shrouds the unidentified serial killer. But his victims were identified, yet very few know their names. Labelled instead only as prostitutes.

We ask who were these five women? What were their stories? And why is this important?

Times have changed. Laws introduced and repealed. Yet these stories remain. Nearly a hundred years after the murders, Tony Parker, commissioned by the BBC, set out to follow the lives of five women released from Holloway Prison. What he found were the same narratives; cycles of poverty and desperation.

Reuniting the team that brought us The Canterbury Tales, Five Women will explore the themes of poverty, sexual exploitation, crime, punishment and desperation as seen through the eyes of women. Seeking to give a voice to those who have been silenced by society and reclaiming the narratives of women this brand new production will celebrate resilience and solidarity. Using original live music and movement this show will be also be accompanied by a series of workshops and events.

“We’ve been taught that silence will save us. But it won’t.” – Audre Lorde

Cast
We are looking for an ensemble of five versatile and diverse female performers with strong movement, singing and devising skills to develop this production from scratch.

Reading List
During the process we will be drawing from a range of sources including those listed below. You may find it useful to look at these texts before auditioning.
Parker, Tony (1965) Five Women. Hutchinson & Co Ltd, London.
Ross, Ellen (2007) Slum Travelers: Ladies and London Poverty, 1860-1920. University of California Press.
Rubenhold, Hallie (2019) The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper. Penguin Random House, London.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/may/30/historian-speaks-of-constant-trolling-over-jack-the-ripper-book-hallie-rubenhold.