Casting

Well, it was a bit more complicated than I'd hoped, but I finally got it cast. Although, when I say "finally", I'm writing this 3 weeks after the event so...

After a great read-through we had two audition sessions which were very well attended by ladies, but at which the gents were noticeable by their absence. That gave me two headaches:

1. How to divide up the ladies' parts (ooer!) for the best casting?
2. Where to find some more chaps?

In the end, inevitably, I ended up with 2 or 3 women who I was unable to cast. It's a real shame when you know that they would do a great job in at least one of the other roles, but you've chosen an equally good alternative for that part. But, that decision was relatively straightforward.

For the male roles, I've made one casting choice which I think is a gamble (but I'm keeping my fingers crossed). One of the other roles was also totally un-castable with the people who had auditioned, but luckily another group member decided that they would like to take part in the play after all, so now he's on board, everything slotted into place.

Opinion is always split as to whether to double-cast actors in amateur shows. I understand the reasoning that casting a distinct actor in every role gives more people something to do - and also bring in more bums on seats - but I really find it difficult to justify asking someone to turn up for rehearsals once or twice a week when they only appear on one or two pages. For that reason, I've tried to double-up the cast to ensure that everyone has at least 10-12 pages, minimum, even if their dialogue may be a bit scant. I hope that this is a balanced approach which maximises the size of the cast but prevents people getting bored.