DROITWICH’S Norbury Theatre is holding auditions for a production of Alan Bennett’s The History Boys which will be staged at the Friar Street venue in September.
The production, which will run from September 7 to 9 and between September 14 and 16, is being directed by David Goode.
The History Boys was premiered in 2004 and was voted the nation’s favourite play in a recent poll.
It is set in Sheffield in the 1980s and is centred around an unruly bunch of bright, funny sixth-form boys who are in pursuit of sex, sport and a place at university.
It also features a maverick English teacher at odds with a young and shrewd supply teacher, a Headmaster obsessed with results, and a history teacher who thinks he is a fool. It provokes questions about history and how you teach it – about education and its purpose. Brilliantly funny but by the end, there are tears with the laughter.
The play contains adult themes and very strong language, and is suitable only for those of 16 and over.
Rehearsals will be once-a-week, starting in March and then twice a week from April.
The nights are yet to be arranged, but Tuesday and Thursday are preferred.
Auditions / read-throughs take place at 7.30pm at the Norbury Theatre next Monday (January 30) and next Wednesday (February 1), then on February 6 and February 9.
Auditions will take the form of read-throughs, with unaccompanied singing individually and in groups as required.
Songs will include ‘Bye-bye Blackbird’ and ‘It’s a Sin’ by the Pet Shop Boys.
The piece, however, is not a musical and overall performance is the most important element.
