AUDITIONS - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Name: AUDITIONS - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Start: 2025-01-25T10:00:00+13:00
End: 2025-01-25T16:00:00+13:00
Location: The Rangi Ruru Girls School Old Drama Theatre, 36 Merivale Lane, Merivale, Christchurch

Schedule

Sat Jan 25 2025 at 10:00 am to 04:00 pm

UTC+13:00

Location

The Rangi Ruru Girls School Old Drama Theatre, 36 Merivale Lane, Merivale, Christchurch | Christchurch, CA

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
a play by Simons Stephens based on the novel by Mark Haddon
Directed by Caitlyn O'Rourke assisted by Luke Longworth
Auditions will take place at the Rangi Ruru Girls School, The Old Drama Theatre: 10am – 4pm Saturday 25th of January.
Performance dates:
7.30pm April 9th-20th.
No performances Mon14th & 15th unless by demand.
Matinee on Sunday 13th at 4pm.
The Show
Christopher Boone is a 15 year old boy from Swindon who sees the world differently to those around him. After finding his neighbour’s dog Wellington dead, he decides to find out who killed him and write a non-fiction detective novel about it. With the support of his special education teacher Siobhan who narrates much of the book to us, and despite the stubborn insistence from his single father Ed that he stop poking his nose into other peoples’ business, he uncovers a lot more than he bargained for.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time explores the difficulties that neurodivergent people may have navigating a world that is not typically kind to them, as well as the resulting impact on the people around them. Based on Mark Haddon’s novel of the same name, this show is not one to be missed.
Auditions
Audition slots will be 15 minutes long.
To book your audition time and receive your audition pack:
https://www.riccartonplayers.co.nz/book-online
Auditionees should prepare a short (~1 page) monologue. They can choose to use a monologue of their own, or use one of the prepared monologues provided in the audition pack.
Auditionees will also be expected to do a cold read in the audition to demonstrate their ability to play off another actor and take direction.
Auditionees should note that English accents are preferred, especially those from West Country.
The Production Team
Director: Caitlyn O’Rourke
Assistant Director: Luke Longworth
Production Manager: Michelle Histen
Character List
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time has four named characters and an ensemble of approximately six Voices, who each play a series of minor characters. The entire ensemble is on stage for the majority of the production.
Christopher
Male, late teens - early 20s
A 15 year old neurodivergent boy from Swindon, Wiltshire. He is an ordered, often nervous boy, and it is from his perspective that the story takes place. He struggles to understand social cues and facial expressions, and utilises a number of unique coping mechanisms and schema to navigate the world. Loves mathematics, the colour red, space, and his pet rat Toby. Hates yellow, brown, people laughing at him, and different types of food touching.
Siobhan
Female, any age
Christopher’s special education teacher who encourages him to write the book and narrates much of it to our audience. She is kind, patient, and someone that Christopher trusts. She does her best to support Christopher and to guide him towards positive experiences and relationships.
Ed
Male, 30s - 40s
Christopher’s single father, a boiler engineer who has a lot of patience with Christopher but is struggling with the difficulties associated with being a solo parent of a child with very high needs. He has hidden things from Christopher in an attempt to protect him, and as secrets are uncovered over the course of the story he must navigate broken trust with his son, whom he loves deeply.
Judy
Female, 30s - 40s
Christopher’s late mother. She struggled with raising a high-needs child more than Ed. Judy also loved Christopher deeply, and her proclivity to angry outbursts strained her relationship with both her son and her husband.
Voice One
Female, 20s - 40s
Multirole, including Mrs Shears. She is the owner of Wellington the dog, who previously had a good relationship with the Boone family and is now more prickly
Voice Two
Male, 20s - 40s
Multirole, including Mr Shears. He is the ex-husband of Mrs Shears who now lives in London. He is rather hostile towards Christopher’s oddities.
Voice Three
Any gender (traditionally male), age 20+
Multirole, including a couple of Policemen. They are generally helpful, but are a bit rough and ill-equipped to support Christopher.
Voice Four
Male, age 20+
Multirole, including Reverend Peters. He is a kindly local reverend that helps out with the school. He supervises Christopher’s A-level exam.
Voice Five
Any gender (traditionally female), 20s - 30s
Multirole, no named characters.
Voice Six
Female, 50+
Multirole, including Mrs Alexander. One of Christopher’s neighbours who gives him the key information that allows him to continue his investigations into Wellington’s death. She is very kind and frail.