Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas – Casting Call

This Christmas, Theatre Royal Plymouth presents the Lyric Hammersmith and Pins and Needles production of Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas.

Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas is warm, magical and full of humour. Pins and Needles’ adaptation of the book for the stage uses a solo performer to play Father Christmas, a puppeteer to animate his beloved pets, and a musician to provide a live score. As with the book, spoken word is kept to a minimum, focusing on physical action and rich visuals accompanied by live music and sound effects.

Rehearsals will take place at TR2, TRP’s Production & Learning Centre, Plymouth and performances will be in The Drum, Theatre Royal Plymouth.

Dates
Rehearsals: 6^th November– 17^th November 2023
Get-In & Tech: 21^st & 22^nd November 2023
Performances – 23^rd November – 31^st December 2023

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We are looking for the following roles:

Puppeteer – Theatre Royal Plymouth Production (Any gender, 18–40 years)

We are looking for a brilliant puppeteer to animate all puppets within the production. You will be on stage with the character of Father Christmas throughout the show to bring to life his much loved Cat, Dog, Hen and Reindeer. The Puppeteer also interacts with the space, creating the world of Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas.

Experience in working with puppets essential, ideally you would have at least two professional puppeteering credits. Puppeteer must also have strong acting skills to support the title role.

We are actively seeking performers from ethnically diverse backgrounds for this role.

Actor/Musician – Theatre Royal Plymouth Production (Any gender, 18–50 years)

We are looking for an all-round performer who is happy to act, play and sing. A natural collaborator, you will be playing a live score, creating foley sound effects. The show is fast-paced musically so you must be able and willing to pick up a busy track quickly.

You will be visible on stage with the character of Father Christmas throughout the show so must be comfortable with the live performance aspect of the role.

We are ideally looking for the following, but can be flexible on the combination of instruments:

1 – A bass instrument i.e. (double bass/trombone/cello/bass clarinet/bass saxophone)
2 – Any melody instrument (Violin/flute/trumpet/clarinet etc.)
3 – Accordion, Guitar or Uke.

We are actively seeking performers from ethnically diverse backgrounds for this role.

Father Christmas – Theatre Royal Plymouth Production – (Male, 45–65 years)

Father Christmas wakes up on Christmas Eve and begrudgingly sets about the extraordinary task of delivering the presents to children all over the world in a single night. Unlike most versions of this iconic symbol, Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas is a down-to-earth character who grumbles at too much hard work, enjoys brandy, and dreams of holidaying in the sun.

He is resourceful and has surprising stamina, conquering chimneys of all shapes and sizes and traversing the globe. In spite of his comical curmudgeonly mumbling, Father Christmas is at heart warm and affectionate. Skills in movement and physical comedy essential. Experience/interest in puppetry and children’s theatre desirable. This is a high energy track that requires the performer to be on stage the whole time and at times working at height.

We are actively seeking performers from ethnically diverse backgrounds for this role.

Fee
The fees for these roles are in line with Equity rates of pay.

Auditions
Auditions will be held on the 6^th & 7^th September at TR2, Plymouth.

Please make suggestions/apply before the 28^th August by Spotlight link, or by email including a headshot and CV to ryan.wilce@theatreroyal.com

Invitations to auditions will be sent out before the 1^st September.

Any questions please contact ryan.wilce@theatreroyal.com