The Unexpected Guest

by Agatha Christie

directed by Steven Scase

Performance dates: Tuesday 10th September 2024 – Saturday 14th 2024

(with an additional matinee performance on 14th September 2024)

THE PLAY

Lost in the fog, a stranger seeks refuge in a nearby house only to find a man shot dead and his wife standing over him with a smoking gun. But the woman’s dazed confession is anything but convincing and the unexpected guest decides to help. Remarkably, the police clues point to a man who died two years previously but as the ghosts of a past wrong begin to emerge, a tangled web of lies reveals family secrets and chilling motives, where the real murderer turns out to be the greatest mystery of all.

“There is an ingenious display of suspects, as if lids were being taken off wells of depravity and hastily put back.”  – Lawrence Kitchin, The Observer

“The impact is tremendous… Just when the murder seems solved … Miss Christie pulls her almighty knock out punch. I admit her complete victory.” – London Evening Standard

“It kept last night’s audience in a state of stunned uncertainty; guessing wrongly to the last.”  – Philip Hope-Wallace, The Guardian

AUDITIONS

Auditions will take place at the Maddermarket Theatre

Monday 6th May 2024

7pm – 10pm

Saturday 11th May 2024

10am – 4pm

Sunday 12th May 2024

10am – 2pm

Call-back audition

Saturday 18th May 2024

10am – 2pm

Initial auditions will consist of a 20-minute one-on-one reading with the director, and a discussion of the character within the wider context of the play.

Extracts will be provided in advance, but you do not need to have learned the part before the audition.

It would be beneficial to all auditionees to have read the script before the auditions, but this is not compulsory.

Call-back auditions will be 1-hour sessions with the director and a small number of fellow auditionees working on small extracts from the play, in a rehearsal style, with a focus on how you all interact as a cast.

If you are unable to make any of these dates, please contact me to arrange an alternative date at steven.scase@maddermarket.org

CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS

PLEASE NOTE: PLAYING AGES ARE MEANT ONLY AS A GUIDE

RICHARD WARKWICK (50s – 70s):

Non-speaking role.  Dead from the outset of the play and only in Act 1, Scene 1 – can be doubled with Inspector Thomas, Sergeant Cadwallader or Julian Farrar

LAURA WARWICK (30s – 40s):

Wife of Richard Warwick – an attractive woman.  She is found at the beginning of the play with the gun in her hand…

MICHAEL STARKWEDDER (30s – 40s):

The Unexpected Guest – active tough looking man, not very well polished, but a shrewd thinker, as well as being a man of action

MISS BENNETT (50s+)

The Warwick’s housekeeper – alert, brisk, showing marks of the ex-hospital nurse, and there is a certain nosiness which is not apparent at first but which is there

JAN WARWICK (18 – early20s)

Brother of Richard Warwick – he has a strange, rather innocent faun-like face with eyes which can be rather quick and sly on occasion, but a great sweetness in manner

MRS. WARWICK (70s+)

Richard Warwick’s mother – a tall, commanding old lady.  Although leaning upon a stick, she is quite alert and is obviously a strong personality

HENRY ANGELL (40s+)

Richard Warwick’s nurse – a correct manner but a shifty eye

SERGEANT CADWALLADER (30s – 50s)

Welsh, with a soft, musical voice

INSPECTOR THOMAS (40s – 60s)

Rather poker faced and drily sarcastic

JULIAN FARRAR (30s-50s)

A handsome man with a soldierly aspect

REHEARSALS

Initial read-through will be held on Wednesday 17th July 2024.

During July rehearsals will be three weekday evenings a week, between 7-10pm, with the possibility of some weekend rehearsals if cast availability allows.

Rehearsals will increase during August to 4 or 5 evenings a week.

TO BOOK AN AUDITION

Please email the audition form below, with your preferred date for initial one-on-one audition to steven.scase@maddermarket.org

AUDITION FORM

Murder In the Studio:

a collection of three radio plays to be performed ‘live’ in the auditorium 

by Agatha Christie

directed by Steven Scase

This performance is a co-production of the Norwich Players and the Autumn Festival of Norfolk

Performance date: Sunday 17th November 2024

THE PLAYS

PERSONAL CALL:

James Brent receives a chilling telephone call seemingly from beyond the grave. His
dead wife, Fay, is waiting for him at the very place she met her grisly end. At his new wife’s
insistence, they go to meet her as requested and in the process discover a terrifying and disturbing
truth.

YELLOW IRIS:

A distressed phone call from a mystery woman brings Hercule Poirot to the hotel Jardin
des Cygnes, where a man commemorates the four-year anniversary of his wife’s sudden death – a
death under very suspicious circumstances that Poirot himself witnessed. Gathered is everyone
present on that fateful night and now Poirot must find a killer in the midst, before they strike again.

BUTTER IN A LORDLY DISH:

Sir Luke Enderby, eminent prosecution barrister and seasoned womaniser,
bites off more than he can chew, when the case of a serial killer comes back to haunt him. A tense
one act thriller that’s contains one of Christie’s most gruesome murders.

STAGING

Set in a 1940’s BBC radio sound stage. All sound effects will be made live on stage.
Although primarily mic based acting, some sections will be played ‘in-scene’.

AUDITIONS

Auditions will take place at the Maddermarket Theatre

By the very nature of the works, scripts can be in-hand for the majority of the roles. Some roles will require line learning for ‘in-scene’ moments throughout the plays

The cast can be as large, or as small, as we like. I’d be particularly interested to hear
from voice actors, as a need to physically play the role is negated by the nature of the radio plays.
Certain scenes will be played ‘in-scene’ so some line learning will be required for those roles, but the
majority will be script in hand.

Monday 6th May 2024

7pm – 10pm

Saturday 11th May 2024

10am – 4pm

Sunday 12th May 2024

10am – 2pm

Call-back audition

Saturday 18th May 2024

10am – 2pm

Initial auditions will consist of a 20-minute one-on-one reading with the director, and a discussion of the character within the wider context of the play.

Extracts will be provided in advance, but you do not need to have learned the part before the audition.

It would be beneficial to all auditionees to have read the script before the auditions, but this is not compulsory.

Call-back auditions will be 1-hour sessions with the director and a small number of fellow auditionees working on small extracts from the play, in a rehearsal style, with a focus on how you all interact as a cast.

If you are unable to make any of these dates, please contact me to arrange an alternative date at steven.scase@maddermarket.org

CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS

PLEASE NOTE: roles are open to any age of performer

PERSONAL CALL

FAY

JAMES BRENT

PAM BRENT

MRS. LAMB

EVAN CURTIS

MARY CURTIS

MR. ENDERBY

INSPECTOR NARRACOTT

OPERATOR

STATION ANNOUNCER

YELLOW IRIS

HERCULE POIROT

PAULINE WEATHERBY

SEÑORA LOLA VALDEZ

BARTON RUSSELL

ANTHONY CHAPPELL

STEPHEN CARTER

WAITER

COMPÉRE

BUTTER IN A LORDLY DISH

SIR LUKE ENDERBY Q.C.

LADY ENDERBY

JULIA KEENE

SUSAN WARREN

MRS. PETTER

FLORRIE PETTER

HAYWARD

A PORTER

REHEARSALS

Initial read-through will be held on Sunday 3rd November 2024.

We will rehearse each weeknight (depending on role(s) you may not be required at every rehearsal) up to the performance on Sunday 17th November

TO BOOK AN AUDITION

Please email the audition form below, with your preferred date for initial one-on-one audition to steven.scase@maddermarket.org

AUDITION FORM