AUDITION – The Shoe-Horn Sonata

Directed by Andrew Ferguson
Season 2, 2023

Audition Dates	Start Time for Audition Date	Finish Time for Audition Date
Sunday evening, 14 Aug	18:30	21:00
Monday evening, 15 Aug	19:30	22:00

Character Listing

Bridie (precast)

Sheila

Male Voice (Interviewer)

Description of Characters

Sheila (lead role)

A very British woman, Sheila has lived the last five decades of her life in Australia, but still has a characteristic British air of colonial snobbery about her. She grew up in Singapore with parents who refused to evacuate because they saw it as a form of giving in to the invading Japanese, but when it became clear that they were in danger she was sent to Australia by ship. Her ship was torpedoed, just like Bridie’s, and she was picked up clinging to the other side of Bridie’s piece of wood.

As a prisoner, Sheila shared Bridie’s views about collaboration with the Japanese for the most part; she saw that there was no reason to brighten their days with flirting or the offer of sex, but when Bridie becomes ill she offers sexual favours to a particularly overbearing guard in exchange for anti-malarial medication. She lets Bridie believe that she has traded in her shoe-horn for the medicine because she knows exactly what her friend will think of her and also worries that Bridie will refuse the medication all together if she knows how it was provided.

Sheila never told Bridie that she was raped; in fact, she never told anyone. To Sheila, the women’s friendship was over the moment they were liberated from the prison. Bridie was a reminder of everything that she had endured since they had not been friends before they were imprisoned and would probably never have been friends because of their many differences. She associates Bridie with the prison and for that reason does not want to maintain their friendship. Like Bridie, once Sheila’s rape is made public, she feels free for the first time in fifty years.

From https://www.gradesaver.com/the-shoe-horn-sonata/study-guide/character-list 

The ‘Male Voice’ is a very important role in the play. Although not appearing on the stage, the Interviewer’s questioning of the two former nurses for the TV documentary needs to be carried out in a dramatically sensitive manner, driving the interviews forward, but also responding to the changing moods of the interview scenes. An adult male voice is required, which will sound somewhat commanding when miked.

Other Information

Auditions are strictly by appointment. Please email the Director to arrange a time. Please also provide a resume prior to the audition via email: [email protected].

Successful cast members MUST BE available for rehearsal period (end-January – 22 March 2023) as well as all production dates (23 March to 22 April 2023). Please check you are available for all performance dates before booking your audition time. Please also inform the Director at your audition, if there is a possibility of you taking on professional acting work that may conflict with rehearsal and performance dates.

A copy of the script will be provided, together with a list of the sections to be read at audition. It is expected that auditionees will have read the play and have a reasonable understanding of it.