Burjesta Theatre are holding auditions for our Autumn production of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s gripping crime story, ‘Crime and Punishment’, on Wednesday 17th August. See below for all the details you need for the audition process and the production.

The Story

Our autumn production is an in-house adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s classic novel, ‘Crime and Punishment’ set among the misery and poverty of 19th century Petersburg, Russia. The story tells of Raskalnikov a young, disaffected student who decides that if he were to murder a miserly old money-lender and use her money for the benefit of mankind it would be beneficial act.

The story is not so much a ‘whodunnit’ as a ‘whydunnit’ with amazing characters, and gripping suspense and drama. The central spine of the story is the cat and mouse games between the detective, Porfiry, who is investigating the murder and Raskalnikov.

It is also a story of romance and human need between, Raskalnikov and, Sonya, a devoutly religious young woman, forced to prostitute herself to feed her family. Further down we have given details of the main characters.

And here is a link to find out more information about Dostoevsky’s novel – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_and_Punishment

The Production

We will be performing Crime and Punishment at our place of residence, The Casa, on Hope Street, Liverpool on the following dates – Saturday 12th, Monday 14th, Wednesday 16th, Friday 18th November. We are looking for between ten and twelve actors, most of whom will be playing multi-roles in the production.

Other Key Dates –

The read-through for the play will take place on Saturday 20th August, 12pm at The Casa. Rehearsals will begin on Monday 29th August also at The Casa and run right through until the performance dates. Two other key dates to note are Sunday 6th November for a Tech Run and Wednesday 9th November for the Dress Rehearsal.

Rehearsals –

Rehearsals will consist of up to two evenings a week plus Saturday daytime. It will depend upon how big a part or parts you have as to how many rehearsals you would have to attend.

* Please note that this is unpaid work for everyone involved including ourselves. All takings from the shows go back into a fund to continue refurbishing The Casa venue space.

The Venue

We are in the process, along with The Casa management, of transforming The Casa, into a fringe theatre venue in the heart of Liverpool’s theatre district. The Casa has a two level stage, as well as newly installed theatre lights and an increased capacity of 100 seats. The next stage of the refurbishment process is to have a new surface put down on the stage as well as put in an in-house sound system, both of which we hope to have done over the summer.

Audition Process

Auditions will take place at The Casa on Wednesday 17th August from 6pm onwards. They will consist of script extracts from the play which will be given on the evening and for which you will be given time to prepare.

There will be two introductory workshops prior to the audition, on the following dates –

1st Workshop – Wednesday 27th July, 7pm @ The Casa
2nd Workshop – Wednesday 10th August, 7pm @ The Casa.

Please note we will only audition actors who have attended at least one of these workshops though we would like you to attend both. We won’t make any exceptions to this stipulation.

Main Characters –

Male –
Raskalnikov, protagonist, murder of the money-lender Alyona Ivanovna
Porfiry, detective investigating the murder (please note we will consider male or female actors for this role)
Zamyatov, clerk at the police station who has various dealings with Raskalnikov
Razumikhin, friend to Raskalnikov
Marmeladov, a drunken ex-civil servant, father to the prostitute Sonya.

Female –
Porfiry, detective investigating the murder of Alyona Ivanovna (though a male character in the novel we are happy audition women for this role)
Sonya, young woman prostitute, becomes Raskalnikov’s confidant and intimate.
Katerina Ivanovna, Sonya’s mother, wife to Marmeladov, she is dying of consumption.
Alyona Ivanovna, (not related) – old miserly money-lender, murdered by Raskalnikov
Lizaveta, her simple half-sister
Nastasya, serving girl at Raskalnikov’s apartments.

Aside from the main characters there are numerous other support roles with wonderful cameos – a ‘ghost man’, a ‘religious schismatic’ who claims that he is the killer, a sadistic peasant who beats a horse to death, various ‘Rabelaisian’ attendees at a funeral dinner, drunks, prostitutes, singers and beggars to name but some of the characters.

Burjesta Theatre –

We have been in existence now for five years in which time we have put on twelve productions with over sixty shows to date at venues in and around Liverpool including our place of residence, The Casa, the Unity Theatre, the Lantern Theatre, St Luke’s Bombed Out Church, the Williamson Tunnels and Liverpool Town Hall.

For more information go to our website – www.burjesta-theatre.co.uk
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To contact us send an email to info@burjesta-theatre.co.uk

Regards Burjesta