AUDITIONS – Night Must Fall – Swift Creek Mill Theatre
(playing September 18 – October 11, 2025)
Director John Moon is seeking actors (5w 3m) for Emlyn Williams classic psychological thriller that examines how a murderous psychopath charms his way into a country household and exerts his will on the inhabitants.
Mrs. Bramson – 60’s (plus) She is imperious, opinionated, and not to be trifled with. Also a hypochondriac whose age isolates her and makes her somewhat bitter. She feels superior and smarter than most, but she is a romantic at heart and easily swayed by her emotions. These traits also make her susceptible to flattery. Ultimately she is easily influenced by anyone who can read her weakness and play to her own self image. (standard British accent)
Olivia Grayne – 20’s Reserved and quiet, she dresses conservatively to the point of blandness as if she were trying to hide from the world. She is Mrs. Bramson’s niece and has been hired to be a general helper and companion. She is restless and prone to flights of fancy that manifest in poetry writing and a restless melancholy. She is rudderless and looking for something to give her purpose and a little excitement. She is drawn to anyone who is out of the ordinary and slightly mysterious. (standard British accent)
Hubert Laurie – 30-35 Wears a mustache and wants to marry Olivia. It is his bad luck that he is stable and fairly ordinary which keeps the restless Olivia from saying yes to his proposal. (standard British accent)
Dan – 20’s to mid 30’s A charming young man who has an enormous capacity to seem cheerful and eager to please. He ingratiates himself to almost everyone he meets, largely because of his tremendous ability to read people. He then assumes a character to take advantage of them or get in their good graces. He is a chameleon and a classic case of a psychopath. (possible Welsh accent)
Mrs. Terence – 40s-50s The house cook, she is tough and does not put up with Mrs. Bramson’s bullying. She gives as good as she gets. (possible Cockney accent)
Dora Parkoe – early 20’s A simple country girl who is rather plain and easily frightened. She easily falls prey to Dan’s charms. (possible Cockney accent)
Nurse Libby – A country woman who periodically comes in to care for Mrs. Branson. She is perpetually cheerful and does not let much bother her including Mrs. Bramson. (British)
Inspector Belsize – 40s-50s A policeman from Scotland Yard. A plodder and unoriginal thinker, but gets his man in the end. (standard British accent)
Synopsis
As the play opens news of a missing young woman from a local resort has police combing the area near the Bramson cottage. When the imperious Mrs. Bramson learns that her young maid Dora is pregnant, she summons the child’s presumed father to her country home to force him to marry Dora. The young man, Dan, is charming but mysterious. Could he be responsible for the recent disappearance? Skillfully, Dan insinuates himself into Mrs. Bramson’s affections and attempts to seduce her skeptical niece, Olivia. When the missing woman is discovered dead, tensions rise and despite strong suspicions of Dan’s diabolical intentions, Olivia finds herself attracted to, and fascinated by, the young man.
Open call auditions will be on Sunday, July 13, starting at 6:30 P.M., BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. Auditionees will be asked to prepare a 1-2 minute dramatic monologue. If you don’t have a monologue, sides will be available.
To request an appointment time, or for further information, please email Tom Width at twidth@aol.com
Callbacks will be on Monday, July 14, at 7 P.M. BY INVITATION ONLY.