The Tempest – Audition

The Tempest

an elemental approach

directed by Michael Corbidge and Martha Gray

Audition Workshop: sign up for either Saturday 19th or Sunday 20th February

Time commitment on the day: 10am-4pm with a lunch break

Location: East Oxford Community Centre, Princes Street, Oxford OX4 1DD

Recalls by invitation: Saturday 5 March

Approach; Learning Opportunity

Michael Corbidge is a very experienced professional director and voice/text practitioner who works regularly with the RSC. This production will follow his ‘Elemental Shakespeare’ method and will involve the same exercises and techniques as he uses in his teaching and professional work. The emphasis is on the ensemble working together to bring Shakespeare to life in a natural setting. Many rehearsals will be outdoors. The cast will be active participants in creating the world of the play. The weekend whole-ensemble workshops (see below for further details) are a very important part of the experience so do think carefully about whether you can commit to these. We promise the commitment will be worth it! Michael has decades of experience with conditioning voices, acclimatising them and building stamina, strength and power in the most challenging of spaces.

Audition process and important information

Please indicate on the audition form which roles you would like to be considered for. We are open to gender-swapped/neutral casting for most roles. Please choose an audition piece from the selection available to download below, and learn at least 10 lines of it (but preferably the whole of your part) for the audition workshop.

Please book in via Eventbrite for one of Saturday 19th or Sunday 20th February, and also complete the separate Google form to help us plan the auditions. The links to both are below. If you are very keen to audition but you have unavoidable prior commitments on the audition weekend that prevent you from signing up for either of the full days, please email Martha at marthamarygray@hotmail.com to arrange for an alternative time. If you do this, please also complete the Google form (only). We will try to make accommodations where feasible.

We are keen to see as many people as possible at the full-day audition workshops. Spaces at the workshops are limited so do sign up promptly, and by 14 February.

On the Google form, please indicate dates you will be unavailable from April to July. We are particularly interested in your availability for the following dates:

Phase One: Getting to know the play

This phase will focus on investigating the story, key themes, your character, their story within the arc of the play, how you relate to other characters and so forth.

26-27 March; 2-3 April

Phase Two: Weekend Workshops

Spring: 29 Apr -1 May; 13-15 May; 27-29 May
Summer: 24-26 June; 1-3 July

These weekends will be our primary opportunity to get the cast together, build the ensemble, create the world of the play and run Acts. There will be additional scene work on some weekday evenings as needed but the timing of these is more flexible. We realise not everyone will be able to come to every workshop, life will get in the way, but if you can give us your excluded dates early we will be able to plan around that and make the workshops as valuable as possible.

We will need the cast to be off book by 20 June.

Phase Three: Intensive Rehearsal Period

8-18 July

We know some won’t be available for all of this time. Not a problem - as long as we know your schedules we can plan accordingly. There will however be a number of full company calls, particularly on weekend days within this period. Taking a holiday during this intensive rehearsal period would not be helpful! Daytime availability during the week of (July 11-15) is a bonus but not expected. Michael will be resident in Oxford for this entire time and we will work as and when you are available.

The final weekend (16th-17th July) will also incorporate the get-in and rehearsal at the site, which the cast will be expected to help with.

Performance Run

19-30 July (excluding Sunday, 2 performances on Saturday 23rd July) and get-out on Sunday 31st July.

Accessibility concerns

If you have any specific needs with regards to access or any other issues, please do get in contact with us and we will help if we can.

What if I can’t make those dates and times?

If you are interested in auditioning, but are unable to come to the full day workshops, please contact the Martha, the associate director, at marthamarygray@hotmail.com. We will try to see you at another time, if possible.

All OTG auditions are run according to the OTG audition policy and harassment policy.