Audition Davenham Players – Dirty Dusting

Audition:  7.30pm Tuesday 20 February at the theatre:
Dirty Dusting, by Ed Waugh and Trevor Wood,  is a fairly recent play that has been touring nationally since its premiere in South Shields in 2003, but hasn’t been performed that often by amateur groups.  These are the authors’ words on their blog:

“When three cleaners, Olive, Gladys and Elsie, are threatened with redundancy they feel that their lives are coming to an end until a chance wrong number gives them a new business start-up idea – why not run a telephone sex line? They’ve got motive, opportunity and a lifetime of experience – some more than others, mind you. Provided Elsie can teach the other two a few new tricks there’s no reason why they can’t get rich quick; providing they can keep their operation a secret from their bosses… and their husbands…and their children…and their grandchildren.

An indictment of ageism in the 21st Century heavily disguised as a laugh-out-loud, heartwarming comedy”

There are only 4 roles in the play, the 3 cleaning ladies and their line manager, a man ‘rather younger than them’.  Because there are so few roles, the audition on 20 February is for members of Davenham Players only. A second, open, audition will only be arranged if the play hasn’t been cast amongst members of the Players.

Roles and ages:
o 3 x Female: The 3 women’s ages are mentioned in the play as 70, but this production won’t show them as ‘old dears’.    They are reasonably modern feisty office cleaners and could possibly be played by any actress in her 50s or 60s providing she is willing to ‘age up’ a bit.

o 1 x Male: The male role doesn’t have an age specified, but would work well for someone in their 30s or 40s, or could be a bit older if required.   The character isn’t too young as he is ‘management’ (of a sort) but still lives at home with his mother, and is definitely younger than the women (which leaves plenty of scope!)

Scope:
The play is a comedy but although it’s about a sex chat line it’s not particularly graphic language.   It wouldn’t be suitable for children because a lot of the jokes centre on condoms etc, but that’s about as
graphic as it gets.  There is no sexual contact between any of the characters.