SLT Audition
Auditions: True West
By Sam Shepard
Audition one
Date: 22 Jan 2023
Time: 13:00 - 16:00
Location: SLT - SE27 9NS
Audition two
Date: 23 Jan 2023
Time: 20:00 - 22:00
Location: SLT - SE27 9NS
Brothers Austin and Lee are staying in their mom's suburban home in Southern California. Austin is writing a film script and watering the plants while she's away on holiday in Alaska.
Lee shows up and disrupts everything. He hustles his way into Austin's time, his space, his car, his film world contacts, his film job, and eventually his mind.
Producer Saul, after a game of golf with Lee, says he prefers Lee's movie idea to Austin's love story. It's the True West. It has the ring of authenticity. So he tries to persuade Austin to write the screenplay. For big money. Austin refuses.
Austin, totally devastated, decides to try his hand at Lee's life. Burglary and instinctive survival living out in the desert. He succeeds in stealing a load of toasters, Lee's challenge, and proudly sets about making toast. Lee is not doing so well at screenwriting, since Austin refuses to help him. The typewriter is smashed up, and Austin gets very drunk. This scene is hysterical.
Chaos sets in as the brothers transform, each grabbing at fragments of the other. Lee desperately tries to phone a girlfriend, but ends up tearing the phone off the wall, Austin tells the story of how their dad lost all his teeth in a bar in Mexico. They finally make a deal. Austin will write Lee's film script if Lee will teach him how to live in the desert.
Mom comes back early. The place is a wreck, beer cans everywhere, dead plants, she's in shock. Lee tries to escape with some of mom's silverware, Austin grabs the telephone cord and traps Lee with the cord around his neck. Lee writhes like a wild animal while Austin holds his grip like a madman possessed.
Mom tries to stop them fighting, at least to fight outside, but they are not listening. They are wild. Mom leaves after giving Austin his car keys. Austin doesn't know if Lee is dead or alive. He tries to escape. Lee jumps to his feet. Blackout!
Director: Janine Wunsche
Performances: 2 - 6 May 2023
First Rehearsal: 19 Feb 2023
Characters:
Austin: 30s. Educated and intelligent. Married with kids. Clean living, smart, pleasant, regular kind of guy. Lacks genuine confidence. Looking for an opening in the screenwriting business, but he struggles to be original. Needs to break out of his safe self. And he does!
Lee: 30-40. Austin's brother. Lee is the complete opposite of Austin. An uneducated, unemployable drifter. Makes a living through burglary, gambling, living on his wits. He's a hustler. Very instinctive, intuitive and potentially dangerous. Survives on risk, gut feelings, paranoia and beer. Doesn't fit in. Has deep longing.
Saul: 40-60. Producer/middle man in the film industry. A scout for new and exciting movie ideas to sell on to the big guys. Not a particularly bright guy, but he can play the field. He's sharp. He moves in the right circles and follows his hunches. He can be ruthless, manipulative and charming. Bit of a trickster.
Mom: 55-65. Austin and Lee's mother. A very soft, strange woman. Kind of unassuming, defeated quality. But she's curious. She's been on holiday in Alaska. She mentions Picasso. Her alcoholic husband, the father, is long gone, living out in the desert. She keeps her nice little home very tidy. She is devastated on seeing what the brothers have done to it. Powerless to stop them fighting, she leaves.
Sam Shepard writes in a unique style. His plays demand a very immediate, non intellectual approach. I am looking to create a really bold, visceral drama, full of unpredictable surprises.
Be prepared to take risks, to stretch your imagination, and be very creative. This is not a logical or rational world, so rather than work your characters out, it is better to discover who/how they are, and accept whatever that is, in the moment.
All the parts require an American accent. Austin is more East coast educated. Lee and Mom, Southern. Saul, up for grabs.
Austin and Lee are in every scene, never leaving the stage, so will be required for every rehearsal. Saul appears for two long scenes. Mom is in the final scene only.
If you are interested in any of these roles, and feel you want to come and explore the imagination of Sam Shepard, please email me at the email address below.
You will be sent an audition form which must be completed and returned before the auditions.
