Performances 27 January-1 February 2025 in the Auditorium
Directed by Esther Warren
Play Summary
We follow Elif for a period of her life between the approximate ages of 18 - 36. She has and raises a child while attempting to become a legally recognised citizen of the island nation to which she was brought as a child.
Play Style
Sami Ibrahim’s play uses the language and storytelling style of fairytale to examine the experience of being an undocumented member of society. Narration, which makes up approximately half of the play’s text, is shared between the three actors all of whom will also play multiple characters. In contrast to the more playful style of the narration, scenes between characters are depicted naturalistically, giving performers the opportunity to play in both modes.
Character Division
ONE
- LANDOWNER’S SON
The son of Elif’s employer, at the start of the play the two start a relationship which does not last. He reappears in the story years later, recognising her when she’s working as a cleaner in the city.
- WORKER
A fellow immigrant, living in the city. He first appears queuing with Elif at a registration office, later he will give her training for her cleaning work and the two start a casual relationship.
- LETTERS
The voice of official government correspondence.
TWO
- LANDOWNER
Elif’s employer at the start of the play. Elif will stop working for her when she presses for more involvement in life of Elif’s daughter -- her granddaughter.
- GATEKEEPER
The person manning the gate to the capital city. Directs Elif to the king’s castle to register for citizenship.
- LILY
Elif’s daughter. She is represented briefly as a child but we mostly see her as a teenager. We see her arguing with her mum and arguing with her mum’s boyfriend. She is the only character who throughout the play who will consistently narrate from their own perspective (and in the past tense).
- REGISTRAR’S REGISTRAR’S ASSISTANT
A government functionary, stamps a form.
- WOMAN
The Landowner’s Son’s partner later in the play. Accuses Elif of stealing her property.
THREE
- ELIF
An unregistered immigrant of the island on which she lives, she was brought to the nation as a child fleeing the war in her homeland. At the start of the play she works herding and shearing sheep. Among other things, she will: get pregnant and have a child, confront her employer about poor pay, hatch a plot to spray the city with animal faeces, struggle to connect to her daughter, lose the affection of her romantic partners, pick up lost property that doesn’t belong to her, get arrested and be taken to a detention centre.
- GRAN
Elif’s mother, Lily’s grandmother. She arrives to the island by boat after Elif’s arrest.
Audition
The audition will be divided into three parts
- Warm up, group vocal and physical exercises. The aim of this section is to ease into the session and get to know each other as working theatre creatives,
- Exploration of the text. The narration in the text is presented in blocks without attribution to any performer. You’ll be looking at script extracts, and in groups experiment on ways of dividing the text between speakers and performing them. The aim at this section will be to introduce the concept of the actor-character, see how you work collaboratively, the thought process that you put into creative decisions, and your ability to realise and bring out different perspectives on the main text.
- Solo work. Each auditionee will bring and perform a piece of poetry of their choice. The aim of this section will be to showcase your style as a performer, using a text that has meaning to you and to which you can bring clear intention.
Preparation
- The text will be available to read at the Lace Market Theatre building in advance of the audition. Reading the text will not be a requirement before auditions, nor will any of the exercises require familiarity with the material. However we would strongly encourage everyone interested to check out the full play before accepting a role.
- Auditionees are asked to bring a poem that they have a familiarity and connection with to the audition. Please familiarise yourself with the poem but do not memorise it, everyone will read with the poem in their hand. Please email your choice of poem to the director here so that they can overlook it before the audition. The production team will prepare you a printed copy in advance. If you are unsure of what to pick between multiple options or would like a poem assigned, please reach out before the audition date and we’ll sort things out.
- Please wear clothes and footwear that aren’t constrictive and which you would feel comfortable moving in.
Notes
-As each actor will play roles of varying ages and the story spans a number of years, playing age guidelines for the performers are vague. If you feel confident in your ability to embody the roles as described, we’d love to see you.
- If you’ve any access issues that would require adjustment on our part, please reach out, we’ll be happy to accommodate you however we can.
- We plan to start promptly at 7:30pm, please reach out to us at the theatre if you think you may be late. We may not be able to hold off on starting, but won’t count it against you. If you are late, please arrive ready to jump in on whatever’s happening.
- The text of the play deliberately draws comparisons between its story and the immigration system of the UK today. We’d strongly encourage performers with relevant personal experience in this area to attend auditions.
- If you are unable to attend on October 8 th and would still like to audition, let us know, we’ll see if alternate arrangements can be made.
- October 15 th has currently been designated for call backs, these may or may not be required. If you sign up to audition, please keep the date free, we’ll let you know as possible if you’ll be required to attend that evening.
Rehearsals
Rehearsals will take place Tuesday and Thursday evenings, if you know you will be unavailable for any period of time between the audition and the show dates, you will be able to inform us at the audition.
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