Current Auditions:

Want to be involved but don’t want to act? There’s always plenty to do backstage – see our membership page for details.

Non-members are welcome but please read the notes on this page.

Membership Commitment – as part of your membership we expect all members to support the theatre by assisting with our Front of House Operations when the theatre is open for performances by either Stewarding, working on the Bar or Coffee Bar. We term this as a “Duty” and members are expected to do eight “Duties” per membership year.

New Members will be asked to do three duties before the run of any production they are cast in. Existing members should ensure that they have fulfilled their quota of duties before auditioning or they may not be considered for a production. All members should do a minimum of three duties within a four month period.

The Crescent Theatre is committed to the promotion of equal opportunities within the theatre, and affiliated projects, through the way we manage the venue and provide services to the community. No person should experience discrimination or lack of opportunities on the grounds of gender, race, religion, age, sexual orientation or disability. In the provision of services and in regards to the membership and visiting companies, the Crescent Theatre is committed to promoting equal opportunities for everyone.  Click here for our Statement of Commitment on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. If you need any reasonable adjustments to enable you to access an audition, you can let us know in advance by filling in an online audition form.

Please note the opportunities below are unpaid

Please note

While auditions are intended for members, non-members are welcome to attend on the understanding that, if successful in reading for a part, you would be expected to become a member of the theatre. This entitles you to take part in all theatre activities and to concessionary ticket prices. In return you will be expected to attend all rehearsals and performances and to undertake your required allocation of front of house duties. Your membership subscription must be paid by the end of the second rehearsal. Membership fees for a year are £60 (£25 if unwaged). More details on Crescent Membership can be found in the membership pages.

Unless stated otherwise, the venue for all readings and auditions is the Crescent Theatre.

Jerusalem

Saturday 13th – Saturday 20th June 2026

It is St George’s Day. On the morning of the Flintock Fair, Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron is facing eviction from his ‘lovely spot’ in the Wiltshire countryside. Victimised by the local council, demonised by the town, worshipped by his young followers, he will make a final stand for his slice of ‘golden English soil’.

In the words of Johnny Byron, Jerusalem is often seen as a ‘bucolic alcoholic frolic’; he’s obviously totally right. It is an epic, bombastic, hilarious, foul-mouthed romp about kids, adults, rules, rebellion, and what it means to be ‘English’. However, at its heart, the play is also an intimate drama about people who need to go but want to stay.

The RBS space at the Crescent lends itself to both this sense of intimacy and the challenging set pieces that characterise Butterworth’s work. Although the play has developed a reputation as a bit of a ‘star vehicle’ for the actor playing Johnny, I intend the Crescent’s production to feature a close-knit ensemble who will build a vivid, believable, anarchic world for the audience.

Characters

The cast list for Jerusalem requires 14 characters in a mixture of flexible ages; these are a guide only and are not set in stone. There may be scope to cast more than 14 actors to strengthen the ensemble and provide Troy’s ‘muscle’ at the end of the play.

As Jerusalem is set quite specifically in Wiltshire, a ‘West Country’ accent will be preferable for some of the characters. These are identified with a *. However, please do audition regardless of the level of your accent abilities!

The Adults (in order of appearance)

  • MS FAWCETT – (age range 30-60) – An upright official from Kennet and Avon council, serving Johnny with his eviction notice.
  • MR PARSONS – (25-40) – A more relaxed official from Kennet and Avon council.
  • JOHNNY ‘ROOSTER’ BYRON* – (40-60) – A former daredevil motorcyclist who now holds court in his caravan outside Flintock, loved and loathed in equal measure by the world around him. Is he a drug-dealing waster or a timeless ‘Green Man’?
  • GINGER* (20-35) – Johnny’s oldest follower, unemployed plasterer and superstar amateur DJ.
    PROFESSOR (50+) – A local academic with a tenuous grip on reality who is swept up in Johnny’s final stand against eviction.
  • WESLEY* – (a similar age to Johnny) – A local publican with a depressive streak who grew up with Johnny. Spends much of the play in a Morris dancing outfit.
  • DAWN (25-50) – Mother to Johnny’s son, Marky, but that appears to be the only thing that now links her to her former lover.
    TROY WHITWORTH (25-40) – Phaedra’s stepfather who suspects Johnny has something to do with her disappearance. A tough and forceful figure; he has a number of strongly misogynistic lines.

The Kids (in order of appearance)

  • PHAEDRA* (playing age of 15) – A young girl who has disappeared after being turned away from a club while dressed as a fairy. Sings two songs a capella at the beginning of Acts 1 and 2, but becomes part of the action towards the end.
  • LEE* (playing age 18-22) – An optimistic and driven young man with a desire to travel the world.
    DAVEY* (playing age 18-25) – An easy-going, borderline-apathetic young man who has no desire to move beyond his mind-numbing job and weekends of partying.
    PEA* (playing age 16-22) – A fun-loving young follower of Johnny’s who enjoys the escape that partying offers from her suburban existence.
  • TANYA* (playing age 16-22) – A fun-loving young follower of Johnny’s with a soft spot for Lee.
  • MARKY (playing age of 5) – Johnny’s son. Appears twice in the play (Acts 1 and 3) and has just a few lines in response to Johnny.

Intimacy

There will be an amount of informal, friendly contact between characters during the production, particularly for the ‘kids’, such as arms around shoulders and so on.

There is one passionate kiss and embrace between Johnny and Dawn in the first act of the play.

There is a close, heartfelt dance between Johnny and Phaedra at the end of the play.

All of these moments will be handled in accordance with the Crescent Theatre’s Intimacy Guidelines.

Auditions

  • Sunday 8th March 2pm
  • Friday 13th March 7pm
  • Potential Callbacks: Sunday 15th March 2pm

The audition will take the form of a short introduction to the play, followed initially by a group warm-up activity.

Following this you will be asked to read some extracts from the play in small groups. These will be provided at the audition.

If you are interested in auditioning for Johnny Byron in particular, it would be useful to familiarise yourself with the two short monologues in the document below which you may be asked to read.

Please sign up via the online form here: https://forms.gle/Dm2oLdDQ5eWCPuWq5

Rehearsals

The first rehearsal will be Thursday 2nd April at 7.30pm. Rehearsals will mostly follow the following pattern: Sunday mornings (10am-2pm), Monday evening, Thursday evening (both 7.30-10pm).

Mark Payne

Director

jerusalem@crescent-theatre.co.uk

 

Audition Pieces

JB Monologues – Jerusalem

Eight

28th – 30th May 2026 in the Crescent Underground

Eight compelling monologues offering a state-of-the-nation group portrait for the stage.

From Millie, the jolly-hockey-sticks prostitute who mourns the loss of the good old British class system, to Miles, a 7/7 survivor, and Danny, an ex-squaddie who makes friends in morgues, Eight looks at what has happened to a generation that has grown up in a world where everything has become acceptable.

The monologues will be performed in two sets for three performances each. Staging in the Crescent Underground will be simple, letting the words and the quality of Ella Hickson’s writing do the work. Please note that actors cast in each set may be required to fulfil a non-speaking role in another monologue within the same set.

Characters

  • Andre; 30s to 40s, male/male-presenting/non-binary. A gallery owner reeling from the suicide of his partner. Outwardly articulate, socially adept, and at home in the lavish art-world milieu, Andre intellectualises trauma in real time. The monologue balances defensive humour, curated composure, and moments where genuine grief breaks through the surface. A character who wears control like a costume – and struggles to keep it in place.
  • Millie; 30s to 40s; female/female-presenting. A confident, assured, upper-class sex worker who performs multiple roles within her own narrative: the tennis girl, the polite mistress, the nostalgic commentator on English decline, the shrewd businesswoman. Completely at ease discussing who she is and what she does, Millie’s glamour and wit mask something more complex beneath the polish. Requires precision, control, and tonal agility.
  • Astrid; 20s to early 30s; female. Returning home slightly drunk after a one-night stand, Astrid is outwardly comfortable in her own skin but deeply estranged from intimacy. She relishes the transgression even as it destabilises her. This is not disillusionment – it is agency discovered through destruction. The monologue explores guilt, power, invisibility, and the unsettling clarity that follows betrayal.
  • Jude; playing age 18; male. Jude is a young man who has known the world only through the pages of books and through his father’s definitions of it. Now, standing at the fragile threshold of adulthood, he steps into love, into womanhood, into the wider world for himself — and discovers that reality resists the shape of his expectations.
  • Mona; playing age 18-20; female. Mona is a young woman suspended between chaos and control. Raised in a world without limits, she longs for shape, meaning, and belonging. Her journey is one of contradiction – seeking freedom in restriction, intimacy in surrender. She carries innocence and intensity at once.
  • Danny; 20s; male. An ex-solder suffering from PTSD, he is struggling to deal with the reintegration into civilian life by working in a morgue where he ‘talks’ to the corpses. Beneath his tough exterior, he is vulnerable and sweet.
  • Bobby; 20s; female. A single mother of 2 children trying to make Christmas special for her family. From working class, Edinburgh, she at times mimics the upper-class English accent of Mrs Beeton who is employing her as a cleaner three weeks after she was fired from Tesco for pilfering. She’s tough but optimistic.
  • Miles; late 20s-early 30s; male. A very confident American banker who just survived the 7/7 bombings in London. He uses this as an excuse to ‘play dead’ and live a carefree, meaningless and debauched life. A dynamo, he is starting to long for the life he discarded.

Intimacy

  • Astrid –  Physical interaction with a male actor – climbs into bed with them whilst they are asleep. Also features physical moments between the two – the male grabbing Astrid “roughly” , and the man touching Astrid’s face “softly”. Both moments will be choreographed carefully.
  • Jude – Strips to his underwear during the monologue.
  • Millie – Performs simulated sex by herself on an imaginary man.
  • Danny and ‘corpses’ – physical contact which may include laying his head on the chest of another actor, manipulating limbs and non-sexual physical contact.
  • Mona – writhes, alone, in an ‘almost sexual manner’

All intimacy will be choreographed in line with The Crescent’s Intimacy Guidelines.

Auditions

  • Sunday 29th March at 14.00 in The Cumberland Room
  • Tuesday 31st March at 19.00 in The Cumberland Room

Please familiarise yourself with the audition piece/s for the character/s you are auditioning for. There is no need to learn them. You are welcome to audition for more than one of the monologues.

Please complete the audition sign-up  form here: https://forms.gle/kEwn2VoJwFG1F7ro8

Rehearsals

Rehearsals will begin on Sunday 19th April. The exact rehearsal pattern for each director and actor will be confirmed once the show is cast but these are likely to be a Sunday slot and a weekday evening slot for each director. Please provide your full availability information and any days/times you cannot do on your audition form.

Thanks,

Nasrin Khanjari, Oliver Gallagher, Andrew Crocker

Please contact eight@crescent-theatre.co.uk with any questions or if you are unable to make either of the audition dates.

Eight Audition Pieces