The cast!

Well, the casting is now in the public domain! For those who haven't seen the EA Website the cast is as follows:

Irma Applewood Wendy Marsh
Roy Applewood Paul Friett
Patti-Ann Applewood Hannah Jacobs
Wayne Applewood Matthew Friett
Reverend Dale Muncie Richard Self
Roy Applewood (senior) John Hyde
Em Applewood Shirley Andrews
Frank Chris Manning-Perry
Ruth Applewood Sarah Hills

Wendy was probably the first person who I decided on; and as Irma is the central character of the piece, this decision would obviously shape the rest of the cast. Wendy, while making her feisty, brought a sense of fragility to the piece which would be important in other scenes. Also when she and Paul auditioned together something came alive- I felt they were believable as couple.

Paul himself just nailed it! The guys who auditioned for Roy probably had the toughest job of all because they had to convince me that they could depict the emotional complexity of the man without caricaturing or trivialising it. I felt that most of the guys came across as too blokey; which isn't Roy; the dialogue in Scene 2 between his parents tells us that he's a bit of a softy.

Having Wendy and Paul on board offered me a mouthwatering possiblity; the chance to have a real life Mother/ Daughter Father/Son combination. And while all those who auditioned for the Childrens' parts did well, both Hannah and Matt had the added advantage of looking the part, as well as delivering excellent auditions.

Then came the hard parts to fill. Not hard becuase of lack of auditionees, but hard because the characters where more blank canvases, and really relied on the Actor to deliver an interpretation that I liked. Shirley's presentation of Em had a warm maternal feel to it which I can see being lovely during her monologue and a perfect antidote to the Gruffness that John Hyde will brings to Roy Senior. Although I was unable to audition them together, I can visualise them being an old married couple....

Casting Ruth was probably my biggest headache. There were some excellent auditionees for the part, and agonised ages over it. On face value there was nothing between them, and for a while I did consider doing a recall for the part. In the end though, Sarah Hills earned the part not just on the strength of her audition (which captured the timeless essence of the character) but also on the strength of her previous work at EA. There were elements in her other roles which I simply could not over look- and those elements will, I feel, give Ruth the depth she deserves.

Finally Munice and Frank. I had Muncies and Franks of all sizes and ages to Choose from; and again they were blank canvasses. Muncie, I felt needed to be a slightly comedic fellow- nice to the point of Nausia and I felt that Richard Self, has the ability to creat the role as I see it. As for Frank the key word was "Bloke"; I wanted a man who lived in a mans world, a proper geezer- the polar opposite of Roy. I found him in Chris Manning Perry- and for those who know Chris, he is to all intends and purposes a proper geezer- and a nice guy to have around to boot.

So there you go. After three months, twenty odd auditions, hours of work at the PC, I've now reached a point where pre-production is complete. So I'm going to sign off now, until November when I have to start putting all this preparation into effect. I feel that I have a great show cooking up... and now its up to me to deliver.