Aeschylus' The Suppliant Women, in a version by David Greig

Aeschylus' The Suppliant Women, in a version by David Greig

If we help, we invite trouble. If we don’t, we bring shame.

Fifty women board a boat in North Africa. They flee across the Mediterranean, leaving everything behind. They are escaping forced marriage in their home and seeking asylum in Greece. Written 2,500 years ago, The Suppliant Women is one of the world’s oldest plays. It’s about the plight of refugees, about moral and human rights, civil war, and democracy. It tells a story that echoes down the ages to find striking and poignant resonance today. Featuring in performance a chorus of local women, this is part play, part ritual, part theatrical archaeology. It explores fundamental questions of humanity: who are we, where do we belong and, if all goes wrong, who will take us in?

"Aeschylus speaks directly to us in David Greig’s electrifying adaptation." - The Guardian

CAST DESCRIPTIONS:

The Suppliant Women will be performed in a bilingual version, and much of the text is chanted or sung. We are seeking a diverse cast with three large choruses. Chorus members do not need to have prior performing experience or training, and do not need to speak Spanish to audition or participate.

Performances begin with a 90 minutes pre-show on the stage at our pop-up beer garden. Selected actors will also perform in the pre-show. Solo singing and musical skills, movement and dance skills, and other performance skills are a big plus for the pre-show.

The show is performed outdoors in PORT Park on the Chelsea Waterfront.

Playwrights

David Greig is a multi-award-winning playwright who became the Artistic Director of the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh in 2015. David’s most notable plays include The Events, The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, Midsummer, Dunsinane and Europe. More recently, David’s stage adaptation of Solaris, based on Stanislaw Lem’s 1961 Soviet science fiction novel, was co-produced by The Lyceum, Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne Australia and The Lyric Hammersmith. In 2019 David teamed up with original creators Bill Forsyth and Mark Knopfler to adapt the international hit film Local Hero for the stage – this premiered in Edinburgh and opened at The Old Vic in London in June 2020. David’s stage adaptation of Joe Simpson's best-selling 1988 memoir Touching the Void, which was co-produced by The Lyceum and Bristol Old Vic, enjoyed a run at The Duke of York in London’s West End in 2019/20. His other adaptations previously seen on The Lyceum stage include Strindberg’s Creditors (2018) and Aeschylus’ The Suppliant Women (2016). David wrote the book for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which opened in the West End in 2013 and then transferred to Broadway in 2017.

Aeschylus (525 - 456 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the Father of Tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is largely based on inferences made from reading his surviving plays. According to Aristotle, he expanded the number of characters in the theatre and allowed conflict among them. Formerly, characters interacted only with the chorus. He is the earliest of the three Greek tragedians whose plays survive, the others being Sophocles and Euripides. Only seven of the estimated 70 plays written by Aeschylus have survived into modern times. Many of Aeschylus' works were influenced by the Persian invasion of Greece, which took place during his lifetime. His play, The Persians, remains an important primary source of information about this period in Greek history. The war was so important to Greeks and to Aeschylus himself that, upon his death around 456 BC, his epitaph included a reference to his participation in the Greek victory at Marathon but not to his success as a playwright. His earliest surviving play is possibly The Suppliants, written in approximately 490 BC.

Audition

Please sing two short excerpts of songs, 16 bars or so (about a minute each), that you can sing a cappella, or bring accompaniment to sing along with. Style can be classical, musical theater, hymns, folk songs, etc.- preferably one soft selection and one strong-voiced one. Please choose songs with clear melodies, rather than improvising or riffing.

In Person: Auditions will be held: Thurs. May 9th from 6-8, Saturday May 11 from 2-5, and Mon. May 13th from 2-4 and 6-8:30.

To schedule an in person audition, please send your availability to auditions@apollinairetheatre.com. You will receive a confirmation.

By Video: Please submit video auditions, along with your headshot & resume if available (if you don't have these, no worries!), to auditions@apollinairetheatre.com.

Please also read the NOT YET AVAILABLE/information sheet, and download or print, fill out and send the audition sheet. (feel free to copy it into a format you can type directly into)

Please send your audition links (please send a link to youtube/vimeo/etc. or send a low res video in your email- please do not send file transfers to download- downloads will not be accepted), headshot & resume if available, and audition sheet to: auditions@apollinairetheatre.com. You will receive a confirmation.

NOTE: If you have performed with us recently and feel we know your singing, and prefer not to present new material, please read the information sheet, and download or print, fill out and send the audition sheet. Please send your audition sheet to: auditions@apollinairetheatre.com. You will receive a confirmation.

Rehearsals will be held weeknights and Sundays.

Production dates are: August 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17

We are seeking volunteer performers for the Choruses. There is an honorarium for Chorus members of $300 for the full run.

The stipend for lead actors is minimum: $1,000.

The Suppliant Women is directed by Danielle Fauteux Jacques, musical director David Reiffel, choreograher Audrey Johnson.