We have great pleasure in advertising the opportunity to audition for this forthcoming production directed by Richard Warren.
Production Run
Between June and September 2021. Date of performance to be confirmed in accordance with assessment of Covid situation.
Play Synopsis
We are in a half-empty theatre. A middle-aged man appears, with a battered suitcase and a story he is clearly keen to tell. He's a librarian in a small Dutch town, and his job is to handle the overdue books. One day a book was returned anonymously: 113 years late. Who brought it back - and why? All the librarian has to go on is a clue scribbled in a margin, and an unclaimed dry-cleaning ticket.
How does he solve this mystery? And how does it change his life? That's what he's come here tonight to tell us....
Glen Berger's 2001 one-man play is a modern fable, neatly wrapped in a detective story, with something very powerful to say about humanity.
It's a beautiful, funny, moving piece of storytelling (and no small challenge for an actor).
Critical reaction:
"The clues surface and mount, tease and taunt, and what might appear to be little more than a dull literary exploration becomes a dark and complex mystery that transcends the ages."
Variety
".... one of a handful of great plays written in the last five years.... it's an astonishingly beautiful piece of writing...."
Seattle Weekly
Casting Requirements
1 actor, able to play male aged 50s/60s
Audition dates
We are offering two opportunities for the auditions and these will be conducted by Zoom.
14th February 2021 4pm to 6pm
15th February 2021 8pm to 10 pm
You do not have to be a Criterion member to audition for a role. Auditions and casting are exercised in accordance with our
EDI policy.
In line with our new EDI policy, we undertake an EDI impact assessment of all our artistic programming. 'Underneath the Lintel' -The character of the librarian is Jewish and elderly and there could be flexibility around race/ethnicity. Has to be played as a male character. The story includes a theme of the consequences of anti-Semitic discrimination.