The Moderate Soprano Audition Notice
Thursday 26th November @ 7.30 pm
Lewes Little Theatre Foyer
Performance dates - 8th - 15th May 2027
The Moderate Soprano is a 2015 play by David Hare about the love story at the heart of the founding of Glyndebourne Opera in 1934. Although it’s an on-stage depiction of a piece of local history, LLT’s production has to work as a love story, so that those theatre-goers who don’t have an interest in Glyndebourne see a coherent play that tugs at the heart strings.
John Christie is the lord of Glyndebourne manor. A confirmed bachelor, he is determined not to marry, instead pursuing his love of cars and all things German, notably Wagner. But then he falls for Audrey Mildmay, a talented soprano 18 years his junior whose voice is too thin to get her the lead roles in the biggest opera houses (hence ‘the moderate soprano’). The confirmed bachelor and confirmed spinster succumb to their passion, marry, and concoct a plan to build an opera house in the Sussex countryside. As it’s the mid-1930s and there is a lot of high-quality German artistic talent that refuses to work under the Nazis, three Germans are central to the founding of Glyndebourne: Carl Ebert, Fritz Busch, and Rudolf Bing.
There are six parts in The Moderate Soprano, but as the play jumps forwards and backwards across nearly 30 years, the actors will need to cover wide age ranges, with quick changes.
The Characters
John Christie – 52 at the start, 80 at the end, energetic, irascible, determined to build his opera house, and thinks he’s a democrat, which he is until anyone has a different opinion – then he’s an autocrat. The real John Christie was stocky and bald, which are not essential but that would be the optimum image.
Audrey Mildmay – 34 at the start, dies aged 52, so has to be both vibrant and weak, including going from weak to vibrant given the forwards-and-backwards timelines. She is understated, but carries immense moral authority. She spent the first 18 years of her life in Vancouver, so a watered down Canadian accent would fit but is not essential.
Carl Ebert – 47 at the start, 72 at the end. The most creative of the Germanic trio, an actor and director who brings opera to life and was the most likeable of the three. Must have a twinkle in his eye. Brought up in Germany but speaks perfect English with only a slight accent.
Fritz Busch – 44 at the start, dies aged 61. The most dour of the Germanic trio, but a man of great principle as becomes clear in the play. Needs to be an understated performance, as a lot of Hare’s humour comes through his deadpan reaction to Christie’s flights of fancy. Must have a reasonably strong and credible German accent.
Rudolf Bing – 32 at the start, 60 at the end, Rudi Bing was the impresario who became Glyndebourne’s general manager rather than having a creative role. The most hard-nosed and businesslike of the cast, though not without his softness despite being a womaniser; he has a very touching penultimate scene with the dying John. Needs an accent, ideally Austrian (more nasal than German) as he was from Vienna.
Jane Smith – around 20 at the start, 50 at the end, a house help who becomes personal assistant to John over the 28 years of the play. The smallest of the parts, but not insignificant, and there’s a poignant line near the end when John says she has been with him longer than he was with Audrey. Would be great to have a Sussex accent, but could also have any regional accent that gets watered down during the play.
The play jumps from 1934 to 1962 and various points in between, forwards and backwards. This will be a great challenge for the cast and wardrobe, with quick changes in which people become 20 years younger than in their previous scene. We will probably do most of this with wigs, but that is not yet set in stone.
I am keen for the accents to be credible (especially the Germanic trio), and there are a couple of sentences of German that really have to be spot-on – I can help with that. I’d like to workshop a couple of the longer scenes where there is a lot of humour in the pauses. And I’m a great believer in the cast learning lines early, so we can feel the character traits in time for them to evolve.
As all six characters address the audience at some stage in the play, the audition pieces will consist of a monologue and a bit of dialogue for each character.
For more information contact Chris Bowers on 07941 233421 or cbowers@gn.apc.org