The Characters

 

The following character descriptions have been supplied by our director, Ian Stretch, who looks forward to meeting you all at the first rehearsal on Friday 20th January*

This is a story, based on a novel by H.G. Wells, of what happens to a man who inherits a fortune and tries to move from lower to upper class. England in the early 1900s was still in the grip of a rigid class system, so the cast, ensemble as well as principals, is divided into working class people and ’posh’ people. Kipps and the other working class characters are commonly thought to have cockney accents. This is not strictly correct. The story is set in Folkestone and the dialogue in H.G. Wells’ novel is working class, not cockney, because Kipps was born and bred in Kent. The cockney accent tag arose because the part was originally created for Tommy Steele who came from Bermondsey, East London.

 

Unusually we have decided to cast the all-important Half a Sixpence lead role in advance. So we are pleased to announce that Haydn Boxall, who played Cosmo Brown in Singin’ In The Rain, will be returning as Arthur Kipps.

All adult members are entitled to audition for all the other adult roles, and assistance will be given pre-audition rehearsals commencing Friday 20th January.

*Note: There are no pre-audition rehearsals for the children. See instructions here

 

Arthur Kipps	An apprentice shop boy in Shalford’s Emporium. An experienced young man with a strong personality and singing voice (he features in 20 of the shows 27 musical numbers), able to dance and handle a great deal of dialogue, including many monologues, and numerous costume changes. He is hardly ever off the stage. Note that this part has been pre-cast as stated above and is NOT being auditioned.
Ann	Kipps’ childhood girlfriend. Firmly working class; subservient with “Posh” people but feisty towards Kipps. Must be able to portray a range of emotions in dialogue and in her 5 main songs.
Helen Walsingham	An upper class, well educated, young lady, ideally in her early 20s. Must be elegantly attractive and extremely well spoken, but she has warmth. Originally a non-singing part, she now has 1 main song plus a small part of the trio with her mother and brother.
Mrs Walsingham	Helen’s ultra-snobbish mother. A mature lady, also extremely well spoken. Again, originally a non-singing part, she now has a trio with her son and Helen.
Young Walsingham	Helen’s older brother, could be 30ish. Well spoken and snobbish. Has is in the above family trio.
Chitterlow	A mature man; an exuberant, larger-than-life actor/ playwright who’s acting style owes more to Victorian Melodrama than modern realism. A father figure to Kipps with whom he has 2 duets.
Shalford	Owner of the shop. A mature man with a dominating and bullying manner when dealing with his staff. This character has no solo singing but he can be used in several of the ensemble numbers.
The Shop boys and girls	In addition to Kipps, there are 3 other boy apprentices and 3 shop girls. They should all have playing ages in their 20s. They have variable amounts of dialogue and a few solo singing lines. The boys have a number with Kipps, the girls have a number with Ann and all are included in most of the ensemble numbers.
Buggins	The pessimist.
Pearce	The dandy.
Sid	The socialist.
Flo Bates	Buggin’s girl.
Victoria	Pearce’s girl.
Kate	Sid’s girl.
Cameo roles doubling in chorus
Jeremiah Carter	A student in the Woodwork Classroom scene. Working class, not the sharpest tool in the box!
Deckchair Attendant	Definitely a ‘Jobs-worth’. Think traffic warden! Any age..
Gwendolin	A cheeky parlour maid. Any age.
Roles for Children
There are specific parts for children: Young Kipps and Young Ann appear in the Prologue and there are 2 young children in the final scene. There are also opportunities to use a few children in some of the ensemble numbers. We will therefore be holding public auditions for 6 children, ideally 2 boys and 4 girls in the age range 9 to 13 years, all of whom must be able to sing and dance. Please ask for the separate Information Pack for further details.