Audition for Agatha Christie’s chilling murder mystery – coming soon from Shinfield Players

Agatha Christie is coming to Shinfield this summer, and you could be the one whodunit.

The Shinfield Players are inviting people to audition for parts in their production of And Then There Were None.

The play tells the story of 10 strangers who are summoned to a remote island off the coast of Devon.

Met by the butler and housekeeper, they await the arrival of their hosts.

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As they do, the butler plays a gramophone record that accuses all 10 of murder, and all have a wicked past they’re unwilling to reveal and a secret that will seal their fate.

As the weather turns and the group is cut off from the mainland, they die, one by one, in accordance with the lines of a sinister nursery rhyme now known as Ten Little Soldier Boys.

Originally published in 1939, it is the world’s best-selling murder mystery – more than 100 million copies have been sold, making it the seventh best-selling title of any language of all time.

Of the work, Agatha Christie said the idea behind it fascinated her.

“Ten people had to die without it becoming ridiculous or the murderer being obvious. I wrote the book after a tremendous amount of planning, and I was pleased with what I had made of it. It was clear, straightforward, baffling, and yet had a perfectly reasonable explanation; in fact, it had to have an epilogue in order to explain it.”

What are the Shinfield Players looking for in their Agatha Christie adaptation?

And Then There Were None will be performed at the Shinfield Players theatre in Whitley Wood Lane from Wednesday, June 4 to Saturday, June 7.

It will be directed by Maggie Smith and Cate Naylor.

The group will perform read throughs on Saturday, February 15 and Monday, February 17. These are designed to be informal sessions ahead of the auditions.

These take place on Monday, February 24, and Thursday, February 27.

Places can be booked by signing the form on the group’s website, https://www.shinfieldplayers.org.uk/auditions

They are casting for eight male and three female parts:

• Fred Narracot, Boatman, short role, 40s- 60s
• Anthony James Marston, 20s-30s
• Thomas Rogers, the butler 30s-60s
• Ethel Rogers, the cook/housekeeper 30s-60s
• General John Gordon MacKensie, retired 60 plus
• Emily Caroline Brent, pious spinster, 50s -60s
• Edward George Armstrong, a Doctor mid 40s – 60s
• William Henry Blore, private investigator, 30s -50s
• Captain Philip Lombard, 20s-40s
• Vera Elizabeth Claythorne, secretary, 20s–30s
• Sir Lawrence John Wargrave, a retired judge 50s to 60s Festivoke

For more on the auditions, log on to its Facebook page, https://facebook.com/events/s/and-then-there-were-none-read-/862623775825226/

Who are the Shinfield Players?

Launched in 1956, the Shinfield Players are an amateur dramatics theatre company producing a range of plays across the year, including their own pantomime. This year, it is Sleeping Beauty and performed on Friday, January 17-Sunday, January 19, and again the following weekend.

They welcome volunteers to join them both backstage and on the stage. Roles include prop making, costume design, working lights and sound, and working the bar or front of house.

This season’s shows

Once Sleeping Beauty has been performed, the group will be working on their forthcoming productions.

March 5-8: Lilies On The Land, based on letters and interviews from the original Land Girls of the Second World War

April 18-19, 2-6: Just So, a musical that takes its cue from Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories about an inquisitive young elephant and his friend, the Kolokolo bird, who travel the world to find the giant crab Pau Amma.

June 4-7: And Then There Were None, a play by Agatha Christie

June 28-29: Junior/Middle Youth Group Show

July 11-13: Senior Youth Group Show.

For more details, performance times or book tickets, log on to: https://www.shinfieldplayers.org.uk/season-shows/