Great Dickens Christmas Fair
The Dickens book character groups are ensemble casts that pride themselves on showcasing the vast panoply of Dickens’ brilliantly wrought characters. Dickens’ characters are big, bold and quirky with a lot of theatrical and interactive opportunities, plus tons of scenery to chew. Our lives at Fair are one big theatrical and improvisational banquet throughout the day, interacting with our guests and fellow cast members, and creating scenes from Dickens’ works.

If there is a role in a Dickens book or adaptation that you want to play (or simply find appealing) prepare a brief piece to read – and act – for the audition team. It will give us a clearer idea of your capabilities and the type of character you want to play. Dickens wrote a lot of vivid characters – both male and female – that cover a broad range of age, class and eccentricity level. The books are a theatrical goldmine! There is an enormous amount of material available online to help make your search fun and interesting as well as easy.

Other than the specific ones noted below, we need vivid, interesting people to liven up the streets of London and our guests’ experience of the Fair.

NOTE: Auditioning for a Dickens character is like any other theatrical audition – preparation is crucial. When considering auditioning for any of these roles, please take the time to do some research on the character to determine both that it is a role that you would be able to play and something you would enjoy doing. Being prepared also makes it easier for you to show yourself at your best and will make the casting process move more smoothly for all parties.

Although we are not limiting our search to these roles, these are the characters we are specifically interested in casting:

From A Christmas Carol:
Bob Cratchit (hard to place the age) – Scrooge’s gentle, much put-upon clerk. A devoted family man and ardent Christmas enthusiast
Ghost of Christmas Present (no specific age) – Larger than life, irrepressibly jolly and loud. The condensed essence of Christmas celebrations
Nephew Fred – (youngish man) Scrooge’s dashing, lively and ebullient nephew, a one man PR campaign for hospitality and Christmas cheer
Mrs. Fred (young woman) – Fred’s adorable wife, lively, gracious and irresistibly charming

From Oliver Twist:
Bill Sykes: The meanest, worst, and most murderous bad guy in all of Dickensian literature. Bill Sikes has no redeeming features and is universally reviled. You should have strength to be theatrically vicious all day and be able to play with anyone.

From David Copperfield:
David Copperfield (male ingénue) – The portrait of the author as a young man. Sensitive, artistic and the quintessence of a young man embarking on life’s journey.From Nicholas Nickelby:
Nicholas Nickelby (male ingénue) – Dashing, heroic, and sometimes intemperate, a young man with a burning need to not merely make his way in the world but to succeed

We are looking for energy, commitment, fearlessness and willingness to be part of an ensemble. We are interested in casting a wide variety of characters, ranging across all ages, classes and emotional quirks. We encourage interested parties to read one of the books, or at least view one of the superb adaptations currently available to get a clearer picture of these characters.

For more on being a performer at the Great Dickens Christmas Fair, please see
http://dickensfair.com/performerinfo

Character auditions will be held at pre-arranged times starting at 7:00PM on the evening of Tuesday September 24th in Pacifica, CA. Please allow time to find the room and get situated. (Location particulars will be given when you schedule your appointment)The character parts listed above are open as of now, if you played one of them last year and would like to do so again, please contact your director as soon as possible.If you would like to audition for one of these roles, please email Entertainment Department Assistant Rickie Bolin at rickielee.bolin@gmail.com with the following information:
1. Your full name, email address and phone number
2. The character(s) you would like to audition for. (Please prepare a bit of the dialogue for that character – see web resources below – and be prepared to improvise as that character.)
3. Your first, second and third choice of audition time on Tuesday September 24th. The auditions will be scheduled at 15 minute intervals, please be patient as we sometimes get a bit behind when auditioning promising actors.
4. Optional: A brief note of any experience you would like us to know about.We will have applications and accept resumes (not required) at the auditions.Here’s a great page to learn more about the characters and the books: http://charlesdickenspage.com/works.html