Casting Call: Black Hole Sign
JobsWe are open to notes of interest for three parts in the upcoming production of Black Hole Sign by Uma Nada Rajah, directed by Gareth Nicholls.
We understand the importance of visibility and representation onstage and we want to reflect the diversity of the population in our work and therefore would encourage actors to get in touch regardless of ethnicity, race, sexuality, physical ability, faith or economic background.
The casting breakdown is as follows:
Crea - female identifying, late 40s - late 50s, any nationality
Working class, aged late 40’s to late 50’s, Senior Charge Nurse at Almondvale Hospital. Crea has worked as a nurse most of her working life. She firmly believes that nursing goes beyond a job and is more akin to a calling. She is a commanding presence on the ward, running the place like clockwork and bending over backwards to ensure everyone is doing things properly – sometimes to the detriment of her own personal health. She has a warm, caring demeanour with patients and staff alike but is also a pragmatist at heart - ice cool under pressure and not suffering fools gladly. After 30 + years of working in an increasingly stretched NHS she’s tired and the cracks are beginning to show.
Lina / Isla (played by the same actor) - female identifying, late teens - early 20s, British accent
Lina is a student nurse in late teens to early twenties who is repeating her first year on probation on account of having caused a major incident at her previous hospital. She is enthusiastic, well intentioned and caring towards the patients, but she is also terrible at her job - clumsy, easily distracted and probably not cut out to be a nurse. She is endlessly funny without realising and despite all signs telling her to give up her dream of becoming a nurse – she’s still trying.
Isla, late teens, is a patient at Almondvale Hospital having been admitted after a falling from a height and damaging her ankle. She’s quiet, reserved and spends her time observing the comings and goings in the ward. Despite her outward facade of being content to ‘keep herself to herself’ underneath she desperately wants to connect with others. She has an ethereal, otherworldly like quality and late in the night sings down the empty corridors of the crumbling hospital.
Hopper - male identifying, late 40s - late 50s, any nationality
Iain Hopper is in his late forties to early fifties. He’s been admitted to the A&E department with an intracerebral haemorrhage and is now in palliative care. Through the course of the night his emotions go from denial to anger and finally acceptance of his situation. He is estranged from his family and desperately wants to see his son one last time. He has regrets and has, it seems, had his demons throughout his life. But regardless of his deteriorating condition he remains a witty, playful man who is trying, as well as he can, to remain hopeful in spite of it all.
Show overview:
When a hole appears in the roof of a crumbling and understaffed A&E department, patients, porters and nurses do what they must to make it through the night.
Senior Charge Nurse Crea strives to deliver safe and effective care while porter Hamish angles after a date. Staff Nurse Ani juggles her bursting caseload, knowing that no one has come to Mr. Hopper’s bedside for his final moments. Octogenarian Tersia is trapped in a disco-fuelled fever dream while a disgruntled Fred Turnbull prepares his strongly worded complaint. And student nurse Lina has No. Idea. What. Is. Going. On.
Personal principles clash with professional obligations as three generations of nurses and one ‘long in the tooth’ porter are pushed towards breaking point.
Written by practising Critical Care Nurse Uma Nada-Rajah, and directed by Traverse Artistic Director Gareth Nicholls, Black Hole Sign takes a razor-sharp scalpel to the absurdities, tragedies and hilarity within of one of our most beloved but besieged institutions.
An exploration of changing attitudes towards an institution once world renowned, the play asks what we want for the future of our National Health Service and, crucially, who will hold it together when it all falls down?
Tron Theatre and Traverse Theatre Company in association with National Theatre of Scotland
Key dates:
Rehearsals Start: Mon 18 August
Production Week: w/c 15 September
Previews: Fri 19 & Sat 20 September
Press / Opening: Tue 23 September
Final Performance: Sat 18 October
Please send a CV, Spotlight link (if applicable) and a short cover letter outlining your professional experience (no more than half a page of A4) along with an indication of which part you may be suitable for to casting@traverse.co.uk.
Please note that this opportunity is open to Scottish based actors only.
If you have not been invited to audition by EOP on Thursday 27 March then you have not been successful. We will endeavour to get back to all actors who have auditioned with a yes / no as soon as possible after the audition period. Zoom auditions or self tapes may also be possible if in person attendance is not viable.