Cinderella open call

Sep 25 2023 | By Thom Dibdin More

Paid opportunity at Porty Panto…

Cinderella, the new professional pantomime at Portobello Town Hall from Stage Door Entertainment, has put out an open call for the show’s principals.

The company is looking for its Cinderella, Buttons, Evil Stepmother, Ugly Sisters and Dame Fairy Maggie, the fairy godmother. First round is by submission of a self tape (deadline: Sun Oct 8). Successful applicants will attend in-person auditions on Sunday October 15 2023.

Open call for all the Party Panto’s principal performers.

Stage Door is Tommie Travers and Aidan O’Brien who have a combined experience of 30 years in the arts and entertainment business. This will be Travers’s tenth year working in professional pantomime, most recently at the Brunton where he has been MD since the venue took its panto back in-house for 2017’s Beauty and the Beast.

Speaking of taking on the new Porty panto, Travers and O’Brien said: “Not only are we thrilled to be producing our first pantomime together, we also are excited to be staging it in partnership with Portobello Town Hall – a venue and space we’ve been eager to use for years.

“We know how much the community values a local production, and we’re pulling out all the stops to make it a Porty Panto to remember. To be a part of Portobello Town Hall’s new chapter is an absolute honour, and we can’t wait to see what great things we can achieve together.”

joyous process

Their first call has been to appoint Lewis C Baird as writer and director. Baird, who wrote and directed Forth Children’s Theatre’s 2022, Beauty and the Beast: The Panto, says: “Bringing pantomime back to Portobello is going to be a joyous process… We hope to bring hilarity, joy and magic to audiences this Christmas. Cinderella shall go to the ball in tremendous style!”

Cinderella will run from Tuesday 28 November to Saturday 30, December with two performances each day from Monday to Saturday.

Characters needed are:

Cinderella (Female, Playing Age: 20-30)
Headstrong lead of the Panto. Cinders has a positive presence and holds her ground against her evil stepmother and her devious stepsisters.
Requirements: Strong singer & dancer.

Baroness Davina Hardup (Female, Playing Age: 30-60)
Evil, devious villain of this Panto. Vicious stepmother of Cinderella, and Baroness of Portobello, longing to have more power and notoriety.
Requirements: Strong stage presence, strong singer, and exaggerated characterisation.

Fairy Maggie (Male, No specific age range)
Dame of this Pantomime. Fairy Maggie has quick humour, conjures up beautiful magic, and loves a bottle of pink gin.
Requirements: Strong singer and comfortable in drag.)

Buttons (Male/Female/Non-Binary; No specific age range)
Hilarious friend of Cinderella, and butler to Baroness Hardup. Chaotic and silly, not afraid to speak his mind.
Requirements: Strong comic performer and singer.

Stepsisters – Stonky & Wonky (Male/Female; Playing Age: 20-60)
Outrageous stepsisters of Cinderella, and daughters of the Baroness. The sisters are revolting – they bully Cinders, and anyone else who gets in their way.
Requirements: Strong physical comics and singers.

Full details of how to apply to audition for this paid opportunity are on the click-through on the front page of the Stage Door Entertainment website.

Portobello Town Hall recently re-opened after a sustained community campaign. Local grass-roots charity Portobello Central took over the 600 capacity venue on April 1, 2023, after the council accepted their proposal to take it into community management on a 25-year lease.

Listings & Links

Cinderella
Portobello Town Hall, 147-149 Portobello High St, Portobello EH15 1AF.
Tue 28 Nov – Sat 30 Dec 2023
The production is planned to play two shows daily, Mon – Sat. The following are public performances. For schools performances contact Stage Door here.
Public performances: every Fri: 7pm;
All Sat & Thurs 28/Fri 29: 2pm & 7pm.
Wed 20 – Fri 22: 1pm & 7pm.
Tickets and details for public performances: Book here.