Question 1 - When do you cast?
Question 2 - Do you hold general auditions?
Question 3 - Do you accept unsolicited CVs?
Question 4 - Do you keep CVs on file?
Question 5 - Do you return CVs and photos?
Question 6 - How long are the runs of plays?
Question 7 - How does the Summer Season performance schedule work?
Question 8 - What size are your acting companies?
Question 1 - When do you cast?
Generally, we cast three times a year – in November for the next year’s Summer Season, in summer for the Christmas production and in the autumn for the following year’s Easter production.
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Question 2 - Do you hold general auditions?
At present, we concentrate on auditions for particular productions or seasons and so we don’t hold general auditions. However, we do try to see as many other productions as possible and we can see up to ninety people per audition process.
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Question 3 - Do you accept unsolicited CVs?
No. As we are looking for actors for particular roles or ‘through lines’ of parts, we prefer actors and agents to respond to a particular casting breakdown, rather than sending in general CVs. Casting breakdowns are available to actors or agents who send us a SAE.
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Question 4 - Do you keep CVs on file?
We do keep a database list for actors with whom we’ve worked, or whose work we know well or which interests us. As we receive a huge number of submissions for each audition process, it is impossible for us to hold onto every one and we can’t retain unsolicited CVs on file.
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Question 5 - Do you return CVs and photos?
Yes. If you enclose a suitable SAE with your submitted CV and photo we will return it if we have not been able to offer you an audition. It can sometimes take a little time for us to send your details back, as we have to go through the audition selection process first, but we will return them as soon as we can. The volume of submissions we receive means that we cannot return CVs for which we have not received a SAE and we cannot contact people individually if we are not able to offer them an audition.
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Question 6 - How long are the runs of plays?
In general, the Christmas production runs for six and a half weeks and the Easter production for three and a half weeks. Together with the rehearsal period this means that actors’ contracts run for about ten and seven weeks respectively. The Summer Season runs for six months, from late May to early November. The initial rehearsal period for this season is six weeks long, so the acting contract lasts about thirty weeks in total. All actors in the Summer Season are through-cast, with the same company working together, in different configurations, for the whole seven and a half months.
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Question 7 - How does the Summer Season performance schedule work?
Theatre by the Lake’s Summer Season plays in repertoire which means that, once all six plays are up and running, a visitor to Keswick can see six different performances in a week (three in the Main House, three in the Studio). We rehearse the plays in ‘pairs’, with each actor working on a Main House or a Studio production at any one time. During the initial six week rehearsal period, we work on the first two ‘pairings’. The first Main House and Studio plays open in late May and we perform in the evening, whilst we continue to rehearse the second ‘pair’ during the day. These then open in the second and third weeks of June, at which point the repertoire then begins to rotate. With the actors now performing in two of four productions each evening, we begin rehearsals on the final two plays, which join the repertoire in late July. Once all six productions are up and running, they play in rotation throughout the rest of the season. Actors appear in a maximum of three plays and perform every night, from Monday to Saturday and in scheduled matinees.
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Question 8 - What size are your acting companies?
The size of the Christmas and Easter companies depends upon the script we are producing that year, but usually average between six and eight people. There are usually between ten and twelve actors in our Summer Season company.
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