By Joe White

Director – Jeff Graves

Assistant Director – Jane Midwinter

Audition Dates – Sunday 24th November – 11am to 4pm (Possible Recalls Tuesday 26th November 7.30pm)

Performance Dates – 18th to 22nd March 2025 at The Stables Theatre (Including 3pm Saturday Matinee)

Cast Read Through – Sunday 1st December

I’m thrilled and very excited to have been given the opportunity to be direct Mayfly by Joe White at The Stables Theatre.

I’ve been a member at Stables for just over a year and have operated sound/lights on several shows, as well as appearing in Christmas Carol last year. I’ve directed and staged managed numerous shows at Putney Arts Theatre in South West London before moving to Eastbourne last year.

I’m a very collaborative director and believe that a happy cast makes for a greater and successful production. I’m therefore looking for four actors willing to work hard and work together to achieve a strong ensemble performance.

Mayfly is an ethereal family drama and is suffused with grief, loss – and unexpected laughs.

Joe White’s debut play premiered at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, in April 2018, winning Joe White the Off-West End Award for Most Promising Playwright in 2019.  Mayfly explores rebirth in the aftermath of tragedy.

Characters:

BEN – Male / Mid 40’s – Ben is so stunned by the loss of his son that he cannot look his family in the eye.

CAT – Female / Mid 40’s – Cat’s grief has materialised as a sort of madness, and she spends her days downing wine and flirting with strangers.

LOOPS – Female / Mid 20’s – She was conceived as the “playmate” for her older brother and, without him, finds herself lost, haunted, and angry.

HARRY – Male / Mid 20’s – Harry who, over the course of the play, winds up accidentally meeting Ben, Cat and Loops. He is the play’s light relief and the family’s salvation.

‘White has an ability to switch between sharp wit and pathos in a heartbeat… an impressive debut from a very promising writer’ – Broadway World

‘An affecting debut play… White has a great ear for the sharp and sometimes spiteful edges of grief’ – Time Out

‘A special play… there is an honesty to White’s writing, and a willingness to put his heart on the line’ – Exeunt Magazine

Auditions pieces will be taken from the script and are available in advance. Please email Jeff Graves for a copy of the audition piece at jeff.d.graves@gmail.com or if you have any questions.

The production will rehearse on mutually agreed times on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and on every other Sunday.  All cast members will not be required at every rehearsal but will have to be available to attend technical and dress rehearsals from Sunday 16th March.