Auditions for the Bedford Players June production of Agatha Christie’s, “Murder on the Orient Express”, based on the adaptation by Ken Ludwig, and directed by Lorraine Cantwell, will be held in their performance space at 1408 Bedford Highway on Sunday, March 19 th and Monday, March 20 th , from 7:00 to 9:00 both evenings.
All auditions will be cold reads with script sides made available on the evening of the auditions. Rehearsals will be scheduled for Sunday, Monday and Thursday evenings throughout the remainder of March, April, and May and the production will be staged June 1 st to the 17 th . Character descriptions are listed below. Come one and all and join us on this non-stop thrill ride that will keep you guessing until the end!
Character info;
Hercule Poirot: Male, 55-65 Belgian
A famous detective who is authoritative, witty, charismatic, somewhat pompous, meticulous, eccentric, tidy, and overly concerned with his appearance. Poirot has a strong, moral sense and is always driven to find the solution to a mystery, whether good or bad.
Monsieur Bouc: Male, 30-59 Belgian
The owner/director of the Wagon-Lit Train Company which runs the Orient Express and a close, personal friend to Poirot. He is energetic, proud, generous, charming, and generally good humored yet easily rattled when things go awry.
Mary Debenham: Female, 30-40 British
A beautiful governess who is interesting, intelligent, watchful, reserved, efficient and yet romantic. Mary sometimes seems sad but she can also be harsh and dismissive at times.
Hector MacQueen: Male, 30-40 American
A secretary and translator for Ratchett. Overall, he is tightly wound, edgy, nervous, and somewhat defensive. Hector is also hard to read. He is sometimes quite friendly yet has a tendency to complain.
Princess Dragomiroff: Female, 60-79 Russian
A very wealthy princess living in exile. She is very formal, impatient, feels quite entitled and is a sweeping, impressive presence. She exudes a powerful sense of mystery.
Greta Ohlsson: Female, 25-60 Swedish
Greta appears to have a very odd disposition but at the same time is a devout and committed missionary.
She consistently demonstrates a frightened, sheep-like personality, displays much emotion and is easily upset.
Countess Andrenyi: Female, 25-39 Hungarian
The Countess is beautiful and always impeccably put together. She has a warm, compassionate and sensitive nature yet also appears to be vulnerable and emotionally fragile. Her delicacy, however, belies a steely edge.
Helen Hubbard: Female, 40-65 American An outspoken, flamboyant and somewhat crude tourist from the American Midwest. Helen often acts as a very jovial individual but is also obnoxious, domineering, nosy, brash and unapologetic. She loves attention and is an incessant talker who is very critical of anything that does not comply with her Western ideals.
Colonel Arbuthnot: Male 39-59 Scottish (this actor may also play Ratchett)
A handsome, former army man who is very matter of fact and who demonstrates very clearly defined opinions. He is generally quiet, stoic and snobbish yet is capable of occasional tenderness.
Samuel Ratchett: Male 30-59 American (this actor may also play Colonel Arbuthnot)A confident, very successful businessman, evil at heart and frightening. He is brusque and unforgiving with a stern
demeanor. Ratchett is pushy and domineering with an underlying sense of violence about him.
Michel: Male 35-59 French (this actor may also play Marcel)
The train conductor. A good-looking Frenchman who is quiet, with a somewhat serious sense of humor and always unfailingly polite.
Marcel: Male 35-59 (this actor may also play Michel)
The snooty, smooth-talking headwaiter at the Tokatlian Hotel in Istanbul who wants to appear to be an expert in all things.
