Information Night:

Monday June 1st

7pm

Woodbin Theatre

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Auditions:

Wednesday the 10th of June 2026

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Call backs:

Sunday the 14th of June 2026

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Synopsis
When Annie’s husband dies of leukaemia, she and her best friend Chris resolve to wring some good from their sadness. When they convince four fellow members of the WI to pose nude for an alternative calendar, what begins as a plan to buy a new settee for the local hospital, turns into and international media sensation. With hordes of press descending on their small Yorkshire village, Chris and Annie’s friendship is put to the test by their newfound fame as they discover just how far a great idea can take you. Based on the true story.

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Rehearsals will be determined once casting is completed.

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To prepare for auditions please select the appropriate page of script for the character you think you are most suited for. Auditions will be held in small groups, taking at least 30-45 mins each, with call backs the same. 

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Scripts available at Information Night

 

Page 11-14 Jessie, Cora, Chris, Annie, Celia, Ruth, John
Page 26-27 Chris, Ruth, Rod
Page 32-33 Lady Cravenshire, Marie, Cora, Celia, Jessie
Page 42-45 Lawrence, Annie, Chris, Celia, Ruth, Jessie, Cora
Page 83-85 Marie, Chris, Ruth, Annie
Page 98-99 Elaine, Ruth
Page 104-106 Liam, Chris, Ruth, Cora, Annie, Jessie

 

Call back scripts will be given out at auditions.

The roles of Chris, Annie, Cora, Ruth, Celia and Jessie will involve “some” nudity, but always “covered” by props. 

 

There is some singing and the role of Cora should be able to play the piano and have a good singing voice. 

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Cast List

Chris

Age range late 50-60 – You want Chris at your party. She will talk to people she doesn’t know, find things to say to fill silences and generate laughter. Part of this is because Chris is at home in crowds, holding court, being the centre of attention. Without Chris in her life Annie would be better behaved, her life less fun. The two of them are naughty schoolgirls.

Annie

50-60 – Annie will join in mischief but is at heart more conformist and less confrontational than Chris. After Chris has put a waiter’s back up in the restaurant, Annie will go in and pour calm. The mischievousness Chris elicits saves Annie from being a saint. She has enough edge to be interesting and enough salt not to be too sweet. 

Cora

45-50 – Cora’s past is the most eclectic, her horizons broadened by having gone to college. This caused a tectonic shift with her parochial parents. She came back to them pregnant and tail-between-legs, but Cora has too much native resilience to be downtrodden. She is the joker in the pack but never plays the fool. Her relationship with her daughter is more akin to that between Chris and Annie. Cora sings and plays piano.

Jessie

60-70’s – Get on the right side of Jessie as a teacher and she’ll be the teacher you remember for life. Get on the wrong side and you will regret every waking hour. A lover of life, Jessie doesn’t bother with cosmetics, her elixir of life is bravery. Jessie goes on rollercoasters. Her husband has been with her for a long time and is rarely surprised by her actions. Jessie bothers about grammar and will correct stall holder regarding their abuse of the apostrophe “s”.

Celia

40-mid 50’s – The fact that Celia is in the WI is the greatest justification of its existence. A woman more at home in a department store that a church hall, she may be slightly younger than Chris or similar age, but she always feels like she’s drifted in from another world. Which she has. She is particularly enamoured of Jessie and despite the fact Jessie has very little time for most Celia’s of this world, there is a rebelliousness in Celia to which Jessie responds. It’s what sets Celia apart from the vapid materialism of her peer group and made her defect.

Ruth

40-50 – Ruth’s journey is from the false self-confidence of the emotional abused to the genuine self confidence of the woman happy in her own skin. Ruth is eager to please but not a rag doll and despite being Marie’s right hand woman she is desperate to be the cartilage in the spine of the WI and keep everyone happy. She has spine herself if she was too wet, no one would want her around, but they do and they feel protective of her because they sense there is something better in Ruth than her life is letting out. They are proved right. 

Marie

50-60 – Marie has gradually built the current “Marie” around herself over the years as defence mechanism. She went to her Oz, Cheshire, and found Oz didn’t want her. She came back scorched. The WI is a trophy to her, which justifies her entire existence. There is a lingering part of Marie that would love to be on that calendar.

John (Annie’s husband) 50-60 John is a human sunflower. Not a saint. Not a hero. Just the kind of man you’d want in your car when crossing America. When he dies it feels like someone somewhere turned a light off.

Rod (Chris’s husband)

50-60 You must be a certain kind of guy to stick with Chris and Rod loves it. He can give back what he gets and has a deadpan humour which has always made Chris laugh. He drinks a lot but never so much as to have a problem. He would work every hour to make his shop a success and John was his mate, even though the relationship was originally channelled through their wives.

Lawrence

25-30 Hesitant without being nerdy. Lawrence is a shy young man with enough wit to make a joke and enough spirit to turn up at the WI hall in the first place. When he arranges the shots, he is close to female nudity but sees only the photo.

Lady Cravenshire 60-70 Lady Cravenshire really doesn’t mean to be so patronising, but the WI girls seem from another world. The world of her estate workers. When she makes an entrance, she must make an entrance.

Elaine

25-30 Beautician over efficient and a little patronising to Jessie who seems like her nan. Very efficient.

Liam 25-30 Liam would like to be directing other things than photoshoots for washing powders. He’s not so unprofessional as to let show, but we can sense a slight weariness at having to deal with these women. There’s a resigned patience to his actions and each smile he makes we feel is professional. For Liam this photoshoot is a job and not the job he wanted.

 

All ages are suggested and will be determined by the overall casting. Accents are not necessary and just a slight flattening of the “a” so that giraffe no longer rhymes with scarf, then that is sufficient.

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**It is a requirement for all members of the production to have a current Geelong Rep Membership