Curve Holding Auditions for A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM and SCROOGE

Curve has today announced auditions for the Curve Young Company & Community Production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and the Christmas musical, Leslie Bricusse's Scrooge.

Curve Chief Executive Chris Stafford and Artistic Director Nikolai Foster said: "Following the outstanding success of our previous Community, Curve Young Company and Christmas Productions, we are once again looking for talented performers from across Leicestershire to join the casts of both A Midsummer Night's Dream and Scrooge. Working alongside our communities is at the heart of what we do, and we are proud to offer opportunities for so many local folk, across these two productions."

For both productions we are pleased to welcome opportunities for people of all ages, abilities and cultural backgrounds; no previous experience of performance is necessary. If you are interested, please do come along and audition. Everybody at Curve is very friendly, and if you are interested in either project, we are looking forward to hearing from you."

Directed by Curve Associate Artist Nick Winston, A Midsummer's Night Dream will be a contemporary production of Shakespeare's classic tale. Staged in Curve's 900 seat theatre during August, the production will be a fun mix of Shakespeare's beautiful language, pop songs and dance. For the first time, Curve will bring together its Young Company and Community actors, making it one of their most ambitious productions to date, celebrating local and emerging talent. We are looking for performers from age 8 to 80yrs!

As previously announced, Curve's Christmas production for 2017 - directed by Curve Artistic Director Nikolai Foster - will be a magical new version of Academy Award-winning composer Leslie Bricusse's family musical, Scrooge, adapted from Dickens' A Christmas Carol. For the production Curve are looking for young people to play the Cratchit family's children. There are also roles available for Fezziwig's children and the young people of London. Therefore, all male and female applicants need to be aged between 8 and 21 years.

To apply: Interested parties need to follow the audition guidelines and complete the application information which is available on Curve's website at www.curveonline.co.uk/get-involved/auditions. Applicants will then be contacted with a date and time slot for their audition.

Curve is a major producing theatre, creating compelling cultural experiences for all those who live, learn, visit and work in Leicester and Leicestershire. We use our unique home and talent to entertain, inspire and engage with a diverse audience and play a leading role in the development of our industry, our city and our global community. At the heart of this is the ambition to offer our local audiences world-class theatrical experiences (created under our Made at Curve banner).

Under the leadership of Chief Executive Chris Stafford and Artistic Director Nikolai Foster, Curve is developing a reputation for producing, programming and touring a bold and diverse programme of musicals, plays, new work and dance. All of this presented alongside a dynamic mix of community engagement and learning opportunities, which firmly places audiences and communities at the heart of everything Curve does.

We are a registered charity (number 230708) and this supports our work with people of all ages and backgrounds, enabling them to access, participate in and learn from the arts, nurturing new and emerging talent and creating outstanding, award-winning theatrical experiences.

Recent productions and co-productions Made At Curve include: Jim Jacobs & WarRen Casey's Grease (& for a limited season in Dubai); Dahl's The Twits (& Lyric Theatre, Hong Kong, Rose Theatre Kingston & UK tour); The Importance of Being Earnest (with Birmingham Rep); Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox, in a new adaptation by Sam Holcroft (a co-production with Nuffield Theatres & on tour); our Community Company productions of Alan Parker's Bugsy Malone and Shakespeare's Richard III; the Broadway musical Spring Awakening (with National Youth Music Theatre); Sister Act (& UK tour); Legally Blonde (& Daegu Opera Festival, South Korea - Winner Best Musical - Daegu International Musical Festival Awards); Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's (& Haymarket Theatre, London & UK tour); Ishy Din's Wipers (in collaboration with Belgrade Theatre Coventry & Watford Palace - Winner Asian Media Awards); Roald Dahl's The Witches, adapted by David Wood (& Lyric Theatre, Hong Kong, Rose Theatre Kingston & UK tour); Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire; Hairspray (& UK tour); Akram Khan's Until the Lions (with Roundhouse, London); Sue Townsend's The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ - The Musical and Jonathan Harvey's Beautiful Thing (with Nottingham Playhouse & UK tour).