Need young actors

*Casting Call*

Hello Everyone!

This is an unpaid casting call. However, we are doing a split rate on all profits.

We are Looking for 3 male actors for a script called Mud Rats Written by Ciaran Cookson that we will be performing in Manchester Fringe.

Set during the catastrophic events of World War One, George, Harry, Richard, and Thomas are four juvenile teenagers born and bred in Salford who have been sent to The Battle of The Somme.

Despite the devastating conclusion that brings their story to an end, this play explores masculinity and the relationships formed as these soldiers pass the time - during their waiting game in the trenches.

This play is not about how glorious the war was but about the men involved, the connections that got them through it, and what the reality of the trench was.

The play includes rhyme, dance, movement, song (you don't need to be able to sing well) and spoken word.

I've attached a few pictures from a previous shortened version of the script that I put on as part of my university course.

*NOTE: * *You must be comfortable with taking your shirt off on stage.*

*I am casting for the Characters:*

*Sergeant Wells: *Before the war he was a teacher and taught a few of the lads in the script. He has a wife who he writes to often and a son, whos' future he dreams about. He became Lance Corporal after completing training. He then went onto fight in the battle of Neuve Chapelle and was awarded the rank of Sergeant for his efforts.

He must lead the boys confidently whilst knowing what the likely outcome for the lads he taught will be. As well as not feeling up to the rank, as if it were forced up on him and that he thinks himself more a private than a Sergeant.

*NOTE: You need to be able to give drill like orders during movement. Also be able to a stern Sergeant. As well as just a man worried for his life*

*Thomas; *Single. He has 3 sisters, Thomas is a family man. His mother and Father both care for him a lot. Trying to ready him before he signed up. He is a smart man with a good knowledge of weapons for the time period (A Gun nut if you will). As well as a better understanding of what it would be like over in France.

Thomas celebrates his 19th birthday in the trench and is the oldest of the group. He is someone who his best friend Richard (The groups natural leader) can lean on. After the death of Richard, he leads his friends into no mans land.* *Thomas often feels overlooked by the others, finding Richards attention focused on the younger lads Harry and George.

*Harry*: He used to work at the docks in Salford as well as getting married before signing up. His dad is a Butcher. Before the war he could not imagine working for him, being the Butchers Boy. But, after all he's seen he longs for it.

He is the youngest in the group, with this comes an innocence and playfulness about the war and his duties, he's willing to steal from his Sergeant and disobey his command. The war is just a holiday for this young man. He could be considered the "troublemaker of the group, often teasing the others and winding them up. He blindly followed his older friends Richard and Thomas into the war, dragging his best friend George with him.

Please feel free to contact me on here or at co***@gmail.com

Look forward to hearing from you all