Going Down

On Friday I have an audition at the Lord Stanley in Camden for a part in Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths - the Russian author's most famous play, depicting a group of the dregs of society (tart, thief, madman, servant etc) in not so much a plot as a series of character scenes. I've applied for the role of Dimitri the Landlord (yes, purists, that name does not appear in the original - this is a rewrite) on the sole grounds that it's the only part that fits my playing age - 50.

I'm now familiar both with the Lord Stanley and the director, Victor Sobchak, because I reconnoitred the place a couple of days ago with a couple of colleagues for the One-Man Festival. Victor*, large, grey-bearded and with the downcast expression that is apparently mandatory for a Russian intellect, doesn't recognise me, but takes me upstairs and without preliminaries (how are you, where have you come from, what have you done? etc) throws me straight into the audition. Which throws me somewhat, but after a couple of coughs I launch into Azdak's monologue from The Caucasian Chalk Circle - the part where he's sending away Shauva the policeman before confronting the aristocrat-disguised-as-pauper who's cowering in his (Azdak's) hut.

I get through the first third of the monologue when Victor says thank you. Hang on, I say, I haven't finished. It's important to me that I go on, because the character I'm up for has an aggressive personality and so far I've only shown the jovial side of Azdak's character. Victor lets me continue, and I do so, probably much longer than he expected, but hopefully conveying thoughtfulness, contempt and anger in the appropriate measure and appropriate places.

There then follows a brief conversation in which Victor asks why I auditioned for Dimitri, I tell him about the age thing, he says he's considering me for that or the actor or the aristocratic, he likes my voice, he likes my presence, would I take any of these roles? Somewhat surprised, I warn him about my lack of experience. That's not a problem, he says; do I have your email address? Yes, I tell him, reminding him of my visit a couple of days ago. With recognition comes the big smile that transforms his personality from morose to merry, we have a brief chat about the slots I've chosen for the SoloFestival and then I'm out of there.

Twenty-four hours later an email offers me the part of Dimitri. Of course I accept. Two scenes, which means it's not the largest part in the play, but a nice step up from my previous stage incarnations - As You Like It, in which I appeared on stage for all of eight minutes; and The Duchess of Malfi, in which I was regularly on stage, but had only 16 words in the 135 minute performance. Two scenes in Gorky is enough stage time to raise my profile and not so much that a poor performance will disable the whole production.

Later in the day I read through the script. My character is shifty and untrustworthy. This is going to be fun...

* that's Gorky in the picture, but it could be a younger Victor ...