Day one in the Oliver Twist house (read through)

Our read through went swimmingly well last week despite having only half the cast there. After all our deliberating and pondering over who to cast I think we've done the right thing. We did worry that, since the people we did have didn't really know each other, that there would be many awkward silences when we first sat down together. But we as soon as they sat down it was as if they had been in the cast of 'Oliver Twist' for eternity. Every one seemed to get on famously with each other, and everyone slipped into their characters fairly easy, which is always a bonus. Apart from the part where I read in for Dodger and he had a two page monologue it was one of the best readthroughs  I've ever been through, a really nice atmosphere. Can't wait for my first proper rehearsal!!!

Decision, decisions (why's it so hard?!)

Last night we conducted auditions for our christmas masterpiece. As soon as I arrived I could tell it was gonna be a long, hard night. There were much more than I imagined there would be and they all seemed so lovely, nice and enthusiastic. I didn't know what we were gonna do.
So we started auditioning them. We got them to play a few games before doing some group work. Usually at auditions I've been to or sat in on, by this point you can definitely see a few people who you don't want a and a few who you reallly do. This one was different. At this audition at this point I wanted to ignore the script and just cast everyone there but unfortunately I knew that wouldn't work and would cause problems in the long run so I started to try and think a little more harshly. And I really had to try.
Soon the auditions were over and me and Louise had to make some of the hardest decisions we've ever had to make. It took hours of deliberating just to decide who we wanted and could realistically have. After that we then escorted ourselves to Starbucks to futher tackle the problems of who gets who, where we still wanted to stuff all the people who we hadn't cast back into the cast, but we then faced up to the problem that this would be impractical. After an hour and a hot chocolate we finally had a cast list which were satisfied with. But as we walked away I still wish we could've used everyone. Everyone who attended the auditions was great in ther own way. I could've seen each of them taking a role but alas we had no more room. To anyone who's reading this who audtioned but didn't get in you were brilliant and please don't let this put you off acting, especially with Bounce. It was so hard and I didn't sleep well last night as a result. Don't give up, you were great!

I'm so excited (and a bit scared)!!!

Hey all! My name's Dan Ramsden and I'm proud to say that I'm assistant director on Bounce's winter show this year, 'Oliver Twist' by Neil Bartlett. Having only worked briefly with the company a few times before it will be a pleaseure to get as stuck in as this. All the past shows I've worked on have been an amazing experience, the company are so friendly and professional. The text seems amzing and it will be honour, as usual, to work with Louise again. With only a week to go till the auditions the pressure's mounting but I can tell aready that it's gonna be fun.

Getting the job

Bounce Theatre have asked me to assistant direct their next production of Oliver Twist.