Open RP: Auditions!

[crazynotstoned]

So as far as Geoffrey knew, his production of Twelfth Night was well under way. No, really -- despite it having been weeks since his posters had been altered, he had somehow entirely failed to notice that the people who were signed up for the play were, in fact, signed up for a completely different one. This meant he was probably due for something

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[mageofanima]

Erk tended to monologue a lot, really, but he had figured that general spur-of-the-moment tirades weren't quite what was being looked for.

So he had hurriedly found a suitable monologue in a book of plays he had run across once in the Library and spent most of yesterday memorizing it. It was almost as if the playwright had taken one of his rants and simply made it more dramatic. Of course, he was starting to feel like there was a risk that he would launch into it if Serra showed up. O, she misused me past the endurance of a block!

Walking into the Great Hall, he looked around until he saw the sign and ambled over. "This is where the auditions are taking place, right?"

((OOC: So how are the monologues going to work? I've linked to a site with the one Erk's chosen.))

[crazynotstoned]

((Check the note above! He can read that (you don't actually have to type it out or whatever :P) and maybe, you know, let me know how he does ;) ))

Ah, the first arrival! Geoffrey fished his hand out of his many-holed sleeves and held it up to Erk in greeting, flashing a smile. "Yeah, hi. Come on in." He waved him over and halfway stood up, holding out a hand to shake. "I'm Geoffrey Tennant. This is Bun-Bun." He nodded to his lapine stage manager who I'm pretending showed up already.

[ka_click]

The Rabbit grins at the new guy, but doesn't offer a paw to shake. "I'm the stage manager. You got problems, you let me know." And he'll tell you to go to hell, cause your problems don't mean diddley compared to the problem of getting everyone on their marks on cue.

[mageofanima]

"Alright..." Even after several months at Hogwarts, a talking rabbit was still approaching Erk's weirdness threshold. Particularly one that was actually named Bun-Bun. He didn't think anything intelligent enough to talk would have tolerated that name. "I'm Erk. Pleased to meet both of you. So, ah... What exactly is A Midsummer Night's Dream about?"

[tomowildcat]

As always, Tomo came charging in at breakneck speed, nearly knocking over several people and statues en route to the Great Hall. It sounded more like an approaching stampede instead of one short Japanese teenager, but that was normal for her.

"I'm HERE!" she announced, screeching to a stop right in front of the sign. "You can start now!"

She didn't know a thing about Shakespeare or monologues, so she'd managed to bully a house elf into fetching her something that would work from the library. The book the elf had brought back had "Desdemona" and "Juliet" in the title, so Tomo figured it was close enough and selected a suitable passage to read and act out. Hey, it looked like Shakespeare, why not?

Never mind that Shakespeare was not likely to be using the word "bullshit" so many times, if at all...

((Link goes to a post in Tomo's journal - how are we doing this? If it's too long, I'll cut it down and relink. I can always post the bits that Tomo mangles or ad-libs. Expect lots of overacting and VOLUME.))

[crazynotstoned]

((LOL yes, definitely post her mangling things.))

Geoffrey was pretty used to actors, who as a whole tended to barrel around as though the rest of the world was entirely incidental, so he tried to take Tomo in stride. "We already started," he said slowly. "But you're okay."

"Hi." He lifted a hand, slouching back in his seat. "I'm Geoffrey. I'm guessing you'd be..." He looked over his list till he found the name with the note sparkles next to it. "...Tomo Takino?"

[tomowildcat]

((Heh, you're going to get a LOT of use out of that icon... and thank you for this excuse to pimp the play she's reading from to other people. Cross-dressing Romeo and sword-wielding Desdemona FTW! XD))

"Yep! The one and only!" She brandished the book she'd brought, her hand obscuring the title on the jacket. "And I got something to read, too! So what play are we doing, anyway?"

No, Tomo wasn't confused due to the alteration of the posters, she'd honestly forgotten anything but Shakespeare and that there were auditions.

[crazynotstoned]

((XD I'm pretty sure I am! Pooooor Geoffrey.))

That question wasn't as easy as it might have been. Geoffrey sighed and propped his elbows up on the chair in front of him, scrubbing a hand over his face. "Take your pick," he muttered.

Okay, that... probably wasn't a valid answer. He cleared his throat and looked up with a hopeful smile. "Uh, I mean... that's a little up in the air at the moment. Why don't you..." He gestured vaguely towards the book, a little desperate.

[ka_click]

"Heya boss man." Cue a Bunny, hopping along towards Geoff, a smile on his little face,a gleam in his little eyes, and a bull whip in his little paws. "Not ta worry, I brought my own cast encouragement tools."

[crazynotstoned]

Geoffrey should probably have been more surprised to see a rabbit talking to him. Especially a rabbit with a whip. But he'd gotten kind of used to Hogwarts over the past few weeks, and anyway, his world had never been entirely sane. He just kind of stared for a moment, and then smiled weakly. "You're Bun-Bun?"

The whip, at least, was a promising sign. What Geoffrey really needed was someone who could deal with other people for him.

[ka_click]

"Sure am." He hops into one of the chairs, whip at the ready. "Don't worry, I know how to deal with actors. Some people thing being small is a detriment, but I say it just lets me get into the dressing room to unlock the door when some prissy prima donna overdoses on diet pills."

[crazynotstoned]

Bun-Bun was his new favorite. "Ah," he said in a subdued fashion, looking secretly unbelievably delighted. "Well... good. I guess your qualifications check out. Plus, you can talk." Which was a pretty important one. "I, uh. Is that a transfiguration thing, or...?"

He was going to have to check in with the actors when they showed up. He really did want to make sure he wasn't just hallucinating this.

[apologeticellen]

Ellen arrived only a few minutes late. Not too late, but late enough to be noticed. Rubbing out her cigarette on the floor, she then pulled up a third chair to the table, sitting next to Geoffrey. Because she was there to help. Auditions were for amateurs.

"So, I was thinking," she launched right in. "Olivia is a good part for someone new. I mean, there's a complexity there, but you're good at, you know, pulling that out of people. But Viola. Now that is a role that needs some depth, you know? Some maturity." With a big grin, she leaned in, resting her cheek on one hand. "Anyone can play Olivia. But Viola needs someone who can handle her, eh?"

Angling for parts, much?

[crazynotstoned]

Oh, Geoffrey was so not getting into an argument, here and now, over a part that she was absolutely not getting (and, for that matter, knew she wasn't getting). He decided to ignore her actual words and focus on the fact that hey, Ellen was here. In prime form.

"Hello, dear," he said flatly. He leaned back in his seat to reveal Bun-Bun on his other side. "This is Bun-Bun, my stage manager. Bun-Bun, this is the illustrious Ellen Fanshaw. Ellen, darling, are you planning on reading today? Or should I have Bun-Bun go and get some cue cards for you?"

[apologeticellen]

Oh, no he didn't. As Ellen's eyes narrowed, the temperature in the room suddenly dropped several degrees. Ignoring the bunny - seriously, a bunny? What the hell, animals - Ellen leaned forward and hissed, "I do not now, nor have I ever, need cue cards."

Personally affronted, she sat back in her chair and glowered at Geoffrey. "I don't know if I'm in the correct mental space to do a reading."

Go to hell, Geoffrey.

[crazynotstoned]

Correct mental space? Geoffrey stiffened sharply, his eyes narrowing. Oh, that was a low fucking blow. "Well, Ellen," he shot back in a haughty tone, "As I'm sure you saw, everyone who wants to be in the play has to do a reading."

She thought she had the power here? No, ma'am.

He leaned in, lowering his voice. "This guy is tougher than Maria. Don't make me sic him on you, Ellen." He jerked a thumb back at the rabbit.

[researcher42]

When he'd only been pretending to be an actor Ford had generally made appointments for audition and never gone. Or showed up late. Or drunk. Oddly enough, the times he'd shown up drunk he'd usually gotten the part, which was awkward.

If it had worked before it might work again. That was the logic behind his decision to drink a couple... (or was it four? five? six?) That was the logic behind his decision to drink a number of gin and tonics (light on the tonic) before going this audition.

"People of Earth," he announced as he entered the room, "take me to your director!"

[crazynotstoned]

Geoffrey couldn't blame Ford for getting drunk. He wished he'd done the same. "Right here," he called out mournfully, waving a hand high in the air. "You are?"

[researcher42]

"Ford Prefect. Professor Prefect, actually. Not that it matters much, I seem to forget it myself most of the time." He grinned and sat on the edge of one of the tables. Or rather, he attempted to sit on the edge of one of the tables, misjudged the distance slightly and sort of staggered into one of the tables. It achieved the same objective anyway. "So, Midsummer Night's Dream. Good choice. It's surreal enough everyone here should be able to identify. One bite of the wrong brownie and ending up with an ass's head seems like a step towards normality."

[crazynotstoned]

"...your name is Professor Prefect?" Geoffrey blinked. That sounded like about a thousand bad boarding school jokes waiting to happen. "Ah, well. It's nice to meet you. I'm Geoffrey Tennant." He gave Ford a magnanimous nod. "And this is Bun-Bun."

He smirked slightly as Ford missed the table, leaning forward in his seat. Drunk people were sometimes fun; moreso when they weren't him embarrassing himself. But when Ford started singing the praises of the new and unauthorized play, he began to look annoyed. "Well, no, actually, no it's not a good choice, you see," he snapped, "because it's actually very difficult to stage without making it dull or silly, and..."

Okay, Oliver wasn't here to hear this rant. Oliver was playing resolutely dead, so Geoff could cool it. He sighed and shook his head irritably. "Never mind. Were you going to read?"