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Stage Presence searches for its bride

The local theatre group held a casting call for its version of The Princess Bride

Local theatre group Stage Presence began its search for Buttercup and others as it hosted auditions for its adaptation of the classic tale “The Princess Bride”.

“I found The Princess Bride script online a few years ago and thought ‘Wouldn’t this be fun to do’,” said Anji Jones, director of the play. “We decided to adapt it, and do an adaptation instead.”

In order to do an adaptation, at least 30 per cent of the script has to be changed. In this case, the play is about Buttercup telling the story of the Princess Bride to her grandchildren.

Auditions took place on Jan. 23, in the basement of the Robertson Memorial United Church. Along with Buttercup, the group was looking for its Wesley, Fezzik, Prince Humperdink, and a host of others.

The weather that evening wasn’t the best, but that didn’t stop about half a dozen people showing up. Ages ranged from the young to the not so young.

One of those auditioning was Connor Scambler, a student at NES.

“My mom told me, because she’s been in contact with Anji,” he said. “We’ve always been around the theatre scene.”

People were called up one at a time, looked straight into the camera, stated their name and who their favourite character was, along with an impression, if they could.

The readings came next. Jones called up two or three people at a time and gave them a scene to read.

She said figuring out who is best for which role is kind of a gut feeling.

“I’ll see someone and just kind of get a feeling like ‘Oh, I think they’ll do really well here,’ and try them there,” she said. “Once in a blue moon, it turns out they’re not so great in the role, but they usually express that themselves. It just somehow always works out.”

Scambler doesn’t care which role he gets, he said he’s happy to be in the play.

“It’s really fun to just get up in front of people and do a show,” he said. “It’s kind of an out of body experience sometimes, when you’re up there pretending to be somebody else. It’s just really fun.”

Once everyone has been chosen, rehearsals for the play are set to begin in February.