CALL TO AUDITION:
THE FROGS: IN HELL
THEY SING SHOW TUNES
Adapted by ALEX KENDALL ROBSON,
after ARISTOPHANES
“Who knew frogs could be so mean? Sure, they sang well, and it was kinda funny, but fuck it was bleak!”
The world is on fire, people are dying. There’s war and plague. And cuts to arts funding. It’ll take a miracle to save humanity.
Dionysus, the god of theatre, teams up with his trusty sidekick Xanthias on an odyssey to the Underworld, hoping to resurrect a dead playwright to save the world of the living.
On the road to hell, however, they meet a colony of frogs, not only seemingly happy about the chaos above, but singing show tunes to celebrate.
It would be funny if it wasn’t so damn sad.
This classic of Ancient Greek comedy is given a bold new interpretation in a uniquely Australian voice.
CREATIVE TEAM & CREW
Director Alex Kendall Robson
Assistant Director Eddie O’Leary
Musical Director Zachary Aleksander
PERFORMANCE DATES
12 Aug to 6 Sep 2025
REHEARSALS
Rehearsals will start the week commencing Mon 16 Jun 2025 with a combination of weekend days, week evenings and possibly weekdays. Exact times and dates tbc, subject to cast availability and role. Please note: full cast rehearsals will likely be held on Saturday day.
AUDITIONS
It is essential to read the script BEFORE applying. There is a perusal copy of the script available for viewing here.
For further reference, an alternative English translation of the The Frogs can be found here.
The initial round of auditions will be done using self-tape. Call-back auditions will be held at the theatre in person after self-tape submissions close. If you are unable to submit a self-tape, please email the Director at frogsNT2025@gmail.com to arrange an alternative means of audition.
Your filmed audition should include:
• A very brief self-introduction, including your name and pronouns
• A short contemporary monologue.
Once you have captured your audition, upload it as either a private and password-protected Vimeo or a YouTube video using the password ‘Frogs_25’ and email the link with the below information to frogsNT2025@gmail.com.
In your email, please:
- Include an up-to-date headshot and cv
- Indicate which role/roles you are interested in
- Indicate your ability to play a musical instrument
- Indicate your singing ability including range
- Indicate if you are currently a New Theatre member
- Indicate your rehearsal availability (days and/or evenings)
Self-tape submissions close Wed 4 Jun 2025 at 5pm, although earlier submissions are encouraged.
You will only be contacted if we wish to see you for a call-back. If you are not successful in securing a call-back audition, no feedback will be given, but we greatly appreciate your time and thank you for your interest.
Call back auditions will be held from Thu 5 Jun 2025, exact times and dates tbc. Further instruction will be given when an audition is offered, including what to prepare and time-slot options.
ROLES AVAILABLE
Apart from the actors playing the two main roles of Dionysus and Xanthias, all other actors will form part of an ensemble taking on multiple roles including at least one named character and joining the three choruses: Dispossessed, the Happy Clappers, and the eponymous Frogs.
Whilst not a musical, the play is high energy and includes singing and movement. Although not essential, actors with a musical theatre background, or who can play an instrument or sing are strongly encouraged to apply.
The play is written for contemporary Australian voices with a varying degree of breadth. Actors who are culturally or linguistically diverse are welcome to speak in their natural accents.
Although gender has been assigned to each of the roles below, gender blind casting will remain an option.
Dionysus – god of theatre and wine. Male presenting but spends the majority of the play in a kind of Heracles cosplay/drag. Queer, camp, kind of pathetic. No one takes him seriously as a god. Once the play starts, he does not leave the stage.
Xanthias – servant/slave of Dionysus. Male presenting. Lower status, but the brains of the operation. Dry. Only leaves the stage once for a short period of time.
Heracles – the legendary hero (aka Hercules). Male presenting. Footy player kind of vibe. Depending on the body type of the actor cast, they could wear a costume that shows off their muscular physique, or, and perhaps for greater comic effect, it could be a muscle suit, opening the casting up to slimer/less masc actors.
A Corpse – recently deceased, but with a song in his heart. Male presenting. Sings.
Charon – ferryman of the Underworld. Male presenting. Character could have curmudgeonly sea captain vibes, or preppy river boat cruise guide vibes – open to interpretation.
Porter – Aeacus, the elderly gatekeeper of the Palace of Hades. Male presenting. Maybe a Scottish accent.
Maid – servant of Persephone. Female presenting. Initially a bit vapid, her second scene shows her pathos.
Landlady 1 – publican in the Underworld. Female presenting. Funny.
Landlady 2 – her colleague. Female presenting. Unhinged funny.
Hades – god of the dead and king of the Underworld. Male presenting.
Aeschylus – playwright. Male presenting. Real person. A more ‘conventional’ writer, more masc.
Euripides – his rival. Male presenting. Real person. Sees themselves as a bit edgy. Sings.
Sappho – the lesbian poet. Female presenting. Real person. Adapters invention in the play.
We very much encourage and welcome submissions from people who identify as First Nations, BIPoC, LGBTQI+ CaLD, queer and/or gender diverse.
PLEASE NOTE
New Theatre is a volunteer-based community organisation and there is no payment for this production. If cast, you will be required to launder your own costumes and assist with bump-out.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Alex is a freelance theatre maker, having completed a Bachelor of Theatre Studies and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) at the University of New England. Winning an international scholarship, he studied Shakespeare at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He has devised two plays about the Bard and his work: A Short Guide to Shakespeare and Shakespeare’s Villains: Everyone But Iago, the former appearing in the 2014 Sydney Fringe then touring the state. He has directed three queer productions at New Theatre: Bathhouse: The Musical and The Things I Could Never Tell Steven (also a musical), and Homos, or Everyone in America. He has also directed several of his own adaptations, including The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol, The Misanthrope by Molière, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. He also directed an original-ish play of his own, The Tale of the Great Emu War for the 2022 Sydney Fringe. Other directing credits include: Ophelia Thinks Harder by Jean Betts and Shakesepare, Just a Short Break on a Hafgufa by Kian Farzam, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Twelfth Night by Shakespeare (Fingerless Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Two Sticks Theatre); The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, and The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (Felt Tip Theatre).