Information for new actors and actresses

Rehearsals

Actors normally rehearse for 3 days: either Monday/Wednesday/Friday or Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday.

We ask that you know the songs and are off-book as much as possible before you go into the rehearsal room!

The pay for rehearsals is £250.

Performances

The performances are on a casual basis; we try our best to share the work and book actors into shows in advance but inevitably there are some periods that are busier than others! Currently the one within this school term that is busy is the week beginning Monday 7th October. 

Shows are performed with 1 boy and 1 girl, though the matching is not always the same; i.e. you could end up performing the show with different partners at different times.

Transport to shows is by hire car, which is booked for you. We send an email schedule of the shows we have agreed in the week before the performances; this will also have the details of the car booking on it. It may occasionally be easier to travel by train or public transport, at our cost.

You can perform up to 3 shows in a single day, 2 in the morning (typically at 9 and 10.30am in one school, potentially drive for up to 1 hour and then perform another show in a different school at 2pm). Occasionally there can be 3 performances in the same school in a day, and often there are either 2 shows in a morning or just 1 show in the afternoon on a single day.

The rate of pay for performances is £100 per day (including any holiday pay due), regardless of how many shows you give. This is paid the following Monday on a payroll system for shows from the previous week. NI is deducted but not income tax in the same way as if you were in a show in town.

Expenses

If you spend the night away from home, either because of travelling the night before to get somewhere far away for a morning show or because of a series of shows on consecutive days in different parts of the UK, we pay a £10 meal allowance as a contribution towards your evening meal. If you spend the night with a friend away from home for a show, so there is no hotel cost, there is also a £10 allowance so you can buy them a bottle of wine etc!

Accommodation is booked by you (either in advance or when you get to somewhere), please arrange this with your performance partner, and then reimbursed by us by completing an expenses form and sending us a VAT receipt.

If you are due to spend a few days away with accommodation, meal costs etc and cash-flow is an issue then please come and talk to us; we can sort something out.

For shows that are far away, whether you travel the night before is arranged by you and your partner. There is a contact section on all the schedule emails that we send so you can communicate with each other.

Dates

Back to Before will run from September - mid November and then from January to end of the school year in July.

Auditions

If you get an audition/casting you are allowed to drop the show you are scheduled in for - please let the office know as soon as possible if this is the case so we can find someone to replace you. Inevitably this means that we may end up calling you to ask if you can do a show at short notice, as the same rule applies for everyone!

CRB Check / DBS check

Unless you have a CRB or DBS issued in the last three years will need to get you DBS checked - the new name for a CRB check. This is a criminal record check to prove that you can safely work with children; some schools will ask for this before you go onto the premises. This is a simple procedure that we can get done during the rehearsal week or soon after that. You will need some forms of ID that are all registered to the same address, e.g. passport, driving license, utility bill, birth certificate - more details about this to follow nearer the time.