Director : Mark Perry
Producers : Sightline Entertainment in partnership with DC Thompson
Venue : The Southwark Playhouse
Dates : Rehearsals 8th Nov 2017 – 13th Dec 2017
Run 14th Dec 2017 – 20th Jan 2018
Auditions : First Rounds : 5th, 7th and 8th of September
Recalls : 11th and 12th of September
This Christmas, the comic and cartoon hero, Bananaman, will be returning to
the stage.
“This is 29 Acacia Road. And this is Eric Wimp. He’s a schoolboy who leads
an amazing double life. For when Eric eats a banana an amazing
transformation occurs. Eric is Bananaman. Ever alert for the call to
action.”
This production marks the live action debut of the Man-of-Peel. A hero who
has ‘the muscles of 20 men and the brain of 20 mussels’. Bananaman is a
unique member of the superhero line-up. Our handsome hero may have a jaw
line you can see from space and the snazziest of tight lycra outfits, but he’s
not the sharpest tool in the box. In fact, he doesn’t even know where the
box is.
With supervillains Dr Gloom and General Blight attempting world domination
who can we call? Superman’s on holiday, Spiderman’s not picking up – our
only option, our very very last option is…Bananaman.
Bananaman began life in the Nutty comic in 1980, and was a flyaway success,
transferring to The Dandy, where he appeared until 2012. A send-up of the
likes of Superman and Batman, he was the subject of the hugely popular TV
cartoon which ran between 1983 and 1986 for 3 series and 40 episodes on the
BBC and featured the voices of Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill
Oddie from The Goodies.
With a useless hero and some equally clueless villains, Bananaman’s
winkingly clever, delightfully silly type of humour has been sealed into the
memories of those who saw him first, and will now spark the imagination of a
new generation of Bananafans.
Part fond parody of the super-hero genre, part riotous comic slapstick –
this is a potassium fuelled action comedy the whole family will love.
We are looking for the following roles:
Principal Male Roles
ERIC: (Playing age 14 – 17)
This role is to be played by an adult over licensing age – we are not able
to consider performers under the age of 18
A nerdy but brilliant schoolboy. Eric works in his mum’s fruit shop and
attends Bash Street High, where he excels academically but struggles
romantically, trying to win the affections of his classmate Fiona. Bullied
by his classmates, Eric yearns to be stronger and cooler. Following a meteor
strike on Acacia Rise, Eric eats a banana and turns into Bananaman. He was
originally bored with his simple life, the daily dull routine from home to
school to the fruit shop and back again, but once faced with his new chaotic
life as the dim witted Bananaman, Eric begins to appreciate what he had.
Eric fancies Fiona, and we follow his attempts to ask her out. By the end of
the show, we see Eric as the real hero, able to defeat the bad guys without
being in the guise of Bananaman.
Vocal Range: A2 – Ab3
BANANAMAN: (Playing age 25+)
Eric’s alter ego, and his complete opposite, Bananaman is described as
having ‘the muscles of 20 men and the brain of 20 mussels.’ Finds it
impossible to enter a room through a door, and barges through walls. In
trying to help out, he often causes more trouble than there was to begin
with. He is a parody of traditional superheroes like Superman and is the
comic heart of the show. Dim-witted, well-meaning, sometimes vain, huge
biceps and terribly well-spoken.
Vocal Range: G2 – Bb4
CHIEF O’REILLY: (Playing age 30 – 50)
Acacia Road’s Irish police chief. Loves the simple things particularly his
food, his life on Acacia Road, and generally having nothing much to do. A
terrible police officer but utterly loveable. Constantly distracted from his
duties by a nice slice of cake/ a doughnut/ an éclair etc.
Vocal Range: G3 – F4
GENERAL BLIGHT: (Playing age 25 – 35)
Bananaman’s number one enemy, and always striving for world domination. When
the show opens he has been working alongside Dr Gloom tracking a meteor said
to possess limitless power, on it’s current trajectory directly towards
Acacia Road. He’s a parody of Adolf Hitler and criminal masterminds in comic
strips through the ages.
Vocal Range: G2 – G4
DR GLOOM: (Playing age 25 – 35)
Another arch enemy of Bananaman, and partner/sidekick to General Blight if
they can stop squabbling long enough to agree. Spends much of the show
disguised as the new teacher at Acacia High, ‘Professor Bloom’. He assembles
all the villains to work with him on his evil plan. He’s the evil genius
that we all love to hate.
Vocal Range: G2 – G4
MAD MAGICIAN: (Playing age 25 – 35)
Magician and villain, who under the guise of performing at Fiona’s birthday
party, spirits the birthday girl away. Perhaps loves the performance side of
his villainy a little much: relishing in the showmanship, he arrives
everywhere in a puff of smoke, which often annoys his fellow villains. He’s
a dark, quirky version of Derren Brown – who’s just in it to rip off
unsuspecting members of the public.
Vocal Range: G2 – Eb4
Principal Female Roles
FIONA: (Playing age 14 – 17)
This role is to be played by an adult over licensing age – we are not able
to consider performers under the age of 18
An incredibly bright and driven school girl, Fiona is a budding journalist,
desperate for something really exciting to report, and runs the school news
blog tracking anything remotely interesting that happens in Acacia Road.
Eric is in love with her, but Fiona doesn’t appear interested in anything
but the latest scoop. That is, until she meets Bananaman who, by complete
accident, saves her from General Blight’s clutches. She briefly develops a
crush on Bananaman, but by the end of the show, Eric has proved himself to
be a better match. She’s clever, independent and with more than a little
Lara Croft about her when she needs it.
Vocal Range: G3 – F#3
MRS WIMP: (Playing age 30 – 40)
Eric’s mum. Loving, kind, well meaning, but terrible at making sandwiches.
It is in her picnic that she makes for Eric to take on his night time look
out for the meteor with Fiona, that the banana is found. And later it is her
plan to make banoffee pie which provides Eric with fuel to be his alter-ego
even after Doctor Gloom has taken all the bananas. Loves Eric, and probably
knows exactly what he’s up to all along.
Vocal Range: A3 – D4
CROW: (Playing age 20 – 30)
Eric’s only friend. A cheeky cockney/bird that can talk – but its only the
strike of the meteor which allows the other characters in Acacia Road to
understand what saying..unless its cockney rhyming slang at which point
no-one understands any of it. Crow is the wittiest character in the show and
the brightest. Always on hand to try and help Eric in his terrible attempts
to woo Fiona and always trying to lead Bananaman in the right direction –
but pretty unsuccessful in both those endeavours. Crow is the sidekick. The
brain to Bananaman’s brawn. Think Timone…but more cockney…and more feathers.
Male and Female Ensemble: (Playing age 20 – 30)
Fantastic triple threat performers needed for our ensemble. Strong dance is
a must with astonishing voices. The ensemble will be covering the leads.