Whether you fancy yourself onstage, backstage or offstage, Progress Theatre offers a variety of ways for you to get involved.

We’re all volunteers here, learning on the job and from each other. There’s always room for more though, so if you want to pick up a new skill, perfect an old one, or share your expertise with us, we’d love to have you.

 

Open Auditions

Progress auditions are open to everyone: members, ex-members, and non-members. Unless the audition notice states otherwise, auditionees must be over 18.

If you are cast for a show, you will need to become a member, this is for legal and safety reasons.

Inclusion

Progress Theatre is committed to the principles of inclusion, and roles are open to all, including any gender identity, disability or ethnicity. Although some characters may be historical figures, auditionees of different ethnicities, disabilities and gender identities are encouraged to audition. We are committed to improving our access to all and would love to welcome you to the Progress community. Please get in touch at [email protected], to let us know if you have any access/inclusion requirements or concerns, including (but not exclusive to): disability, gender, race, sexuality, gender identity, age, or financial aid. 

 

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Upcoming auditions

A modern comedy by Laura Wade

Directed by Caroline Wells and Produced by Sarah Underwood

Judy wants to live like it’s the fifties, gender roles and all! After all, aren’t we all free to live the life we choose, no matter what that looks like?

She met Johnny at a retro convention and they’re both lovers of the era - her from watching 1950s films with her father, him for the cars. Wasn’t it all so lovely, so simple, so good? People knew what was expected of them, and if you did the right things, in the right order, everything worked. Besides, she loves the beauty of their perfect home and providing for her husband.

But as their friends, family and colleagues look on, what cracks will start to appear in the perfect relationship, with its traditional values and gender roles?

Read through: Saturday 10 January 2026, 2.30pm-5pm - Progress Theatre, Foyer

Open auditions:

• Sunday 18 January, 2.30pm-5pm - Park United Reform Church, Upstairs Lounge 
• Thursday 22 January, 7.30pm-10pm - Progress Theatre, Foyer

If possible, please complete this AUDITION FORM in advance to help the auditions run smoothly. We will have some paper forms available on the day if needed.

You only need to attend one audition date. There is no need to prepare anything, but audition pieces might be available beforehand. Please let us know if you would like them. 

Performances: 25-30 May 2026

Characters:

• Judy (f, 30–50): Passionate, perfectionist, powerful: Judy believes true feminism means living how you choose, as she leaves a successful career behind to recreate her fantasy of the 1950s films she watched with her father. But what does this choice cost her, and what must she hide to preserve the image of the perfect housewife?
• Johnny (m, 30–50): Charming, playful, overwhelmed: a long-time enthusiast of the fifties, Johnny is enthused about becoming the sole breadwinner and coming home to cocktails and cooked meals. But is his success and marital bliss all that it seems?
• Sylvia (f, 50s+): Sharp-tongued, no-nonsense, energetic: armed with lived memory of what the fifties were really like, Sylvia cannot understand her daughter’s choice to rely on a man and do, as she sees it, “nothing” with her life. This is not her understanding of feminism!
• Fran (f, 20s–50s): Naive, direct, eager to please: impressed by Judy’s immaculate home, while she can barely keep the stairs clear, Fran enjoys the fifties as a weekend indulgence. But might her more modern and carefree relationship with Marcus mask a far sharper, more complicated dynamic?
• Marcus (m, 30–50s): Self-assured, teasing, complacent: a lover of dancing and vintage cars, Marcus wouldn’t mind at all if Fran could be persuaded to live like Judy. Yet perhaps his casual assumptions imply a mindset more “fifties” than Judy’s carefully managed performance.
• Alex (f, 20s–40s): Successful, driven, fun-loving: Johnny’s new boss, Alex is baffled by the fifties lifestyle and focused on the thrill of the next big deal. Will Judy and Johnny’s choices reshape how she sees him, and what choices will she make as a result?

Note: The roles of Judy, Johnny and Marcus will require a willingness to learn some Jive. This is not essential for other roles. No experience necessary here either, but a readiness to learn required!

If you have any questions, please contact Caroline Wells (Director) and Sarah Underwood (Producer) on [email protected].

 

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Role of Hamlet

Note: other roles will audition around March

Open Auditions: Friday 16 and Monday 19 January, 7.30pm, at Progress Theatre

Performances: 15-25 July in Reading Abbey Ruins

Our Open Air production for 2026 is Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, which will run 15-25 July in Reading Abbey Ruins. We will be auditioning for the role of Hamlet in advance of the rest of the cast. It is perhaps the best-known role in the history of theatre and presents the ultimate acting challenge. Grief, madness, anger, intellect, reason, sarcasm and whimsy are all on display. The actor needs to be able to do all this, in Shakespearean verse and with enough projection to reach the ears of all of our outdoor audience. In the rain, if necessary! 

The role is open to any actor, but some physicality will be required. Our production aims to balance the tragedy with comedy, so a thoughtful rendition of the soliloquies will not be enough. The successful auditionee will also show good comic timing and quick repartee.

The successful actor will need to be available to help at the main cast auditions around March. Prior to this there will be work with the director about once a week, and time to learn the many lines. Rehearsals will ramp up to three or four per week from March/April.

Actors in our Open Air show will need to help us get set up in the Abbey Ruins, putting up gazebos for changing rooms and stage management and there is a fair amount of fetching and carrying before and after every show. We will also ask you to take part in a couple of marketing activities at public events. Let us know if you might have difficulty with any of this. 

Please complete this AUDITION FORM.

See the AUDITION PIECES.

Questions? Contact the director: [email protected]

 

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By April de Angelis

Directed by Rachel Meyer and Produced by Stephanie Gunner-Lucas

The year is 1669, a bawdy and troublesome time. Theatres have just reopened after seventeen years of Puritan suppression. There is a huge surge in dramatic writing and the first English actresses appear on stage!

Playhouse Creatures focuses on five of these women - Nell Gwyn, Elizabeth Farley, Rebecca Marshall, Doll Common and Mary Betterton - to provide a moving and often comic account of the precarious lives of these pioneering actresses.

This is an incredible ensemble piece with 5 powerhouse female roles!

“With deliciously absurd extracts from the heroic repertory and frantic dressing-room scenes, the prevailing tone is comic but you are not allowed to forget the gutter waiting to reclaim these glittering figures.” Independent on Sunday

Read through: Friday 23 January 2026, 7pm-10pm - Park United Reform Church, Small Hall

Open auditions:

• Friday 6 February, 7pm-10pm - Progress Theatre, Foyer
• Monday 9 February, 7pm-10pm - Park United Reform Church, Small Hall

If possible, please complete this AUDITION FORM in advance to help the auditions run smoothly. We will have some paper forms available on the day if needed.

You only need to attend one audition date. There is no need to prepare anything, but audition pieces might be available beforehand. Please let us know if you would like them.

If you have any questions, please contact Rachel Meyer (Director) and Stephanie Gunner-Lucas (Producer) on [email protected].

Performances: 22-27 June 2026

Characters:

• Doll Common (f, 60s+): Doll is timeless, salt of the earth, doesn’t sugar-coat what needs to be said and has been at the theatre for decades - since it was a bear pit. She helped her father tend to the bears and now she looks after the girls. She likes to keep busy and is devoted to Mrs Betterton.
• Mrs Betterton (f, 50s): Regal, a consummate professional, and arguably the most successful actress of the group; she is peerless amongst the ladies when we find her at the beginning of the play. But fickle audiences will always be charmed by new faces and one’s reign cannot last forever.
• Mrs Marshall (f, 30s): Talented, titillating, clever and ambitious – we see the rise of Mrs Marshall’s career across the play. She scandalously enjoys talking with academics in salons, sharing her thoughts and opinions. She wants more than society is perhaps ready to concede…
• Mrs Farley (f, 20s–30s): A preacher’s daughter, Mrs Farley is possibly the most surprising member of our group. Seduced by the many delights of the theatre, and then the opportunity to catch the eye of the King himself, her fall from grace is tragic and thrilling.
• Nell Gywnn (f, late teens-20s): Nelly is young, irreverent, charming and she has a natural gift for winning a crowd. We first discover her in a pub, then on the street selling oranges but once she finds her way to the theatre she quickly discovers success, attention, opportunities and even fame.

Note: We are more concerned with the relative ages of the cast looking right between the women than following the exact guidelines above. We have flexibility here! Also character breakdowns are descriptions of the character, not necessarily the actor playing them. All casting is blind and open to anyone who wishes to audition for any role.

Another note: The roles of Nell and Mrs Marshall will require a willingness to learn theatrical fencing using steel. You will be under the supervision of an excellent and experienced Fight Director in Caroline Stewart. This is not essential for other roles. No experience necessary here either, but a readiness to learn and comfort in movement is required!