We are so excited to co producing Berkhamsted’s first ever professional Pantomime ‘Cinderella’ this Christmas at the Berkhamsted Centenary Theatre. We are looking for two teams of talented young local dancers to join our incredible professional cast members in this year production of Cinderella in what will be a very special and unforgettable Christmas season. If you would like to be involved please do read the following information about our upcoming audition day and how to apply.

AUDITIONS

Sunday 30th June - Timings TBC

APPLY NOW

INFORMATION

JUNIOR AND INTERMEDIATE ENSEMBLE AUDITION DAYS WORK AND THE REQUIREMENTS INVOLVED FOR THOSE WHO GET ACCEPTED…

AGE RESTRICTIONS JUNIOR ENSEMBLE
  • Youngest Age – Any child wishing to audition must have turned 9 and be in year 4 before 01/11/24. If children have not turned 9 by 1/11/24, they are too young to audition.
  • Oldest Age – Children must be be no older than 16 and in year 11 throughout the whole Panto run.  If young people are in year 12, they are too old to audition.
  • Youngest Age – Any child wishing to audition must have turned 16 and be in year 12, BETC College or equivalent before 01/09/24. 
  • Oldest Age – Children must be be no older than 19 and in year 13 of school, Gap Year/Foundation Course, BTEC College or equivalent throughout the whole Panto run.  If young people are training on a 3 year full time Vocational degree course they are not eligible to audition for the Intermediate ensemble and should submit to be part of the professional Ensemble via spotlight link.

Please be aware that our junior and intermediate ensemble auditions are for dance only. We will not be auditioning for acting or singing. Young people are taught a dance routine on the day, so they do not need to prepare anything in advance. 

Please complete the application form on our website and also bring a copy along with you on the day. You do need to register or submit the form in advance in order to receive a time slot for the day. 

All Junior Ensemble children should be accompanied by an adult to the audition day and you will be required to wait on site as we do not have chaperones on the day and therefore cannot take responsibility for them. We will have a tuck station available for the wait. 

Please be aware that if your child is successful you will need to be available for ALL your allocated show times. These can not be swapped with another child in the opposite team as may conflict with child licensing laws and working hours. We will be needing proof of ID so please be honest about the age of your child.

  • On the audition day, please make sure young people wear age-appropriate clothing, shoes suitable for dancing in, and bring a bottle of water with them (please no fizzy drinks). There will also be an element of waiting so young people might want to bring something to keep themselves occupied during those times.

     

  • We always aim to make our audition days as fun and relaxed as possible however as we only have 12 places available for Junior Ensemble and 4 in the Intermediate Ensemble we know there may be an element of disappointment involved. Sometimes with Pantomime casting height/size will have an involvement with casting as everyone will be paired up with a double in the opposite team to share costumes. Just because you are not chosen does not mean you are not talented we just may not have someone to pair you up with. Please do come back next year if you are unsuccessful.

     

  • Photographs will be taken throughout the audition process, please do let us know in advance of your audition day if this is a problem. 

     

  • Smash Arts team members will be on site to answer any questions.

     

  • Rehearsals take place on the following dates:

    Sunday 1st December : All Day
    Sunday 8th December: All Day

    Monday 9th-Friday 13th December: After School Rehearsal
    Saturday 13th December: All Day

    9th December – Production Week Begins

     

  • Those who are successful will be called in very regularly, but will not be expected to do every performance. However, young people must be available for the ENTIRE period of rehearsals and performances, and no absence is permitted for any reason, including holidays, festivals, dance shows etc. Please do not bring your child along to audition if you know that they are unable to be available for the entire period – it only means that we will have to remove them from the show and replace them with a reserve which can be utterly heart-breaking for them. There are also day time rehearsals and early performances, which mean the successful young people need to be educationally able to miss some school.

    Young people who are successful in obtaining a place in the production will find out within a week of the audition day. We will let all applicants know the result of their audition but are not able to offer individual feedback. Please be aware that we only hold one casting day and are not able to offer alternative audition days to those who unfortunately can’t attend on the day.

     

  • Rehearsal and performance schedules are given out on acceptance of your place within the production, and you will be contacted shortly afterwards by a member of the Smash Arts team to start the work needed to obtain their performance licence. We also licence all of our reserves just in case they are called in. It does take quite a bit of paperwork to obtain the relevant licences for a child to perform. Whilst Smash Arts will do the majority of this work, there will still be some support and help required from the designated adult responsible for the successful young person.

     

    *Please note your child will not be paid to appear in this production.

  • As well as the main teams, we also cast a small team of ‘reserves’, who will be called if any young person from the main team has to drop out for any reason. 


  • Reserves do not attend rehearsals unless they are called in to replace someone in one of the main teams. We have known reserves to be called in from any point post audition day, up to 5 days into rehearsals. We’ve known productions where the entire reserve team has been used, and others where no reserve at all has been called. It is impossible to predict. It is unlikely we will call in any reserves post the middle of the first week of rehearsals. We licence all of our reserves just in case they are called in  – as it can be short notice and after the start of rehearsals – so all licence paperwork will need to be completed.

  • While it is not compulsory we heavily encourage parents to offer some help over the rehearsals and production weeks so if you have a chaperone licence or are willing to get one, please let us know! All under 16’s must be chaperoned for rehearsals and performances for those who get into the show. This means we are always looking for chaperones to join our team.

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