Rules for Living

Callbacks – MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11 – 7:30 pm

Cast Requirements: 7 Roles (3m/4f); flexible with age just have to be 18+ to audition; British (RP) accents; comfortable with getting messy and fight/movement.

Director – Allison Granat

Everyone creates their own coping strategies or “rules for living.” But what happens when an extended family gathers in the kitchen for a traditional Christmas and they each follow those rules, rigidly? As long-held mechanisms for survival are laid bare, even Mum, who’s been preparing this lunch since last January, becomes embroiled. Time-honored rivalries and resentments will out. Accusations fly, relationships deconstruct, the rules take over. In Sam Holcroft’s theatrically playful, dark comedy the instructions are there for all to see, audience included – so there’s really no place to hide.

For example:

Rule #1 Matthew must sit to tell a lie

Rule #2 Carrie must stand to tell a joke

Rule #3 Sheena must drink to contradict

…and so it goes and the mayhem increases. Flying food may be involved.

Vision/Concept: The whole family is home for Christmas dinner, and with many things left unspoken, every player must play by the rules to keep the peace. The audience is clued in on the exact rules each character must enact (ie. Matthew must sit to tell a lie), and will be able to watch as the characters begin to rack up points on the scoreboard.  The characters, however, are just living their life–however absurd that may become over the events of the play. Rules for Living is a show that explores the masks and performances we put on for ourselves and those we love; and the extreme lengths we’ll go to live within an arbitrary set of rules for living our daily lives.