Peace in our Time
22 March @ 9:30 am - 4:30 pm
Written By: Noel Coward
Creative Team: Presented by Stirling Players
Directed by Geoff Brittain
Peace in Our Time is a two-act play written in 1946 by Noël Coward.
It is a work of alternative history, focusing on a group of Londoners in a pub close to Sloane Square, after Nazi Germany has won the Battle of Britain and successfully invaded and occupied the United Kingdom.
The setting is the saloon bar of a London public house called The Shy Gazelle, somewhere between Knightsbridge and Sloane Square. The time is November 1940. Britain has been conquered and occupied by Nazi Germany. The Shattock family run the Shy Gazelle, with a clientele mostly of locals. The latter are in general ordinary British people, resentful of the German occupation but, to varying degrees, resigned to it.
The play is unusual for its sombre tone, being considerably darker than the comedic approach of most of Coward’s plays, and takes inspiration from the real-life sufferings of French citizens during the German occupation of France.
Information Session:
Audition Information: https://www.trybooking.com/CZFYJ
| Audition Information #:0 | |
| Date: | 22/03/2025 |
| Time From – Time to: | 0930 – 1630 |
| Character Descriptions #:0 | |
| Role Name: | Alma Broughton |
| Gender: | Female |
| Stage Age: | 35 |
| Role Information: | well-dressed talkative woman |
| Character Descriptions #:1 | |
| Role Information: | Publican – an amiable, gregarious man. Was gassed slightly in the 1914-18 war and has been a publican since 1919. |
| Role Name: | Fred Shattock |
| Gender: | Male |
| Stage Age: | 50 |
| Character Descriptions #:2 | |
| Role Name: | Nora Shattock |
| Gender: | Female |
| Stage Age: | 48 |
| Role Information: | Publican’s wife. Is Quiet but firm and has an efficient manner. She is from South London and her accent betrays that. |
| Character Descriptions #:3 | |
| Role Name: | Doris Shattock |
| Gender: | Female |
| Stage Age: | 21 |
| Role Information: | Publican’s daughter. Pretty girl with a quick mind and helps out behind the bar. She is also a member of the resistance. |
| Character Descriptions #:4 | |
| Role Name: | Stevie Shattock |
| Gender: | Male |
| Stage Age: | 21 |
| Role Information: | Publican’s son. Dressed nondescript. Looks Healthy but strained. Has escaped from a German concentration camp after being shot down. |
| Character Descriptions #:5 | |
| Role Name: | Janet Braid |
| Gender: | Female |
| Stage Age: | 40 |
| Role Information: | Plainly dressed, ordinary looking woman who’s only son was killed during the Battle of Britain. |
| Character Descriptions #:6 | |
| Role Name: | Phyllis Mere |
| Gender: | Female |
| Stage Age: | 19 |
| Role Information: | Barmaid |
| Character Descriptions #:7 | |
| Role Name: | Mr Grainger |
| Gender: | Male |
| Stage Age: | 50s |
| Role Information: | Regular customer. Lives in close proximity to the pub so this is his local. |
| Character Descriptions #:8 | |
| Role Name: | Mrs Grainger |
| Gender: | Female |
| Stage Age: | 50s |
| Role Information: | Regular customer. Lives in close proximity to the pub so this is her local. |
| Character Descriptions #:9 | |
| Role Name: | Billy Grainger |
| Gender: | Male |
| Stage Age: | 21 |
| Role Information: | Their son. Has escaped from the Germans and is on the run. |
| Character Descriptions #:10 | |
| Role Name: | Doctor Venning |
| Gender: | Male |
| Stage Age: | 50s |
| Role Information: | Plain looking but hides a secret. He runs the resistance. |
| Character Descriptions #:11 | |
| Role Name: | Lyia Vivian |
| Gender: | Female |
| Stage Age: | 35 |
| Role Information: | Spectacular looking woman. A cabaret artist of some repute. She was brought up in the hunting counties and is what might be technically described as “a lady”. Morally she was a casualty of the ‘twenties’ during which time she threw her bonnet over rather too many windmills. |
| Character Descriptions #:12 | |
| Role Name: | George Bourne |
| Gender: | Male |
| Stage Age: | 35 |
| Role Information: | Lyia lover sporadically for two years; is wealthy and apparently completely idle. |
| Character Descriptions #:13 | |
| Role Name: | Chorley Bannister |
| Gender: | Male |
| Stage Age: | 50s |
| Role Information: | He is well read, intelligent and edits a highbrow magazine called Forethought. He is effected and inclined to be over-provocative. He is devoid of moral integrity and easily frightened. |
| Character Descriptions #:14 | |
| Role Name: | Albrecht Richter |
| Gender: | Male |
| Stage Age: | 40s |
| Role Information: | Gestapo |
| Character Descriptions #:15 | |
| Role Name: | Kurt Foster |
| Gender: | Male |
| Stage Age: | 30s |
| Role Information: | Austrian Set Designer |
More Information at: https:/www.stirlingplayers.org.au/audition-notices
Rehearsal Dates:
Commencing early January 2026. Tuesdays, Thursdays & Sundays.
At Stirling Community Theatre or venue nearby.
Audition pieces available at www.stirlingplayers.org.au/audition-notices
Audition venue
Stirling RSL Hall
5D Merrion Terrace, Stirling 5152
Performance Dates: March/April 2026
March 20th 7.30pm
March 21st 3.00pm
March 22nd 3.00pm
March 27th 7.30pm
March 28th 3.00pm
March 29th 3.00pm
April 3rd 7.30pm
April 4th 7.30pm
Contact: Ray Trowbridge
rayct_@hotmail.com