History of Arguable Consequence: The Undertold Stories of the American Civil War
ClayThompsonVA for Irish-American Soldier
Irish-American Soldier ($30): Lead/Male/Middle-Aged. Irish Accent. This role is actually three different roles from three different vignettes, and we may end up liking the auditions so much that we break this into two or three different parts. For now, however, we've decided to combine the roles, because two of the vignettes are relatively small (one is only a single line!). Because the character of the Irish-American Soldier isn't named in any of the literature, there's some room for interpretation. The one thing we'd like from the voice actor is a sense of humor -- all of these lines have a certain airiness and comedy amidst the tragedy, and we need a light-hearted delivery, with a lot of lyricism, showmanship and charisma, with a thick Irish accent.
ABOUT THE ROLE: There are three stories about Irishmen in the American Civil War; one about how an Irishman was saving his flask of whiskey and decided to take back the Union flag as well, another incredibly animated story about an Irishman sparring with a rebel soldier the size of a freight train; another an Irishman cleverly arguing with a rebel soldier about loyalty and patriotism. The parts are relatively small, so we'd like to cast one person who can add a little variation to the different voices in the different roles (though this may change, depending on what we see for auditions). For this, we also need a GREAT storyteller. One of the stories is incredibly vivid and needs a very lively presentation.
Along with the Irish-American Soldier, voice actor awarded this part will also be asked to perform lines for several other very minor characters (voice in a crowd).
Well, you see, the fact of the matter is, Lieutenant Cobb, I ain't much of a scholar; I can't argue the question with you; but what would my mother say, if I desarted my colors? Oh, the divil a give-in I'll ever give in, now, and that's the end of it. I tried to run away once, a few weeks after enlistin', but a man wouldn't be missed thin. It's quite different now, Lieutenant, and I'm going not to disgrace naither iv my countries.
'Bad luck to ye, ye thief o' the world,' says I, 'what are ye trying to shoot me for? Sure I never done nothing to yez;' and then I aimed straight between his eyes, and fired at him; but the murtherin' ball didn't touch a hair of his head that I mist. ' Be gorra,' sez I to meself, ‘now I'll take ye a prisoner, anyhow;' and I put meself across the river as hard as ever I could. I jumped up the bank, and lookin' mighty fierce at 'im, I said, ' Surrender, ye devil, or I'll blow yer brains out.' The fun of it was, I'd forgot, in me charge upon the spalpeen, to load me goon at all, at all, and the bloody thief must have knew it, for he made at me with his bayonet, like a two-legged locomotive.
As he was coming down, lapin' several fate at a time, says I to meself, ‘Pat, me boy, mind yer eye; now's yer time to keep wide awake, or you'll have a gimlet hole through yer valuable bowels, and Biddy Mullooney will be a widow.' Bad luck to the drillin', sure it's meself forgot to come to the charge. So I took me goon by the middle, just as ye would hold a good old-fashioned black-thorn shillaly, and balanced meself fur 'im.
