The Mystery of Little Venice
Writer and Director - Martin Gorst
Thank you for your interest in the Rhyl Liberty Players' Autumn 2026 production, The Mystery of Little Venice.
The performance dates are Thursday 12th - Saturday 14th November.
On this page you will find all you need to prepare for the auditions, which will be held at Rhyl Little Theatre on the 9th July, and the ASK Centre on the 13th July, at 7:30 p.m.
You don't have to attend on both dates, but if you can it will be useful to make sure everyone gets a chance to read for all the rôles which interest them.
About the Play
The play explores the controversy surrounding the network of ornate Venetian canals, allegedly built and operated by Italian artisans below the Queen's Palace entertainment complex in Rhyl during the early years of the 20th Century. Did they really exist? If not, how has the myth been perpetuated over the years, and why is local opinion so divided?
Blending meticulously-researched historical fact, speculative fiction and unashamed flights of pure fantasy, the story follows a colourful and varied array of real and imagined characters through the events leading up to the opening of the contentious attraction and concluding with the dramatic destruction of the building by fire in 1907.
An epic saga of subterfuge, humour, tragedy, young romance, enigmatic foreigners...The Mystery of Little Venice will undoubtedly intrigue and fascinate audiences from the Rhyl area and beyond.
Creating a brand new play as a company is an exciting opportunity. The script is just the springboard, from which the cast will be encouraged to use their skills, instincts and imagination to bring the characters to life for the first time ever.
If you would like to read a full script of the play, please contact us here.
Character Breakdown
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Mary Bowen
Late 30s - early 40s. Intelligent but downtrodden housewife. The spark she once had has been ground down over the years by her boorish and abusive husband.
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Ted Bowen
Late 30s - early 40s. Manual worker with class envy and a chip on his shoulder. Quick-tempered and mistrustful with a tendency to drink too much. Resentful of the superior intellect of his wife and daughter.
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Cerys Bowen
Around 20. Complex and fiery. Bright, witty and compassionate, but wary of letting anyone get too close, she works hard to hide her more vulnerable side. Capable of deep affection, but also more like her father than she'd like to admit. As the play progresses she gains maturity and perspective.
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Percy Ashfield
31 in 1902. Respected businessman, entrepreneur, council official and general pillar of the community. Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, but has very quickly become a force to be reckoned with in the town. Shrewd and erudite, ambitious and optimistic - a man who gets things done. Somewhat pompous but good-hearted and devoted to his family.
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Emily Ashfield
Early 30s. Calm and efficient, with a sardonic edge. Local organiser of the nascent women's suffrage movement, she doesn't suffer fools, but has a forgiving nature and an innate understanding of human frailty, informing a pivotal moment in the narrative.
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Harry Lawrence
20s. Ambitious, visionary and resourceful young man, besotted with Cerys and able to see past her protective armour to her more adorable qualities.
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Gareth Lawrence
Early middle-age. Chemist and nominal rival to Percy, but temperamentally unsuited to the cut-and-thrust of commercial antagonism. His function is more as a mouthpiece for the businesses in the town in reaction to the developments unfolding. He may have had a mild dalliance with Bethan in the distant past.
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Ruth Lawrence
Early middle-age. Active member of the women's group, and more dynamic than her husband. Sympathetic of Mary's plight, but aware it's not her place to interfere.
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Letty Davies
Late teens. Cheerful, perky housemaid and nanny to Percy and Emily. Not averse to impudence, but her endearing nature avoids causing offence.
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Bethan Jones
Early middle-age. Hardworking landlady of the Dudley Arms and valued contributor to the women's group. Mildly flirtatious, but no pushover - a redoubtable businesswoman.
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Eleanor Broadleigh-Payne
Late middle-age. Minor aristocrat and benefactor of the town with a stately pile in the hills. Always keen to drop names and hint at dubious royal connections. Something of a caricature, but a challenge for the actor to find the more human dimensions of the character.
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Wilfred Broadleigh-Payne
Late middle-age. Imperious representative of the landed gentry with a twinkle in his eye and an appetite for adventure. On the face of it, another caricature of the crusty old buffer, but an opportunity to plumb hidden depths.
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Valmai Featherstonehaugh
Wealthy widow and former society darling of indeterminate age. Radical and adventurous, occasionally judgmental. She probably joined the women's group out of curiosity and to scandalise her social equals, but has grown quite dedicated to the cause.
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Fred Tomlinson
Middle-aged Secretary of the Queen’s Palace. Ponderous and ruminative in contrast to Percy's relentless dynamism, but deeply loyal and trustworthy.
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Arthur Rowlands
Clerk to the Council. Easily impressed by nobility and ostentation, but dubious of Percy's bourgeois pretentions.
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Joe Goodall
Town Surveyor. Unsophisticated, lugubrious, practical and literal-minded.
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Millicent Price
Late 20s - early 30s. Suffragist firebrand. Confident, knowledgeable, charismatic. Though she has only one scene she needs to own the stage and make her mark.
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Alfonso Brighella
30s - 40s. Flamboyant, educated Italian dilettante and entrepreneur. The audience should never be quite sure if he's a sincere, quixotic idealist or a brilliant con-man. He should, however, be convincingly Italian.
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Arthur Cheetham
Late middle age. Local film-maker and cinema owner. Embraces technology and seizes opportunity. Harry's mentor and inspiration.
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Jack Thomas
Late middle-age or older. Salt of the Earth. Jack has taken the council minutes for decades, though he's not as sharp as he once was. A plum comic cameo.
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Constable Huw Hughes
Callow young Police officer without much enthusiasm for the job.
Audition Process
Auditions will be relatively informal, as a shared experience in a friendly and mutually supportive environment.
You'll be asked to indicate any parts you're interested in reading, then selected excerpts from the play will be read by auditionees, as allocated on the night.
You may be asked to read a short section again with someone else, so that different combinations of actors can be assessed. You may also be asked to read other rôles. If you decide during the evening that you'd like to try for a part you hadn't originally chosen, you will of course be able to do so.
If you'd like to review the audition pieces in advance, they can be downloaded from the following links:
Other characters, townspeople, tourists, local modern historians etc. will be played by members of the company.
If you have any questions or would like to get involved in the production other than in an acting capacity, please get in touch via our Facebook page.
Further background information about the project can be found at the following links:
Little Venice Rhyl a Mystery or Myth Below Queens Market? (blazingminds.co.uk)
Secrets of the Welsh Seaside: Little Venice, the underground waterway of Rhyl (youtube.com)