Double-triple casting?

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Nobody likes to do a play for only a couple of scenes... Who out there has had actors double and triple up on non-musical, non-sketch comedy projects and what has your experience been?

Just wondering...

[Maryn]

I've only written one play that ever saw the light of day, but I've been a season ticket holder at the area's best theatre for years--enough to know that they double- and triple-cast small roles all the time. Paying Equity wages is surely a big expense, so if you can pay 6 actors instead of 15, you've saved a bundle, right?

That said, I don't know how or even if I'd note that in a play I was submitting. Assuming the dramaturge, producer, or director contacts the playwright to talk about his/her vision, that's when you could mention it.

Maryn, whose last visit to a circus suggests they double-cast, too, or else identical twins perform and scoop up after elephants

[Doug B]

As a director, I double cast all the time. As an actor my high has been five roles in "ANNIE". I'm currently directing Joe Landry's version of "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE" which has 25 roles spread over three actors.

FYI: The problem is finding actors who can handle the multiple roles. It's a lot harder than it seems because each character has to be VERY different or the audience will become confused. Imagine John Wayne trying to play a number of roles in a play - it would never work because no matter what he did he was always John Wayne. On the other hand consider Dustin Hoffman - every role he has done is very different from every other role. It takes a very talented actor to pull off multiple roles and the really talented actors get the larger roles where double casting doesn't happen.

[Lisamer]

I played Peter Quince and one of the fairies in Midsummer Night's Dream. The fast costume changes were a bitch, let alone the fact that I had a really hard time playing a guy. But since the actors share in the profits, all in all, it worked out financially.

[lexxi]

As a director, I have directed plays that are specifically written to use actors playing multiple roles for effect: see Cloud Nine by Caryl Churchill and Red Herring by Michael Hollinger.

I also once directed a production of King Lear with 11 actors playing multiple roles, in some cases two at the same time.

[steveg144]

Nobody likes to do a play for only a couple of scenes... Who out there has had actors double and triple up on non-musical, non-sketch comedy projects and what has your experience been?

Just wondering...

I've done a couple where I specified some doubling for some of the secondary characters. For one thing, there were so many of them, and small rep companies really can't pull together a cast of 10, 12, 15 people very easily. Second, each of my secondary characters was only on for one or at most two scenes, which sucks for the actor. And lastly, most of the secondaries were not on-stage at the same time, so doubling was an easy decision.

[Ian.Fraser]

I find that actors like to be tested (okay, they don't really - but one can sell it to them this way :)
So having doubling up is a good way to push an actor into having to do a little more work than usual - which is always a good thing.
Had one fairly heavily produced piece with actors on all fours for the duration, requiring kneepads and gloves - and another piece with actors hanging from scaffolds - so I like yanking actors out of their comfort zones.

But back on topic - I think as a writer, for doubling/tripling up, just make sure that there's sufficient time, dialog-wise, for the actor to get off stage, change, and return (as the new character).
Because, as you probably know, if something can go wrong, it probably will.. so give thought to how much of a costume change you're requiring of someone, and make sure they've got 'just' enough time to do it..
Another thought, given how much it sucks for actors to be sitting around backstage, with only one or two entrances - I think the more 'work' and on stage time you can hand an actor, especially secondary role actors, the more fun they'll be having..

[Cat Scratch]

It's very common. I can hardly think of a play I've been in with more than a handful of characters that DIDN'T have an actor playing more than one role. As a writer you have to think in terms of practicality (will the actor physically fit both roles? will there be enough time for costume changes? Are there any scenes where all 15 characters have to be onstage?) but it's rarely necessary to point out in the script that roles can be double-cast. Directors can figure that out on their own.