Back in the olden days, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and primordial soup was bubbling away in a pool of goop, I ran an amateur group called "Purple Monkey". It was very silly, very fun, and just plain dumb. Then it became really time consuming... TOO time consuming, and suddenly it was a full time job. We had our own rehearsal studios, rent to pay, our shows started to appear in "real theatres" opposed to the damp corners of church basements. It was a hectic time, filled with twists, turns, surprises and shocks... and yet one thing always remained as a constant.

I never, EVER, had enough actors at the start of the play.

Sure, we'd get enough once word spread that we needed someone. A cast member would bring in a friend, or an old member of the group would return. Kidnapping and brain washing proved highly successful.

Last week I was talking to Aidan McCarthy, an actor I've worked with on several tours, and he suggested placing an ad in PCR (Production Casting Report) which I did, thinking it might get us one or two CV's...

It was sent out on Tuesday morning. By Tuesday afternoon my inbox was screaming in agony at the sheer bulk of emails that were arriving every hour. Wednesday morning brought the first batch of snail mail CV's, this morning brought even more. My inbox is STILL receiving applications as I type this.

It's a little overwhelming, exciting, daunting, and just plain scary. Some of the people applying have worked on The Basil Show. That's awesome. I love Basil Brush, even if he's not quite as gay as he used to be.

So... Tomorrow I have the task of looking at the characters in "Dracula" and "A Christmas Carol" and deciding who to invite up for an audition in York.

My only real regret is not having the time to audition every single one of the people that have taken the time to apply.

Can you tell I'm feeling pretty humbled by this?