York Theatre Royal Young Actors Company will hold auditions next month for its contribution to the Yorkshire Museum’s Celebrating Severus festival.

The Young Actors will devise site-specific pieces of work inspired by the objects, stories and life of Septimius Severus, York’s last Roman emperor, for performance around the museum from February 21 to 27 next year.

Taking a sideways look at the source material, the works will present a contemporary re-imagining of fragments of our ancient history, and audiences will have the freedom to roam the museum to find the pieces in different locations. The auditions will take place at the Theatre Royal’s rehearsal space at The Maltings in Walmgate on December 9 and 10 from 6.30pm to 8.30pm, under the guidance of artistic director Julian Ollive, the theatre’s education and young actors associate.

“Auditions will be a group workshop so there’s no need to prepare anything in advance,” he says. “We’re looking for committed and passionate young people, aged 18 to 25, who are available to rehearse Wednesday and Thursday evenings from January 4 and on Sunday afternoons.

“This is an exciting opportunity to create and perform new pieces of theatre as part of an ensemble with an emerging company in a non-theatrical setting.

For more information and to book an audition, send an email to julian@yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or call Julian Ollive on 01904 658162.

The Young Actors Company was founded in 2008 with the objective of providing performance opportunities for young adults, acting as a bridge for some into the professional industry. “The artistic vision of the company is aligned to reflect the artistic output of the building but with a specific focus on new, contemporary and site-specific work,” says Julian.

The company made its debut that year with three site-specific pieces for the York Youth Mysteries. Since then, the Young Actors has produced An Exact Science?, a new piece that explored questions and ethics around genetics, and Peter Shaffer’s ever controversial Equus, as part of the TakeOver09 festival last year.

The Presnyakov Brothers’ Terrorism was staged in Theatre Royal Studio in April this year, and the Young Actors collaborated with Theatre Royal company-in-residence Belt Up Theatre for the first time in October on the interactive piece Elsewhere at York Explore for the TakeOver10 festival.