Hello. Hi. I’m going to take you on a rip-roaring journey, into the casting process for The Flea. So…sit back, let the Pearl and Dean music play (it’s a bop), your popcorn is warm, (there is a rogue piece that will break your tooth), and the guy in front is scrolling on his phone with his backlight lit, like the torch in The Blair Witch Project.

My story began in early 2023, when Jay Miller, Artistic Director of The Yard Theatre, slipped into my emails, like so many failed date stories. It was a proposal, and a script, written by James Fritz, with a title different from the one you know today.

My starting point is always the words, so I made a cup of PG, (don’t come at me with your Yorkshire Tea) sat down, and started reading. As a reader, I was invested quickly. As a Casting Director, I had a SULA (sweaty upper lip alert – it’s a Wild Child reference, watch the movie). There were SO many characters. When I read a script, it’s a very visual medium. I started to play the role of designer, wardrobe, stage manager etc. I see a 3-dimensional mirage of what I think the piece will look like. This mirage had the cast size of Dune. Do you remember each day when we were drip-fed a new cast member for Dune? This was like that.

So, I had a chat with Jay Miller, in a Westfield, in a small coffee shop, which had a Middle Eastern souk vibe. We talked about the show, the ambition, the design, and eventually the cast size. It went kinda like this…

Jay: it’ll be a five-hander.

Jatinder: this has a cast bigger than the One Thousand and One Nights: The Arabian Nights

Jay: it will be multi-roling.

DJ, play Adele Rolling in the Deep.

So, there it was. A multi-roling, five-hander, with significantly more than five characters. What were my parameters? None, I had none I. WAS. IN.

This is where I start creating lists, a Spotlight breakdown, there are conversations with other creatives in the team. One thing I will say at this juncture is having no parameters is significantly more complicated than having them. When the world is your Oyster, and you can pick anyone from the clambake, suddenly your responsibility and your choice is levelled up 1000%.

Jay and I had a really clear vision of what we wanted and needed. Multi-roling is very specific and very hard. It can easily become a tale of quick changes in the wings, and we needed something entirely more nuanced. It had to be as slick as Knives Out. Not the sequel.

Meeting actors is the fun part. Actors if you’re reading this, and we met you, please know that you all did fantastic, detailed work and there’s an alchemy to putting together a cast – we’re so grateful to have met you, and as Lady Gaga so eloquently said, maybe once. I think I heard it once, possibly twice;

Lady GG: There can be 100 people in a room and 99 of them don't believe in you but all it takes is one and that was him.

Most of this is incorrect bar the odds. The odds are correct. The truth. We believe in all 100 of you, but there is only one role.

Finding the cast for The Flea had so many elements. It’s a story that focuses on the working class, but also people who eat veal. It has a queer backstory. We were shooting multiple arrows at one target.

People often ask where you find actors for your lists and meetings. So, let’s take the five cast members.

One of them I met in the lobby of a theatre. They were watching a show which I had cast, supporting a friend. I was introduced to them by the actor, we had a brief conversation, cut, copy, paste.

Another, I saw in an intimate studio show at drama school, no costume, no set, no lighting, just words.

Two, I saw in other professional theatre productions, and I thought to myself, yes, you, I like you.

And the final cast member, I had seen on a tv show, and their agent contacted me directly.

What I’m saying is, there is no one way of finding a cast member. There are 1001 ways. I’m really excited by this play, this company, and this creative team.

It’s Autumn y’all, the season where we all re-watch The Twilight Saga, because Bella Swan is iconic, but I’ve got something else I think you’ll like in Hackney Wick.

If you’re still reading, congratulations! You’re confused by the blog title, aren’t you? Let’s uncover…

1. Fleas live by ingesting the blood of their hosts

2. Edward Cullen

3. Olivia Rodrigo