Ben - Nick Lund

40 The play starts with him half way through a therapy session with Megan worried and nervous about his inadequacies with women. He is passionate about building schools in Africa but has frustrations with his job & his life. Ben has dropped out of law school & is burdened by his parents’ overly high expectations for him and their disappointment with his chosen job. Clever, articulate, attractive and personable, he has a brief dalliance with Fran.

Charlie - Paul Foster

50+ A therapist going through his own marital crisis with his younger wife Karen and increasingly in love with his client Fran. He accuses his colleague Megan of treating everyone as though they were her patients but he tends to blur the counselling boundaries. Charlie has anger issues and had a troubled relationship with his recently dead father who was an alcoholic. Outwardly successful, stable and reliable he can be moody, weary and preoccupied. His journey of mental & physical decline must be carefully observed throughout the play.

Terry - Graham Collier

50 ish He has a lifelong dedication to Twitching, off to catch sight of a rare bird the moment he hears that one has been spotted. An oddball, he also disappears when he is threatened in his personal life. He hides from reality and finds Therapy very difficult. Twitching provides an obsessive occupation to detract from his personal problems with his mother and the women in his life. Terry is quirky, funny, energetic and a curiously likeable man.

Karen - Melanie Brenchley

40/50 Charlie’s exasperated partner. Flighty, dynamic stylish and energetic she is good fun but is now worried about her deteriorating relationship with Charlie. She easily expresses her emotions, dresses impressively and is full of energy and very sociable. Karen is attracted by Megan’s sympathetic willingness to listen & understand.

Megan - Frankie Godliman

50+ Observes but rarely involves herself with social interaction. She is burdened by her repressed sexuality and taking care of her ageing and demanding mother. As a therapist she is direct and complex enough to spur others into honest self-contemplation. A subtle and sympathetic character Megan provides some of the play’s moments of repose. Outwardly cool and calm she is a skilled therapist but has a lonely and unsatisfactory private life. She lusts after Karen.

Fran - Nancy Lund

40/50 The precarious survivor of a traumatic childhood she has been in therapy with Charlie for 3 years. She is scratchy and insecure but can’t quite make the decisive break with Terry. She has 2 grown up children from a previous marriage who have flown the nest, and decided to abort Terry’s child. Fran is attractive but reliant on men to define her; she invests in nest building and home improvements. She has a brief dalliance with Ben. It is important that the audience are drawn into her developing story

Jill - Julia Butterfield

40ish An obsessive and fanatical twitcher who has just returned from bird spotting in Peru. Jill is lonely with a hint of instability and OCD. Very funny in her Peruvian costume and in the bird hide with Terry .She has a naïve not quite of this world quality about her. Could be played with a regional accent to add to the humour.

Jeff - Keith Bollands

Jeff Starkey is the boss, the enforcer in the twitching world. Self-appointed and a despot, according to Terry. This is a small part - a telephone call over just three pages - but adds a great deal of humour to the scene.

Director - Judith Dolley

Stage Manager and Set Assistant - Liz Thomas

Set Design and construction - John Godliman

Lighting - Nigel Greenaway

Sound - Ian Santry

Continuity and Set Assistant - Linda Russell

Lighting and Set Assistant - Simon Waller

Set Assistant - Emma Dudley

Flyer and Programme Design and Set Assistant - Anne Nunn

Set Assistant - Bill Payne

Set Assistant - Ian Thomas

Publicity - Frankie Godliman

Publicity - Nick Lund

Photography - Alan Bostock (www.photoeyes.biz)