GREAT EXPECTATIONS By Thomas Hischak (Excerpts may be used royalty free for auditions.) AUDITION #1-- for 2 m, 2 flex In this scene, Pip learns who his benefactor truly is. (AT RISE: ADULT PIP is alone on stage, reading a book by candlelight in his room in Barnard s Inn. FX: Rain and distant thunder is heard and occasional lightning is seen.) THREE: It had been raining for several days, and all of London seemed to be mud and water. FOUR: The winds blew out street lamps each evening, and only the uneven lightning lit a stranger through the city. THREE: Such a stranger was looking for Pip. FOUR: And, late one night, such a stranger found him. (SFX: Knocking.) PIP: Who is it? MAGWITCH: (O.S.) Mr. Pip? Top floor? PIP: Yes. Pray, what is your business? MAGWITCH: (O.S.) My business? Ah, yes...i will explain my business, by your leave. (PIP opens the door and lets in MAGWITCH who wears a heavy cloak that partially hides his face.) PIP: Yes? (MAGWITCH puts his arms out to PIP.) I...I m afraid I don t understand. MAGWITCH: It s disappointing to a man after having looked forward so distant and come so far. But you re not to blame for that. (Looks around the room.) There s no one nigh, is there? PIP: Why do you, a stranger coming into my rooms at this time of night, ask that question?
MAGWITCH: You re a game one! (Laughs.) I m glad you ve growed up a game one! A stranger, he says! (HE drops cloak and PIP sees who it is.) PIP: You...! The convict from the graveyard! MAGWITCH: That s my boy! Now he knows. You acted nobly, my boy. Noble Pip! And I have never forgot it. (Embraces PIP.) PIP: If you have come here to thank me, it was not necessary. Your gratitude is acknowledged and I thank you for coming. But it is rather late now MAGWITCH: Pip! My boy...! (Pause; stares at PIP weakly.) PIP: You are wet and look weary. Will you drink something before you go? MAGWITCH: I think...i thank you. A drink...afore I go (Quietly weeps.) PIP: I did not mean to speak harshly to you. (Pours him a drink.) Here. Please forgive me. (MAGWITCH drinks.) How are you living? MAGWITCH: I ve been a sheep farmer, stock breeder away in the New World. PIP: I hope you have done well. MAGWITCH: I ve done wonderful well. PIP: That is good to hear. I also have done quite well since you saw me on the marshes. MAGWITCH: Indeed? May I make so bold as to ask how you have done well? PIP: I came into some property. MAGWITCH: May a person ask whose property? PIP: I don t know that. MAGWITCH: And could it be that such a certain income might come from an unknown person, a person who was once helped by a young boy when no one else would help him? PIP: You? MAGWITCH: Yes, Pip, my boy! (Rises.) It was me that made a gentleman of you! It s me that did it! (Embraces PIP.)
PIP: But Miss Havisham is MAGWITCH: I swore to myself that day on the marshes that every guinea I earned should go to you. I worked hard and lived rough so that you should have it and become a gentleman. And look at you! I m your second father, Pip! And you re like my son! (Embraces him again.) AUDITION #2-- for 1m, 1w, 4 flex In this scene, Pip returns to Miss Havisham s house and unexpectedly finds Estella. ESTELLA: Pip? (Rises from chair.) Is that you, Pip? PIP: Estella! ESTELLA: I have greatly changed. I wonder that you know me. PIP: What are you doing here, Estella? ESTELLA: I live here, Pip. I have for some years. PIP: But...dressed like that? And in that chair? Just like... ESTELLA: Her misery is mine. It always has been. PIP: Estella, this is some morbid fancy of yours! You are not her! ESTELLA: Am I not? PIP: I thought you had married and ESTELLA: He never showed up at the wedding. He took the money I gave him and disappeared. PIP: I didn t know. I have been out of the country these past six years ESTELLA: Do not speak to me of the days of the week or the months of the year
PIP: Estella! (HE holds HER by her shoulders.) Look at me! I am older. I am different. We both have changed. My life has had many misfortunes and many joys. But one thing has not altered: I still love you as much as the time I first saw you in the house. ESTELLA: And I treated you cruelly. PIP: You knew no other way to treat me. I understand that now. ESTELLA: I found out that I was wrong, Pip. I once told you I had no heart. I said it often. But I was wrong. I realized it too late. I didn t know I had a heart until he tried to destroy it. PIP: Oh, Estella, will you let me take you away from this awful place? (HE takes HER hands and pulls her out of the room.) ESTELLA: Away? Where will I go? PIP: Out into the sunlight. ESTELLA: No, I cannot bear it! PIP: You will not inherit her misery. (Pulls HER further.) I will not allow it! ESTELLA: I belong in this house, Pip. It is my fate to stay here. I can never leave! (PIP has pulled HER into the courtyard and the SUNLIGHT suddenly hits her face. She squints, then stares fascinated at the outdoor world around her. The ENTIRE CAST slowly gathers on the stage around Pip and Estella.) FOUR: And Pip showed her the sun... ONE: And she smiled... TWO: And something deep inside Pip told him that perhaps she could love him now... THREE: And he was right. (SFX: MUSIC plays. LIGHTS BRIGHTEN, and all the cast is now visible.)
FOUR: The mists from the marshes rose and faded away as the sun broke through, ONE: And all the lies and deceits of the past disappeared with it. TWO: So that is how our story ends... THREE: In the sun. (MUSIC swells as the LIGHTS brighten and the entire cast is bathed in sunlight. Then BLACKOUT.) From: Great Expectations- By Thomas Hischak Published by: Eldridge Publishing Co. http://www.histage.com/playdetails.asp?pid=2562