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Bleak Expectations by Mark EvansAudition Wednesday 2nd October 7.30pm
Run Dates 10th -17th May 2025
Directed by Verity Mann
The story Charles Dickens might have written after drinking too much gin... Follow half-orphan Pip Bin's remarkable, and madcap adventures with sisters Pippa and Poppy and best friend Harry Biscuit, as they attempt to escape the scheming clutches of Mr Gently Benevolent and defeat the irrepressible Hardthrasher siblings. Can they avert disaster at every turn? Will evil be vanquished by virtue? Can love triumph over hate?
Mark Evans' play is a hilarious, chaotic caper, featuring dastardly villains, preposterous names ,(Skinflint Parsimonious, Ripely Fecund), pulse-quickening romances, heart-rending death scenes, and, of course, a happy ending.
If the name sounds familiar – and not just a corruption of Great Expectations and Bleak House, you may be familiar with the award-winning BBC Radio 4 series, of the same name which was recently turned into this very play which premiered in 2022 and which ran in the West End last Summer.
It may spoof many Dickensian plots and characters, but there’s a lot of love for the source material, some hilarious doubling, trebling and even quadrupling of characters as we chase across Victorian London where vendors are hawking cholera amidst the rubbish strewn streets.
You don’t have to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of Dickens to see which plots and characters are being gently spoofed, but it helps – so that’s your holiday reading sorted!
So, if you fancy being a part of a Bleaking unforgettable night of laugh-out-loud comedy action, come to Bleak Expectations audition
Characters :
Narrator: Sir Philip Bin 50s+
Well spoken Victorian gentleman. Successful, boastful, a raconteur
Pip Bin : 20s
Young, enthusiastic, bright. Victorian enough to hate hugging.
Pippa Bin 20s
Proto feminist, feisty. Is gifted a huge anvil
Poppy Bin / Ripely Fecund 20s
Poppy: Innocent, sweet. Wants a lovely life married to a vicar. Dies of cold at end of Act One
Ripely: Passionate, sexually frustrated. Designated youngest daughter to look after father. In love with Pip.
Harry Biscuit/Skinflint Parsimonius 20s/30s
Harry: heir to a biscuit fortune. Kind, enthusiastic. Creates unrealistic schemes mainly featuring swans. Invents new words (harrumble!) Loves Pip and wants to hug him.
Skinflint: Father’s friend. Kind, loyal, eccentric, generous
Agnes Bin / Flora Dies Early 40s
Agnes: Pip’s Victorian mother. Intelligent but innocent. Goes mad then restored to sanity at the end of the play – although becomes a laudanum addict.
Flora Dies Early: giggly and innocent. Poisoned at the alter marrying Pip
Thomas Bin / Bakewell Havertwitch / Broadly Fecund 40s/50s
Thomas: Pip’s father. Adventurer, naive and trusting
Bakewell: Convict who becomes a baker and saves Pip
Broadly Fecund: Father of 23 daughters who saves Pip
Gently Benevolent/ disguises as: vicar/ Harlan J Trashcan 40s/50s
Total baddy. Cruel, sadistic, murderous, avaricious. Out to K*ll Pip and marry Pippa
The Hardthrashers x4 40s/50s
Whackwell : Sadistic headmaster of St. Bastards school for boys
Reverend Praygood : Wants revenge for death of brother
Miss Chastity: Flora Diesearly’s governess
Judge Solomon: Baddy turned goody at the end
Ensemble parts
St. Bastard School boys
Crutch Person (pg 57)
London Vendor
Rubbish dumpers
Rubbish collectors
Court Official
The audition will be in the form of an informal read through. You don't need to be a member of Saddleworth Players - but we'll happily sign you up! Membership is free).
Contact [email protected] for more information.
Feel free to shall this information with anyone who you think will be interested.
Playing dates 10th - 17rdMay 2025 with rehearsals starting in March on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays usually from 730pm, 7pm on Sunday
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Millgate Arts Centre, Stoneswood Road,Oldham, United Kingdom
Tickets
