It is fortune conscious of its own nothingness and waiting for misfortune to appear. (HENRIETTE: Oh my, how sad! What is it you are missing anyhow?) I miss the only thing that gives value to life. (HENRIETTE: So you love her no longer then?) Not in the way I understand love. Do you think she has read my play, or that she wants to see it? Oh, she is so good, so self-sacrificing and considerate, but to go out with me for a night's fun she would regard as sinful. Once I treated her to champagne, you know, and instead of feeling happy over it, she picked up the wine list to see what it cost. And when she read the price, she wept--wept because Marion was in need of new stockings. It is beautiful, of course: it is touching, if you please. But I can get no pleasure out of it. And I do want a little pleasure before life runs out. So far I have had nothing but privation, but now, now--life is beginning for me. (The clock strikes twelve) Now begins a new day, a new era!

Maurice Monologue from There Are Crimes and Crimes

Rehearse Maurice's monologue