Macbeth At The Theatre

Ladies and gentlemen,

The time has come.
The curtains are opening.
The show is about to start.

You watch and spectate.
You see the tacky scenery, the undone costumes, the strobing lighting, the messy stage,
the horrid storyline, the futile attempts at humour, the pathetic acting.
You observe it all.
You watch the dancers fall over their skirts,
And the drama queens losing their tiaras,
And the chorus children shrieking in pain,
And the jest losing his humour,
And the dresses catching fire,
And the house lights growing dim,
And the protagonist losing the plot.

Act one.
Act two.
Even Act three.

The maestro conducts a dull chromatic passage.
Dissonance in D minor.
With a constant low drone in the bass that never leaves.
And no structure to be heard anywhere.

Each member of the audience sits - in total silence - observing the performance.
The performance.
Performance.
Not a word is spoken while the production slowly
Steadily
Little by little,
Falls to pieces.

The last note sung is a shrill B flat.
It continues on for at least 2 minutes, but changes.
Bb, C, D, E, F, G, A
Suddenly nothing.
The soprano dumb.
But she always was dumb.
The aria is over.
The night at an end.

But the worst is...
You don't say anything.
You don't speculate or criticise or sneer or jeer or laugh or even cry.
You sit, motionless.
You barely react to this elaborately failed performance...

The one thing you could do;
The best thing you could do,
Would be to say,
"STOP"

And sure enough the show would stop.

Until then the performance continues;

While the production tears itself apart...

I hope you enjoy the show.