A Play on Words (In Three Acts)
A Play on Words (In Three Acts)
A Play on Words (In Three Acts)
by Douglas Hardman
[Lights, camera, action!WaitThat’s not rightCalling upon Shakespeare’s voice to guide usThe Bard. William. Billy. Help us set the scene]Shall we start a flashback sequence?War stories and past mistakesLover’s quarrel and star-crossed snitchesBlood-soaked daggers whispering sweet nothingsEchoes in the raftersDrowned out by the applauseAs our heroes fall like a curtain call
[Critic’s will rave, “we love a cliché”]
Take centerstage to project unto the audienceMake them feel what we’ve been throughIsn’t that the name of the game?Two masks to conceal, you never know what is realAs fake as the so-called subtext between the two male leads“Whoever wrote this script is baiting the audience”Now something dramatic occurs, shifting the toneCasted aside, this foreshadowing is unbearableHow much longer will we stay in the past?We already know how this is going to endSo let’s move on to the big finale
[We see you on the edge of your seatAnxiously awaiting the conclusionRipped from the pages of Richard the III’s playbookWe guarantee a massacre of epic proportions]
You didn’t know about audience participationIdly sitting by, watching the events unfoldYou’re just as guilty as the sleeping kingWe can’t let you get away with itIn a surprise twist that absolutely no one saw comingWe turned the stage onto you so you can face your own truthsInstead of escaping into someone else’sCan you handle the bloodshed? Can you drink your victim’s poison?Expectations subverted likeThe end
Take a bow, for now it’s done, but we’ll came right back ‘roundGlobetrotting players performing a grand allusion again and againThe world is but a stage
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Featured in our April 2021 issue, "Word/Play"