Ngaio Marsh - Light Thickens

“What’s that got to do with it?”

“Again! We begin at the beginning. Again! Up! Weakling!”

“I’m not accustomed,” said Dougal magnificently, “to being treated in this manner.”

“No? Forgive me, Sir Dougal. And, let me tell you, Sir Dougal, that I, Gaston Sears, am not accustomed to conducting myself like a mincing dancing master, Sir Dougal. It is only because this fight is to be performed before audiences of discrimination, with weapons that are the precise replicas of the original claidheamh-mor, that I have consented to teach you.”

“If you ask me, we’d get on a lot better if we faked the whole show. The whole bloody show. Oh, all right, all right,” Dougal amended, answering the really alarming expression that contorted Gaston’s face. “I give in. Let’s get on with it. Come on.”

“Come on,” echoed Morten. “ Thou bloodier villain than terms can give thee out !”

Whack. Bang. Down came his claymore, caught on Macbeth’s shield. “Te-tum. Te-tum-te — disengage,” shouted Gaston. “Macbeth sweeps across. Macduff leaps over the blade. Te-tum-tum. That is better. That is an improvement. You have achieved the rhythm. Now we shall take it a little faster.”

“Faster! My God, you’re killing us.”

“You handle your weapon like a peasant. Look. I shall show you. Here, give it to me.”

Dougal, using both hands, threw the claymore at him. With great dexterity, Gaston caught it by the hilt, twirled it, and held it before him, pointed at Dougal.

“Hah!” he shouted. “Hah and hah again.” He lunged, changed his grip, and swept the weapon up — and down.

Dougal leaped to one side. “Christ Almighty!” he cried. “What are you doing?”

Grimacing abominably, Gaston brought the heavy claymore up in a conventional salute.

“Handling my weapon, Sir Dougal. And you will do so before I have finished with you.”

Dougal whispered.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You’ve got the strength of the devil, Gaston.”

“No. It is a matter of balance and rhythm more than strength. Come, take the first exchange a tempo. Yes, a tempo. Come.”

He offered the claymore ceremoniously to Dougal, who took it and heaved it up into the salute.

“Good! We progress. One moment.”

He went to the phonograph and altered the timing. “Listen,” he said and switched it on. Out came the Anvil Chorus, remorselessly truthful as if rejoicing in its own restoration. Gaston switched it off. “That is our timing.” He turned to Simon Morten. “Ready, Mr. Morten?”

“Quite ready.”

“The cue, if you please.”

“ Thou bloodier villain than terms can give thee out. ”

And the fight was a fight. There was rhythm and there was timing. For a minute and a quarter all went well and at the end the two men, pouring sweat, leaning on their weapons, breathless, waited for his comment.

“Good. There were mistakes but they were comparatively small. Now, while we are warm and limbered up we shall do it once more, but without the music. Yes. Are you recovered? Good.”

“We are not recovered,” Dougal panted.

“This is the last effort for today. Come. I shall count the beats. Without music. From the cue.”

“ Thou bloodier villain than terms can give thee out. ”

“ Bang . Pause. Bang . Pause. And bangle — bangle — bang . Pause.”

They got through it but only just, and they were really cooked at the end.

“Good,” said Gaston. “Tomorrow. Same time. Thank you, gentlemen.”

He bowed and left.

Morten, his black curls damp and the tangled mat of hair on his chest gleaming, vigorously toweled himself. Sir Dougal, tawny, fair-skinned, drenched in sweat and breathing hard, reached for his own towel and feebly dabbed at his chest.

“We did it,” he said. “I’m flattened but we did it.”

Morten grunted and pulled on his shirt and sweater.

“You’d better get something warm on,” he said. “Way to catch cold.”

“Night after night after night. Have you thought of that?”

“Yes.”

“Why do I do it! Why do I submit myself! I ask myself, why?”

Morten grunted.

“I’ll speak to Perry about it. I’ll demand insurance.”

“For which bit of you?”

“For all of me. The thing’s ridiculous. A good fake and we’d have them breathless.”

“Instead of which we’re breathless ourselves,” said Morten and took himself off. It was the nearest approach to a conversation that they had enjoyed.

So ended the first week of rehearsals.

Peregrine had blocked the play up to the aftermath following the assassination of King Duncan. The only break in the performance would come here.

Rehearsals went well. The short opening scene with the witches scavenging on the gallows worked. Rangi, perched on the arm, was terribly busy with the head of the corpse. Blondie, on Wendy’s back, ravaged its feet. A flash of lightning. Pause. Thunder. They hop down, like birds of prey. Dialogue. Then their leap. The flash catches them. In the air. Blackout and down.

“Well,” said Peregrine. “The actions are spot-on. Thank you. It’s now up to the lights: an absolute cue. Catch them in a flash before they fall. You witches must remember to keep flat and then scurry off in the blackout. Okay?”

“Can we keep well apart?” asked Rangi. “Before we take off? Otherwise we may fall on each other.”

“Yes. Get in position when you answer the caterwauls. Wendy, you take the point farthest away when you hear them. Blondie, you stay where you are, and Rangi, you answer from under the gallows. Think of birds — ravens. That’s it. Splendid. Next scene.”

It was their first rehearsal in semicontinuity. It would be terribly rough but Peregrine liked his cast to get the feeling of the whole as early as possible. Here came the King. Superb bearing. Lovely entrance. Pause on steps. Thanes move on below him. Bloody Sergeant on ground-level, back to audience. The King — magnificent.

Up to his tricks again, thought Peregrine and stopped them.

“Sorry, old boy,” he said. “There’s an extra move from you here. Remember? Come down. The thanes wheel round behind you. Bloody Sergeant moves up and we’ll all focus on him for the speech. Okay?”

The King raised a hand and slightly shook his head. “So sorry. Of course.” He graciously complied. The Bloody Sergeant, facing front and determined to wring the last syllable from his minute part, embarked upon it with many pauses and gasps.

When it was over, Peregrine said: “Dear boy, you are determined not to faint or not to gasp. You can’t quite manage it but you do your best. You keep going. Your voice fades out but you master it. You even manage your little joke, As sparrows eagle or the hare the lion , and we cut to: But I am faint, my gashes cry for help . You make a final effort. You salute. Your hand falls to your side and we see the blood on it. You are helped off. Don’t do so much, dear boy. Be ! I’ll take you through it afterward. On.”

The King returned to his place of vantage. Ross made an excitable entrance with news of the defeat of the faithless Cawdor. The King established his execution and the bestowal of his title upon Macbeth. Peregrine had cut the scene down to its bones. He made a few notes and went straight on to the witches again.

Now came the moment for the first witch and the long speech about the sailor to Aleppo gone. Then the dance. Legs bent. Faces distorted. Eyes. Tongues. It works, thought Peregrine. The drums and pipes, offstage, with retreating soldiers. Very ominous. Enter Macbeth and Banquo. Witches in a cluster, floor-level. Motionless.