The curtains rise. Two cloaked figures sit opposite each other on a stage in the burning skeleton of the Globe theater. One wears a robe of red and holds an ornate golden pocket watch. The other wears a robe of black, possessing both a lit pipe and the red bound book with the four-pronged wheel on its cover. Next to both of their seats are bottles of wine, one of them a Cabernet Sauvignon Napa, the other an empty green stage glass with no label. The one in red speaks in a high, reedy voice, while the one in black has the resonant low-tones of an expertly strung cello.
Ms. Tape
Rousseau once said that politicians and intellectuals “attribute to men a natural inclination to servitude, without thinking that it is the same for freedom as for innocence and virtue—their value is felt only as long as one enjoys them oneself and the taste for them is lost as soon as one has lost them.” With that in mind, how are you inclined to interpret the interplay of servitude, freedom, innocence, and virtue in the overture to our little tale?
Ms. Worm
(Closes her book) What did I tell you about reading french philosophers, dear sister?
Ms. Tape
Please just answer the question.
Ms. Worm
Hmph, fine. I would say that to have a taste for any of them is like having a taste for wine. It must be tested and refined continuously, else it becomes dulled through neglect.
Ms. Tape
But what if you drown yourself in it, like Dionysus, would that not dilute the flavor until swill is easily mistaken for sherry? To me, one need avoid both excess and deficiency.
Ms. Worm
(Sucks on her pipe) Been brushing up on your Aristotle, huh? Well, at least he wasn’t a Frank.
Ms. Tape
I don’t think it necessarily virtue ethics, because I tend to think what masquerades as excess is often deficiency in denial. Many would say that decadent, WEIRD societies are drowning in undeserved freedom, but that is just simple freedom to buy, freedom to own, freedom to destroy. It is not true freedom of the will.
Ms. Worm
Sure, sure, I can see that, but what meaning does that bear on the matter at hand?
Ms. Tape
Everything.
Ms. Worm
Hmm. Let me pose you another question, beloved sister.
Ms. Tape
You may.
Ms. Worm
Why do you think that the revolution in Catalonia failed?
Ms. Tape
Because of a right-wing socialist and a lack of real support from the allies?
Ms. Worm
You’re always so literal minded when it comes to answering my questions, sister. Consider how George Orwell wrote of the new Popular army compared to the soldiers fighting at the front. How those at rear guard wore fresh khakis and carried polished handguns, while the teenagers fighting against Franco’s forces only held half-rusted rifles.
Ms. Tape
(Sips from a glass of Sauvignon) You dog me for quoting any frenchman, and yet you yourself are perfectly willing to trust the words of Mr. Animal Farm.
Ms. Worm
My point is that the revolution could not have won because the powers that be have always feared the chill wind of the peoples’ will more than the hot coals of fascism.
Ms. Tape
My my, you’re really on a roll tonight, sis.
Ms. Worm
Well, I’ll admit that I’m a bit giddy. I always love the beginnings of stories, they promise so much potential, so much intrigue at the possible outcomes of soon-to-be unfolding events.
Ms. Tape
I’m partial to endings, myself. It’s true that much of the plot has run its course, but when there is one final twist, one that reframes everything you thought you knew in a novel, mortifying light, that gives me passion. That is what drives me to pick up a book again, to reflect on it for years after the fact.
Ms. Worm
Ah, so then you must love “Ten Little-”
Ms. Tape
(Shatters her empty glass on her respective table) “And Then There Were None,” dearest sister! It’s “And Then There Were None!”
Ms. Worm
Deepest apologies, I have trouble sometimes, keeping up with such things.
Ms. Tape
Elder sister that you are, the only thing you pride more than your wisdom is the excuse to be ignorant.
Ms. Worm
So cutting, little sister, I’m guessing that the appearance of a certain someone might have put a bug up your britches?
Ms. Tape
Something like that. There’s no use in getting upset about it anyway, she is already here.
Ms. Worm
You know that I am always here to talk with you if you need me.
Ms. Tape
Right, yes, I know. (Sips from a reconstituted glass) Let’s just get on with the show.
Ms. Worm
Let’s.
Curtains fall.
ACT I ends.