ZAC: Well, what do you think?

LEWIS: Maybe it’s a bit late to include it.

ZAC: You’ve never had the time to listen to it.

LEWIS: The show opens in an hour.

ZAC: What about me? Originally I was going to play piano, now all I do is turn on the record player near the end.

LEWIS: Yes, you know the problems about no one being able to sing to the music. Can you put the music on at the right spot?

ZAC: Sure. When Henry starts his aria near the end. Got it. What if I put more zap into the overture—

LEWIS: But you’ll remember to put it on?

ZAC: Sure. I purposely didn’t take me medication today so I’d be right on top of everything. So we’ll go with the overture? It’ll put them in the right mood. We open with a piece of toe-tapping Wagner to get them in the right mood. Right? I mean, I know the audience, they can be dangerous.

LEWIS: [against his better judgement] All right.

ZAC: Now, what do you reckon we finish with the destruction of Valhalla? The boys have revealed themselves, the girls ask forgiveness, they sing about how happy they are and there’s the wedding… but instead of the insipid happy-go-lucky music of Mozart, there is the Wagner that foreshadows what is going to happen to the couples in the future: a life of torment and adultery.

LEWIS: I don’t think Mozart is saying that.

ZAC: I thought that was your concept?

LEWIS: I don’t have a concept, I’m a director.

ZAC: I need a piss. First night nerves play havoc with my bladder. Be back in a mo and I’ll play you the end of The Ring.

LEWIS: [to ZAC as he heads off] Zac, we don’t have the time.

CHERRY: [entering as Despina] How do I look?

LEWIS: Good.

CHERRY: I’m having kittens and butterflies all at once.

JULIE: [entering, wearing her costume] Lewis, you’ll have to speak to Roy.

LEWIS: What’s the matter?

JULIE: He’s leaving.

LEWIS: Leaving?

ROY enters wearing normal clothes and carrying a suitcase

ROY: I’m not leaving, I’m quitting.

LEWIS: Where are you going, Roy?

ROY: Back to my ward, then I’ll ask for a transfer to a closed ward.

LEWIS: But why?

ROY: It’s for the best.

RUTH enters wearing her costume.

LEWIS: But it was your dream to do Così.

ROY: Not anymore.

RUTH: He’s got stage fright.

ROY: Don’t be ridiculous, woman.

RUTH: I saw you in the dressing room, talking to yourself, saying, ‘Come on, Roy, it’ll be all right when you’re on stage’.

ROY: She’s got rabies. She’s been bitten by Zac. Listen, I’m the only one here, besides Jerry, to have trod the boards. I don’t get stage fright.

LEWIS: Why don’t you do Così, then?

ROY: Because I can’t remember my lines. Not one. Gone.

CHERRY: That’s stage fright.

ROY: It’s not, it’s a bad memory.

LEWIS: I know your lines, I’ll whisper them to you.