Now Hag-Seed’s black and Hag-Seed’s brown,

Hag-Seed’s red, don’t care if you frown,

Hag-Seed’s yellow and Hag-Seed’s trash white,

He goes by a lotta names, he’s roamin’ in the night,

You treated him bad, now he’s a sackful of fright,

Hag-Seed!

Ban, ban, Ca-Caliban,

Don’t need no master, I am not your man!

Move it, man! Let it go, let it flow –

Don’t need no, need no, need no! No no no!

‘That’s powerful,’ says Felix. ‘Very powerful.’

‘More than powerful!’ says Anne-Marie. ‘It’s got – it could be really – But what happens after he escapes from the cage?’

‘We figure he might go after everyone who used to treat him in such a bad way,’ says Leggs. ‘Do a whole revenge thing, sort of like Rambo. Pick them off one by one, beginning with Stephano and Trinculo.’

‘What about Prospero?’ says Felix.

‘And Miranda?’ says Anne-Marie.

‘Maybe they’re not in the musical,’ says Leggs. ‘Or maybe they are. Maybe Caliban forgives them. Maybe he doesn’t. Maybe stalks them, jumps them, goes to work with his claws. We’re still working on it.’

Felix is intrigued: Caliban has escaped the play. He’s escaped from Prospero, like a shadow detaching itself from its body and skulking off on its own. Now there’s no one to restrain him. Will Prospero be spared, or will retribution climb in through his window one dark night and cut his weasand? Felix wonders. Gingerly, he feels his neck.

‘Think you’d maybe direct it, Mr. Duke?’ says Leggs. ‘When we get it done? You’d be, like, our first choice.’ He smiles shyly.

‘If I’m still alive,’ says Felix. He’s absurdly pleased by the offer, though of course this will never happen. Or will it? ‘It’s possible. You never know.’

Acknowledgements

With thanks to the Guardian, where the essay ‘We Are Double-Plus Unfree’ was first published in 2015.

Still searching for Freedom?

The Vintage Minis bring you some of the world’s greatest writers on the experiences that make us human. These stylish, entertaining little books explore the whole spectrum of life – from birth to death, and everything in between. Which means there’s something here for everyone, whatever your story.

vintageminis.co.uk

@vintagebooks

penguin.co.uk/vintage