Dougal Macdougal arrived. He never ‘came in’. There was always the element of an event. He could be heard loudly greeting the more important members of the company who had now assembled and not forgetting to say ‘’Morning. ‘Morning,’ to the bit parts. He arrived on stage, hailed Peregrine as if they hadn’t encountered each other for at least a month, saw the witch-girls – ‘Good morning, dear. Good morning, dear – ‘ and fetched up face to face with Rangi. ‘Oh. Good morning – er – Rainy,’ he said loftily.

‘Settle down, everyone,’ said Peregrine. ‘We are taking the witches’ scenes. I’ve got the lights manager to come down and the effects man: I’d like them to sit beside me, take notes and go away after this rehearsal to map out their plots. The message I plan to convey depends very much upon dead cues for effects and I hope that between us we’ll cook up something that’ll raise the pimples on the backs of the audiences’ necks. Right.’

He waited while the witches took up their positions and the others sat in the front-of-house.

‘No overture,’ he said, ‘in the usual sense. The house darkens and there’s a muffled drumbeat. Thud, thud, thud. Like a heart. Curtain up, flash of lightning. We get a fleeting look at the witches. Dry ice.’

Rangi on the arm of the gibbet reaching down at the head. Wendy doubled up, and Blondie on Wendy’s back clawing the feet. Busy. Hold for five seconds. Blackout. Thunder. Fade up to half-light concentrated on witches who are now all on the ground. Dialogue.

‘When shall we three meet again?’

Blondie’s voice was a high treble, Wendy’s gritty and broken, Rangi’s full and quivering.

‘There to meet with – ’ A pause. Silence. Then they all whisper: ‘Macbeth.’

‘Flash of lightning,’ said Peregrine. ‘And two caterwauls. Dry ice – lots of it.’

‘ – hover through the fog and filthy air.’

‘Blackout! Catch them in mid-air still going up. Split-second cue. Hold blackout for scenic change. Witches! Ask them to come on, will you, someone.’

‘We heard you,’ said a voice, Rangi’s. ‘We’re coming.’ He and the two girls came on from behind the rostrum.

‘There’ll have to be means for a quick exit from behind in the blackout. OK? Charlie there?’

‘OK,’ said the ASM coming on stage.

‘Got it?’

‘Got it.’

‘Good. Any questions? Rangi, are the mattresses all right?’

‘I was all right. What about you two?’

‘All right that time,’ said Wendy. ‘We might sprain an ankle.’

‘Fall soft, lie flat and crawl off,’ said Peregrine.

‘Yes.’

‘Wait a bit.’ He used his makeshift steps to the stage and ran up on to the rostrum. ‘Like this,’ he said, and jumped high. He fell out of sight with a soft thud.

‘We’ll have to deal with that,’ said the effects man. ‘How about the muffled drum again?’