No. I do think about that. But she’s more the seductress in this than I. And for my part, it’s such fun bringing romance to someone who hasn’t had much of it before. I think she’s surprising herself. And—

HAROLD

And—?

VITA

Well, I suppose part of my attraction to her is that she’s a big silver fish. A prize.

Lauren interrupts from the third row. “Gladys. You’re reading that line as though you mean it, which Vita doesn’t. She’s thirty, beautiful, titled, a popular author of her time, more popular than Virginia. So let’s go over that line, and give it a reading that’s blithe and slightly insincere.”

Lauren knows exactly how she wants every line read. She wrote them and can hear them in her head. The cast is filled with terrific actors; the only weak link is Gladys, whenever called on to act queer. Which is kind of a big problem, in that she’s the lead. The next day, Cate gets up some nerve and asks Molly if she and Lauren have a minute, that she has a small idea.

“Of course. We encourage our people to come forth with better ideas.” The tone in which she says this indicates they never encourage this. That no idea could be better than theirs and that if it were, they wouldn’t want to know about it. But now Cate is out on a limb and there’s no way to scurry back down the tree.

Surprisingly she isn’t put off to another time. They all three sit down on the red velvet sofa.

“The quick scene in the basement, where we project that flirty note above them? ‘So I’ll see you tomorrow, in the basement, and I’ll be nice to you and you’ll be very nice to me, won’t you?’ What I was thinking was maybe the scene could be played without dialog. There’s only a couple of lines before they kiss, and having total silence in that small space might increase the tension. Then Virginia, who wants this more, just moves her hands inside Vita’s open coat, like you already have her doing, but neither of them says anything. They start to move in. Then, just as their lips are about to meet, the lights fade to black. The audience never sees the kiss. They’re left in a state of anticipation, which is something like arousal, isn’t it? The tiny pause just before something delicious.”

Molly looks at Lauren in a telepathic way, then says, “Interesting idea. We’ll try it out.”

Cate is not accustomed to elation. She almost doesn’t recognize it. At first she mistakes it for indigestion.