And you know, if you put the lying part

Aside, it’s fair to say we’ll give our hearts

To that person who brings us attention,

Takes care of business and, yes, who mentions

The good things about us. But that’s just love!

Now, some went proper deep. Some said:

We are surprised to find the women with the deepest thoughts are people we’ve hardly noticed up to now: KELLY, Alvita’s niece; PUBLICAN POLLY; and ASMA, the young rebel wife. They all now stand to speak, and with an intensity that changes the atmosphere in the pub. They speak in their natural accents – Black-British Kilburn for KELLY, Pakistan-inflected for ASMA – but the words themselves seem to come from a transnational sacred text of rights and duties. These women are bearing witness to a truth.

KELLY

Above

All things, we want freedom. Freedom to know

Our own desires. We want to follow

Them where they lead.

ASMA

We want to be free from

The bitter critique of men, banging on

And on about our apparent failings.

PUBLICAN POLLY

We want to hear no more of men saying

We have no judgement or reason. We are

Also wise.

ALVITA breaks the spell of solemnity.

ALVITA

Yes, wise enough to know where our

Sore spots are. Where the truth hurts. If you ask

To touch us there, there’s a kick up the arse

For telling us the bit we don’t want to

Hear or take on board. Come try it and you’ll

See. We nuh easy! Not women nor girls.

Still, it’s nice to think we’re perfect angels …

Now, some said:

We see Colin’s fiancée SOPHIE, now dressed like an eighteenth-century British woman on the island, fanning herself from the heat.

SOPHIE

What we so appreciate

Is being considered, as women, great

And loyal friends. Who can keep a secret,

Choose a purpose, and be steadfast to it.

And who never betray a confidence.

ALVITA

Maybe you think that all makes perfect sense,

But, we have a saying round here: Finger

Neber say: ‘Look here,’ ’im say: ‘Look yonder.’

Meaning: people don’t like to point out their

Own flaws? But I know women tell and share

Secrets. If they say they don’t they’re lying.

’S’like that tale I read in that book of Ryan’s

About King Midas – you wanna hear it?

The PUB CHORUS look at each other and then with slight weariness grab their curtain-togas again for this brief interlude. Throughout the next section, RYAN plays King Midas. We may get the sense, as the story progresses, that ALVITA is talking less about Midas’s dirty secret as much as Ryan’s marital failings, principally his domestic abuse, which is a secret, of course, that Alvita has refused to keep … And as they tell the apparently frivolous story of Midas, we sense a more serious subtext beneath.

ALVITA