MACBETH / BETH Act 1 Scene 1: HURLY-BURLY

ACT 1

Scene 1

[Exterior of the Los Angeles Coliseum, on the lawn]

A dense orange layer sat upon the city like a tired old man.  As the sun began to set, a white fog from the sea, unable to move the heavy smoke and fumes, settled upon it like a duvet. In the wink of an eye, clouds taller than skyscrapers appeared upon the mountain tops surrounding Los Angeles and poured down into the soup like an invading army.  At times it was difficult to distinguish the thunder storm from the angry crowd stomping inside the L. A. Coliseum. You could not see them, but you could hear them and you could feel them.  They made the ground vibrate.

[off stage]

CROWD

(chanting, stomping)

Win-chell! Win-chell! Win-chell! 

BETH, a groupie in her late 20's combs through the garbage strewn area outside the Coliseum like a junkie. She grabs a man she believes to be a scalper.

BETH

I need a ticket, man. This is my last chance to get with Winchell!

MAN

I ain't no scalper. They gone.

A BOLT OF LIGHTNING splits the tree nearby.  The man runs away.  GRAYMALKIN steps out of the smouldering split tree.

GRAYMALKIN

(Points a bony finger to an illegally parked van.)

BETH

(She looks in the direction that GRAYMALKIN is pointing.)

What? They have tickets?

BETH turns to see why the man has not answered her.  GRAYMALKIN has simply vanished.  Beth runs to the van.  On the side of the van "FORTUNES TOLD" is written.  Almost like an automatic door, the van door slides open when BETH arrives.  A billow of smoke and a bad smell almost choke her, but she wants a ticket bad enough to withstand it.

BETH

You have tickets?

 FIRST WITCH

(Bending forward to get a good look at the ring BETH is wearing)

The price is that ring.

BETH

(Moves her hand to her chest and covers it with her other hand)

It's all I have of my mother. It was her mother's.

SECOND WITCH

Keep it and share their fate!

THIRD WITCH

Give it to us, before it's too late!

FIRST WITCH

You shall get the king,

SECOND WITCH

If you give us the ring.

BETH puts the ring in the SECOND WITCH'S outstretched hand.  She reaches for the concert ticket.

The FIRST AND THIRD WITCH grab BETH by the hair and saw off most of the hair on one side of her head and throw it into a kettle.

BETH

My hair!

WITCHES

Real is unreal and unreal is real,

Go now, you have done the deal!

(The van peels away, tires squealing, the sky rumbles with thunder. Sounds from the Coliseum thump like the heart of a hunted rabbit. BETH runs towards the hurley-burley).

~ To Be Continued ~