Crossover with Punchdrunk / ENO's "The Duchess of Malfi"

In the dark, Hecate nudged MacDuff. MacDuff ignored her. She nudged him again.

Finally, MacDuff turned and whispered "What?"

"It's the mask," Hecate answered. "The mask is making my face sweat. Do you think I can take it off?"

MacDuff whispered, "You can't take the mask off and you can't talk. Now leave me alone."

Hecate harumphed. "Fuck this. I've been wandering around this office building for an hour and a half. Where's the Duchess? I just keep running into priests. That one priest was flogging himself on the cross and then he pulled me into a locked room. It was crazy! It was like he did a scene just for me! I was an audience of one! I had no idea what the hell was going on, but it was still pretty awesome. I wonder how many people that happens to. Am I the only person who came here tonight who that happened to? I'm pretty lucky. Can you believe it, MacDuff?"

MacDuff covered his ears. "Lalalalala. I'm not listening to you. You're ruining this for me."

Hecate poked MacDuff.

"MacDuff! Why did that one girl just hand the other girl an apricot? Are they courtesans? Witches? What?"

MacDuff exhaled. "Did you even read the play? They use apricots to discover that the Duchess is pregnant in the play."

Hecate wrinkled her nose under her mask. "Why should I read some stupid play? I came here to see the play. Or opera. Whatever it is. Why are there werewolves?"

"I'm going upstairs," said MacDuff. "Don't follow me. It works best if you discover your own play. You're ruining this for me. It's supposed to be immersive. How can I be immersed if you keep asking me stupid questions?"

MacDuff went upstairs, through the forest of wire trees, into the bedchamber of the Duchess. Hecate followed. The Duchess was writhing around on her bed and her brother Ferdinand was singing counterpoint.

"Why does that one guy sound like a chick? What are they singing about?", asked Hecate.

"He's a counter-tenor. It's an opera thing," whispered MacDuff. A steward shushed him. MacDuff ignored the steward and continued. "You really should have at least read a synopsis before coming here."

"Do you think any of these opera people know where my ring is? Why are there computer monitors? Isn't it supposed to be like 400 A.D. or something? They didn't have computer monitors in 400 A.D. I'm sure of it. Why aren't they crossing over with bad sitcoms from the 1980s? Our show crosses over with bad sitcoms from the 1980s all the time. Wouldn't it be funny if, like, the Cardinal's mistress Julia was obsessed with Haagen Daasz and the Cardinal sang to her about going to hell and she responded, in an operatic voice, 'HAAAAAAAAAGEEEEEEEEN DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASZ'. And then Tootie from 'The Facts of Life' could roller-skate by. It would be like first season 'Facts of Life' Tootie, with Molly Ringwald and all that. When Tootie roller-skated. Remember when Tootie roller-skated? She stopped doing that after the first season. Haagen-Daasz and Tootie. That would be funny."

"I think it would be funny," said Steampunk Dinosaur.

"It would not be funny," said MacDuff. "Look at all the effort these people have put into this show - it must have taken weeks to build, and the attention to detail is staggering. It's not a forum for your stupid pop culture references. Show some fucking respect."

"Fine," said Hecate. "Fine. Fine. Fine. Oh look, that dude who sounds like a chick is naked now."

Tootie roller-skated by. Hecate pointed.

"That's what I'm talking about!", Hecate laughed.