The Empire of Glass - Andy Lane [104]
The actor cast a worried glance towards the back of the hall, then exited rapidly through the curtain. Vicki assumed that he would be discussing the situation with the other actors. From behind, she could hear people in the audience whispering to each other. The Doctor turned magisterially, hooked his thumbs beneath his lapels and gazed down his nose at them. "I have two nights watched with you," he said loudly, his voice echoing around the hall, "but can perceive no truth in your report. When was it she last walked, hmm?"
There was silence. Vicki risked a glance at the audience, and saw that they were rapt with attention, all eyes fixed on the Doctor.
"I said I have two nights watched with you, but can perceive no truth in your report. When was it that Lady Macbeth last walked in her sleep?"
There was some commotion behind the curtain, but nobody was coming out on stage. Impulsively, Vicki scrambled up on stage to join the Doctor. He smiled at her in approval, nodded towards the King and made walking movements with the fingers of his left hand out of sight of the audience.
"When the... the King... er... left," she said haltingly, watching as the Doctor made a rising gesture with his hand, "I saw her...
rise?..." He nodded, and made an unlocking motion. "... Unlock her... her closet..." As she became more practised at interpreting what the Doctor was trying to convey, her voice gained confidence and she started playing to the audience. "She got some... some paper and wrote on it, then she read it, and... and then she got back into the bed, and all the time she was still asleep!"
The Doctor smiled at her, and Vicki felt a little glow of triumph ignite deep inside. She certainly hadn't used Shakespeare's words, but the Doctor seemed to think that she had got his sense across.
"A great perturbation in nature," the Doctor proclaimed, "to receive at once the benefit of sleep and do the effects of watching. In this slumbery agitation, besides her walking and her other actual performances, what at any time have you heard her say, hmm?"
Vicki looked for a cue. The Doctor turned his head away from the audience and mimed holding his lips closed. "Why, nothing that I can report," Vicki said quickly.
"You may to me," the Doctor snapped, winking at her in reassurance, "and 'tis most meet you should."
"No," Vicki said firmly, stamping her foot, "I cannot."
Hurried footsteps behind her made Vicki whirl around. William Shakespeare had arrived on stage, still wearing Lady Macbeth's robes and wig but now holding a lit candle, apparently thrust through the curtain by his fellow actors. He glared at the Doctor.
"Look, here he - er, she comes!" Vicki cried in surprise.
"How came she by that light?" the Doctor responded quickly as Shakespeare glanced out at the audience.
"Search me," Vicki muttered when she received no cue from the Doctor.
The Doctor stepped nearer to Shakespeare, who shied away like a frightened horse. "You see, her eyes are open," he said, reaching into his pocket for something.
"Yes," Vicki said, and then when the Doctor mimed waggling a finger at his forehead, added, "but there's nobody home."
Vicki heard someone behind the curtain urgently whispering to Shakespeare. With barely concealed ill-grace, the actor began to rub his hands together as if he were washing them.
"What is it she does now?" Taking Irving Braxiatel's amnesia pill from his pocket, the Doctor took another step towards Shakespeare. "Look how she rubs her hands." Catching Shakespeare's eye, he whispered, "Mr Shakespeare, it is very important that you swallow this pill."
"Yet here's a spot," Shakespeare cried, glancing down at his hand and reacting as if he'd seen a spider. Casting a sideways glance at the Doctor, he hissed, "Throw your physic to the dogs, Doctor, I'll have none of it! I have filled my mind with wonders - wonders I shall share with my monarch ere the end of this play."
"Hark, she speaks," the Doctor said, turning to the audience and raising his hands high. "I will set