[RECAP: The end of term at St Winifred's is approaching, and Leonie and Father Gabriel have a lot to sort out...]
Finally the end of term came, and the performance of The Crucible.
The dress rehearsal was a complete disaster. This was a good thing, at least for those that were superstitious. A terrible rehearsal was supposed to herald a great first night.
Nerves made people trip over scenery, costumes got mixed up and props were lost. Half the cast managed to forget their lines, and the girls playing Tituba and Sarah Good got a fit of giggles in the prison scene and reduced the entire thing to chaos.
Gabriel and Sister Rosalind could only watch in escalating despair. Neither of them believed in theatre folklore and a "bad dress" suggested an even worse opening to them, not a miraculous turnaround.
Sister Rosalind was pragmatic. "If it goes only half as badly as this, it will look like a comedy, which I dare say many of the parents will prefer anyway."
Gabriel, as the director, was little comforted by this. It would be such a waste of all their hard work if the entire production descended into farce.
Mai and Figgy had been keeping a sharp eye on Suki. Mai, who had a devious mind herself, feared that Suki might try to play some kind of dirty trick. "Itching powder in your costume or glass in your slipper," she suggested to Leonie.
"I'm not wearing slippers."
"In your shoe then. Anyway, I don't trust her," Mai said. "The worse you look, the worse Mercy also looks, and the better Suki appears. I'll bet she's thinking of that."
They were all caught up in a whirl of superstition. Fortunately none of the costumes were blue or involved peacock feathers, two supposed bringers of bad luck. But mirrors, whistling and real money were all outlawed, and there was also a major dilemma over whether having a genuine Bible on stage would be unlucky.
"I know you're not supposed to have an actual holy book," someone insisted. "It needs to be a replica."
"That's absurd. How can a bible bring bad luck?"
"Because it's disrespectful to a holy text to use it as a prop."
In the end the two teachers were dragged into the argument
Nerves were on edge and jitters were high, so Gabriel once again tried to find a solution. "Go and fetch one of the old black hymnbooks from the vestry. It will look the same from a distance."
"Won't a hymn book be the same thing? It's sort of holy too," the girl managing Props asked.
"A hymn book will be just fine. Go and get it."
It was fetched. Props were supposed to have been sorted out long before the dress rehearsal. Everything should have been ready and perfect, but it felt like nothing was.
As they limped to the end of the final act, Gabriel hoped that at least they could bring down the curtain correctly. This was not to be.
Suki Laverne caused even more havoc by observing another theatrical superstition. She refused to say Elizabeth's last line, the final line of the play.
This was a problem because it was the cue for Lighting to shine artificial sunlight through the window and for the drums to "rattle like bones" for the Grand Finale, according to the stage directions. These things didn't happen, so the Reverend Hale wasn't sure when to start "weeping in frantic prayer" and the curtain was dropped down far too early.
"We'll do that again," Gabriel ordered them. "This time, please say the line."
"I can't do that. It could jinx the whole thing," Suki told him.
Internally rolling his eyes, Gabriel suggested an alternative. "Just say: 'This the final line' in the same tone of voice, and move to the window as you're supposed to."
Suki did this, and the last scene was repeated with slightly more success.
It was hardly ideal. In less than twenty-four hours they would have an audience and only one chance to get it right.
Gabriel was conflicted as to whether to instruct the girls to revise their lines, or tell them to relax. He was pretty sure that they all knew them, and that it was only nerves that had caused minds to go blank. Not all minds: Leonie, Mercy and Suki had all managed to be word perfect.
He spoke fleetingly to Leonie as she left the theatre. "That was great. I know you'll be fine tomorrow."
"Thank you. I hope so." She was moved by expression in Gabriel's eyes. He clearly had faith in her. She was determined to justify it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What would you do to sabotage Suki Laverne?!