Constance settled into her seat, Justus right beside her. She hoped he would enjoy the theatre, although really it always depended on the play itself rather than the building. She also hoped Arabella's take on the Bible might prove most interesting, the young lady certainly was one of a kind.
The show started off with a loud explosion, smoke, and a fellow rather convincingly dressed up as the devil. Next came Adam. A handsome looking fellow with a good build. A clever line too.
Then there was first the voice then the actress herself, making her stage appearance. Oh yes! Miss Mudd was as bold as she suspected she might be. Naked as a jaybird but key parts of her hidden. Clever and letting the audience themselves imagine the reality of the young lady's body. She imagined much of the menfolk in the seats might be a bit disappointed in that which amused her.
She now glanced at Justus to see how he was enjoying this all or not. Hard to tell.
"So what do you think so far?" she smiled.
Caroline knew Brendan too well. Having her so close to him during the entire performance was going to be tempting. He might have to sit on his hands to keep them from wandering. It didn't help that the lights would be low, creating the illusion that they could get away with more than they might normally be able to in broad daylight.
But he certainly didn't want him and Caroline kicked out, because this was sure to be a spectacle. He grinned good-naturedly as they headed to find seats, taking her admonitions in stride. "What if she falls off the stage? Can I boo then?" He settled into a chair and watched as the lights dimmed.
Later Brendan would deny - even to Caroline sitting right next to him - that he had jumped when the devil appeared, but jump he did. He muttered an oath that got lost in the cries and murmurs of surprise from around the theater. This was shaping up to be pretty entertaining.
He joined in the laughter that followed Adam's one-liner, although he glanced sideways at Caroline to see if she was eyeing the actor's physique as much as some of the other women were. Pretty soon the men had something to gawk at too, as the bold-as-brass Arabella entered the stage. Brendan, having seen Arabella in her nightgown and in various states of deshabille, was not quite as stunned as the rest of the audience, but it was still shocking to see two naked people on stage.
Despite being the only person in the audience who actually knew what was going to happen in the play, Sally Cutts screamed loudly when the Devil appeared and grabbed hold Cade's arm for safety, only letting go of it to clap madly when her heroine Arabella came on stage. Then she grabbed Cade's arm back again, hanging onto it for grim death for most of the play, occasionally even sucking her thumb at particularly gripping moments, like when Miss Hardy got turned into a pillar of salt.
She whispered in Cade's ear:
"Don't worry, she ain't really... you know... in her 'birthday suit'... she's wearin' a 'flesh-coloured decency'" But then she narrowed her massive bush-baby eyes with a frown. "Don't remember it lookin' that realistic in the rehearsals, though... and it never had a belly button before!" Then she went red as she realised she'd said a rude word like 'belly button' in front of Cade.
She shook her head.
"Must've forgotten to put it on." she muttered. She'd forgotten to put her hat on once when she went to the General Store, so she knew it was a mistake that was easy to make.
"What if she falls off the stage? Can I boo then?" asked Brendan as they seated themselves.
Caroline ignored the dirty look she got from the woman she was now sitting next to, her own date to her left.
"No you may not. What if she gets hurt? I fell off the stage once...I was drunk. Learned a hard lesson. Never perform if I'm too drunk. Oh and it hurt, that fall," Caroline answered him softly into his ear.
As for the play itself, Caroline got right into it immediately. The boom, the cleverly costumed devil, the handsome Adam. Nice build too but then Brendan was more than adequate in that department. Oh and then of course Arabella's entrance on stage. There was even some clapping led by Sally Cutts and Caroline did not hesitate, she joined the applause with enthusiasm. Partially to annoy the hell out of that woman next to her but mostly to support Ara. Despite their rough patches Caroline was truly fond of the girl, like a little sister she never had.
"Oh this is great. If the real Bible were like this, I'd read the whole fuckin' thing," she commented to Brendan.
This was all new to Cade, he'd never attended anything like it. He was glad he came though. His date was nice, pretty enough too. But common to the core...just like him.
As for the play, well when you have no expectations, the whole thing was one big surprise after another. He enjoyed it, he especially enjoyed how much Sally got into it, her reactions. When the gal took the stage, in her birthday suit, he was stunned but it was a pleasant sort of stunned. He just wished the branches weren't in the way.
"Don't worry, she ain't really... you know... in her 'birthday suit'... she's wearin' a 'flesh-coloured decency. Don't remember it lookin' that realistic in the rehearsals, though... and it never had a belly button before! Must have forgotten to put it on."
Cade never heard of a decency but he wasn't blind, that actress was naked. Funny, Sally used the same words for it he had been thinking. He smiled, "I don't mind, don't mind it all. Seen me naked women before." Barely really. Just one, Annie who'd he had been with after meeting with her at the saloon. That had been one hell of an evening alright.
"So what do you think so far?" she smiled.
"Huh?" Eyes wide, Justus was staring at Arabella, never having seen the like in all his days, and never suspecting that he would! Was she really..? How could she not be?
Cheeks still burning, he tore his gaze from the outrageous scene and looked at Constance. "So, um...is this normal? Fer plays an' such? That they allow fer folks ta not have clothes?"
Maybe that was what art was about? Getting away with things that were taboo in the norm? After all, this was far more than anything he'd encountered in life, and it wasn't as if his life had been sheltered!
Storyteller / Shared NPC
An explosion? And then of course the smoke wafted upward to the rafters, right where the boys were. Suppressing a cough and for just a second worried Weedy was going to fall off.........he sighed in relief that neither happened. Clara never said this sort of thing happened in plays. Sure never happened in any of the school plays he was involved with. Well of course not, school was dumb and boring.
The devil was very nice looking, you know, in a devilish sort of way. But then it got really ....strange. Adam made his appearance. But he did not even have any clothes on? Ohhh, right he didn't in the Bible either. So Adam couldn't then. But wait! That meant Eve would not either! Exciting thought.
Sure enough there was Arabella below them and she was completely absolutely naked. Now actually this was not the first naked girl ...errr...woman he had ever cast his eyes on. He'd swam with Clara when they were younger, neither having a stitch of any clothing on. And he'd even had a short glimpse of Arabella when she first stayed with his family at the farm. After a building fell on her in Whitefish. Or so she claimed. Seemed like a tall tale to Wyatt. The girl had taken a bath then. This was different though.
But Ara's tits looked a bit bigger than back then...well maybe it was the angle? Maybe it was a part of getting old. Clara's were bigger now too. Not that any of them could match that one hooker woman who paraded around near the saloon and on the boardwalk. Hers were huge.
When he could take his eyes off this ogling, he glanced toward Weedy, "Didn't think they'd really be naked! If the minister finds out he is going to give them hell and brimstone." Now he knew what 'hell' was of course, but 'brimstone' not a clue. Apparently they had that in the Bible though.
"I didn't really think..." Weedy addressed his companion without taking his eyes off the scene below...well, the female below! Didn't need to see anything the man had, but Arabella! "Didn't think they'd look like that!" he whispered, examining the girl's assets. Of course, they didn't know that, from their vantage point, they had a view that the normal audience didn't have.
"Guess it makes sense," he observed, "kinda like ours, only...boobier! They look soft, kinda smooth and so pink." But then he made the mistake of wondering if all ladies tits were like that, and as much as she protested it, Addy was a lady, too, and...
He squeezed his eyes shut. "Eww!"
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
The scene carried on in much the same vein as before: the well known tale of Genesis with a few near the knuckle jokes and bits of innuendo thrown in. Eventually Old Nick turned up and, inevitably, tempted Eve to taste the Apple of Original Sin, upon which a rather awesome Angel of the Lord (Miss Hardy looking stunning in a white robe with wings) expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden with a terrible thunderclap.
A more thoughtful scene followed, with Miss Hardy's supreme acting skills to the fore, and this set the pattern for the evening, sunshine and shadows alternating with a change of pace in the middle when Arabella and Mr Astin, in the unlikely roles of Boaz and Ruth, sang a conventional mid-Victorian love duet composed by the talented Miss Grimes especially for the show: full of 'thines' and 'twines' and 'love that hath been kindled'...s. This bit of harmonising restored Miss Mudd's tarnished character somewhat in the eyes of the 'old biddy' element of the audience, some of whom wondered, wistfully, if the romantic looking pair might soon be married, off stage, so convincing was their fake lovemaking on the boards.
After her antics as Eve, Arabella seemed over-dressed for the rest of the show, although the lads in the rafters got to see her do a number of quick changes in the wings. Even her scanty 'Pharoah's Daughter' outfit, when she found Moses in the Bullrushes, looked tame in comparison. That scene did, though, give her a chance to name-drop her friends as she held the fake baby Moses upside down with a puzzled expression on her face and declared "Pity Mrs Lutz and Mrs Pike ain't here in bible times to tell me how to wrangle this varmint!"
Cheeks still burning, Justus tore his gaze from the outrageous scene and looked at Constance. "So, um...is this normal? Fer plays an' such? That they allow fer folks ta not have clothes?"
"Oh gosh, no. I have never seen anyone naked on a stage. It is certainly a bold choice that the theatre company decided to choose," actually Constance figured it had been Arabella's influence, even insistence to go this route. The young lady had more nerve than she certainly did. She just hoped bold Miss Mudd didn't get thrown in jail for it.
"So what is your opinion on it the, I'm curious. Do you approve or disapprove?" she now inquired.
Later there were other outfits but no more nudity. However there was a musical number and quite well done too. Constance leaned in to Justus and whispered, "Feel free to join in on the chorus."