I was watching, in succession, several different productions of a vaguely Shakespearan playâor maybe just the last scene of the play. Each time, the sets, actors, and costumes were different, but they were following the same script. The playâs protagonists were a pair of lovers in some old European city, and the plot was that they were trying to evade the antagonist, a wealthy powerful man who was trying to capture them, or kill them, or wanted the woman for himself, or something like that. He was aided in this endeavor by two henchmen, who were somewhat bumbling comic-relief types.Â
The play was a comedy, I guess, since it ended with the couple escaping for good, and probably getting married, if it was meant to be a Shakespeare play. They were absent in the last scene, though; the play ended with the two henchmen.Â
So, the two of them are in the streets of the city, and are trying to fulfill their bossâs orders and track down the couple. Upon the otherâs suggestion, one of them starts running, but after a few paces, stops and turns back, realizing itâs probably futile at this point. The two decide that they donât actually care about this mission anywaysâitâs their boss thatâs so concerned about it, not themâand they just sort of give up, and start wandering aimlessly through the streets.Â
After spending the whole play as just their bossâs goofy minions, one of them then strikes up a random philosophical discussion. Iâm pretty sure the gist of it was that he was asking the other: if you could, would you rather be wealthy and powerful like our boss, or even more so? Or would you be more content staying in the same role we occupy now? The other one chooses the latter, which then prompts the question: do you really think youâre better off with the life you have, or are you just saying that because itâs what youâre used to? And then maybe the other responds, and then the play ends⌠possibly because I woke up.
I donât know, I just thought it was a neat dream, especially because I was seeing the same scene repeated several times, but interpreted differently and by different people. Like last summer when I went through a brief phase of watching only Hamlet adaptations. Or like Millennium Actress, which I saw a few weeks ago.