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The Tangled Web
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Act Three is set in the Avenue of Palms. It is midnight. Amnestra and the chorus are discovered draped in picturesque attitudes, reclining among rocks and trees. As a clock chimes in the distance they begin a dreamy song.
Chorus with solo: "Sweet night, ablaze with gems of fire"
Flairon enters wearing ill-fitting armour and has a drawn sword in his hand. He says he is terrified to death.
Recit and Song: "The evil hour approaches"
He is joined by Benedict and then by Thoram, who is wearing even more ill-fitting armour. After a few insults they cross swords. Benedict interrupts them and reminds them that the situation has only arisen because they are forced to speak the truth. They leave, friends once more.
Just as they are going, Frances enters and see them arm-in-arm. She is disillusioned by Thoram and doesn't notice Mephistogar creeping up behind her, carrying a very battered-looking bunch of flowers. Forced to speak the truth, he reveals that he has always loved her. Frances, seeing her opportunity, decides that he will do as well as anyone, "I see we're bound to make a perfect pair".
Duet: "Look at me. I'm young and tender"
They leave and Benedict enters. He is cynical about "knightly honour" and "courtly breeding".
Song: "When Kings, to save that sinking wreck, Society"
Queen Aspidistra enters, still in a fury about the King's advances on Amnestra. She is followed by Nancy, Raynem and Hylas. Benedict recommends that she divorce him, but the Queen's love for the King is stronger than her anger.
Quintet: "Take a rogue, a brute unfeeling"
Nancy, Raynem and Hylas leave. The Queen and Benedict are just leaving as well when Matilda enters, bumping into the Queen in the process. Matilda reveals that she in on her way to an assignation with the King "of which you are entirely unaware". Matilda blackmails the Queen into silence, "I'm very glad that you're with Benedict. If my base intrigue ever comes to light, I can retaliate by telling everyone that you and he are really just as bad." The Queen sweeps out with Benedict.
Matilda finds it hard to behave as she should.
Song: "I may be wrong but I believe"
Just then, the King enters...
Duet and Dance: "Don't condemn my outward graces"
They leave to continue their assignation in the grove.
A woman enters wearing a loose flowing gown, her hair about her ears. She seems haggard and oppressed with grief. Her manner suggests that she is half-crazed. Lady Macbeth? Ophelia? Lucia di Lammermoor? No. It is Zeolide.
Recit and Aria: "The night returns! Oh heavens, are you blind"
Zeolide sits in tears. But not for long as her mother, Queen Aspidistra is still on the war-path. Taken aback by her daughter's tears, she tries to explain that Philamir only left Zeolide for Mirza because he couldn't cope with Zeolide's truthfulness. She suggests Zeolide talks to Mirza and leaves.
Conveniently, Mirza now enters. She reveals to Zeolide that she has loved Philamir for years. Zeolide, horrified at the news, pleads with Mirza to renounce him. Philamir enters unexpectedly. He has found some pages of Mirza's diary which have revealed her love for him. Mirza tells him she will leave the palace that night, "Zeolide, I swear to keep my vow".
Ensemble: "Nay tempt me not"
Hearing her renunciation, Zeolide is moved herself to renounce the Prince. Mirza and Philamir sing of their love. Philamir gives Mirza a silver ring as token of his love and asks for something in return. Mirza only has a kerchief to give him and removes it from her bag. As she does so, the missing crystal box falls out of her bag with a crash. It lands at Philamir's feet.
Duet: "Oh joy! Oh joy! Oh blissful morn!"
Mirza realises that her game is up. Her manner changes, and she is now venomous and threatening. The King enters with Matilda. He is followed by Flairon and Thoram, then Raynem and Hylas and all of the chorus, many of them carrying lighted torches.
Ensemble: "Oh wastrel weak!"
They capture Mirza but in the struggle Mirza breaks loose and escapes off-stage. From this point onwards the lights begin to come up, as the approach of a New Dawn.
The Queen with Benedict, Frances and Mephistogar enter. The King challenges Queen as Matilda had suggested before. He has the box so he thinks he can lie his way out of the situation. The Queen, unconvinced but puzzled has to accept his explanation.
The King gives the box to Philamir and tells him to lie his way out of his difficulties with Zeolide. But the Prince gives the box to Zeolide herself, "No longer armed against the Truth, I tell you of my sorrow and my love with all the warmth of a repentant heart." She kisses him.
The Queen indignantly interrupts this idyll by snatching the box and throwing it to the ground. It smashes violently. Now the that box is broken, so is the Palace's charm.
The King points out the lessons that have been learnt:
Dialogue: "Besides we've all learnt lessons"
And the opera ends. Philamir embraces Zeolide, the King embraces the Queen, Mephistogar embraces Frances, and Matilda...well, Matilda begins a calculated seduction of - Benedict!
Finale: "Still if you prefer discretion"
Act One | Act Two
© Chris Goddard, 27 November, 2004