The opening line: "When did we three last meet?" recalls the "When shall we three meet again?" of Macbeth: Act 1, Scene 1.
And when, at the end, Cumming asks his doctors, "When shall we three meet again?" just as he did at the start, we see it is a tragedy that will be repeated tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.
As the pair head towards the security-coded door, the patient (prisoner?) calls after them the witch's opening line from Macbeth: "When shall we three meet again?" From now on, he acts out the play, sometimes watched, occasionally aided, by these others.
"When shall we three meet again?
"When shall we three meet again?" he asks in a tone of frightened urgency as his stoic caretakers depart.
Might I suggest he join Glenda and Clare Short to perform as the three witches of Macbeth: "When shall we three meet again?
The play's first line of dialogue — the witch's query "When shall we three meet again?" — is in this version also its last, as the limp, exhausted man onstage begins his elaborate ritual of self-torment anew.
As they leave, he cries out, "When shall we three meet again?" So begins this haunting reimagining of the tragedy (originated by the National Theatre of Scotland), in which Cumming, in full brogue, plays nearly every part.
Although Shakespeare, recently made a groom of the chamber, was now a member of James's court, Macbeth would open with a dramatisation of the king's darkest, most potent fantasies in the chanting of the three weird sisters: When shall we three meet again?
When shall we three meet again Meanwhile, apart from the ducks in the lake, ornithology seems to have taken a major flight of fancy, with several large and intricate birdhouse-like structures perched atop poles throughout the park, including a representation of the White House.
