Session 1 - Opening Night

Report Date - Session played on Monday 8th May, 2006

Audio Recording - The Monday Night Players Present...Tatters of the King Session 1 - Opening Night (Note: This recording was made in 2006 and as such has some quality issues.)

Our story begins on a dark and chilly evening, with Doctor Frederick Bartlett - a well-respected psychologist and researcher for the Tavistock Clinic to attend the premiere of Carcosa, or The Queen and the Stranger. Invited by Michael Gillen, a former patient and close acquaintance, of the doctor, this production is to be held at the Scala Theatre on Charlotte Street, London.

This invitation is not simply a friendly gift, however, rather it is under this pretense that the Doctor is being asked to make an informal assessment of the mental state of the play's author, Talbot Estus, Gillen’s companion and housemate. While happy to assist his friend, Bartlett is reluctant to attend such a likely self-absorbed and dreary production alone, and offers his second ticket to his friend Captain George Withers, a career soldier, and veteran of the Great War.

Performed by The Group, a collective of amateur players who - for the most part - possess limited acting ability, the doctor and his guest had little expectation of the night. As luck would have it, however, while sitting in the theater's bar before the performance, the two encounter Andrew Saunders. Saunders, a museum curator with a special interest in mythology, is an acquaintance and also a former patient of Doctor Bartlett (the two becoming friendly after Saunders sort treatment as the result of a very strange experience on a train a year or so prior). It turns out that Saunders' sister (Hannah Keith) is starring in the play, and had provided him with tickets. As with Bartlett, Saunders was also accompanied by a friend - Nathaniel Browne - an author and budding occultist with whom he shared the aforementioned train journey. Nathaniel, for his part, is very enthusiastic about seeing this new play by the noted novelist, Talbot Estus.

Watching the Carcosa, or The Queen and the Stranger, the Investigators observe that the audience is reacting strangely to the performance on the stage and even they have wildly different memories of what plays out on stage. Gasps of horror, surprise and even laughter are expressed at points in the performance that seem wholly inappropriate.

During the intermission between the two acts the new companions talk:

• Nathaniel reveals that the play is affecting him deeply, especially the appearance of The Yellow Sign.
• Similarly, Andrew states that he is also being affected by the performance, albeit seemingly not quite to the same extent as his friend.
• Captain Withers, on the other hand, seems singularly unimpressed with the whole thing.
• Doctor Bartlett, however, has more interested in the audience's reaction to the play than the production itself, his clinical instincts telling him that something 'just not right' seems to be unfolding before his eyes, but is unable to tell what or why.

While they are discussing the play, the group overhears a couple talking heatedly about the performance, with the woman insisting she saw things which the husband disputes were there at all. Nathaniel is also puzzled that he saw two people get up and leave in the middle of the performance whereas the others saw no such thing. One thing is for certain, however, that many of the patrons do not return for the second act.

The investigators watch the second act during which the emotions of the crowd appear to become more intense, culminating in a near riot at the end of the play. Some people cry out and others scream. Nathaniel is left crying uncontrollably, while the man on his left punches his wife and grabs Nathaniel. Fortunately Captain Withers, mystified rather than affected by the performance and rendered furious by the assault on the lady, remains clear-headed enough to save Browne from his assailant. Someone sets off the fire alarm and there is a stampede toward the exits before the ushers restore order.

Partly to avoid the police, who have arrived in the wake of the riot, the four companions go to the after-play reception and meet with the cast, who are largely unaware of any untoward incident. Browne meets Talbot Estus and discusses the play, which has inspired him, and its meaning with great fervour.

• Saunders locates his sister, Hannah Keith and the two talk. Hannah reveals that she has been dreaming of Carcosa and seems to find the play most disturbing. In Andrew's attempt to undestand more what is plaguing his sister, Hannah lets slip that others, such as the young Jean Hewart have had similar thoughts about the production.
• Michael Gillen tells Doctor Bartlett that Talbot Estus seems to have a fear of the stars, as well as a mania for the play, which he is attempting to novelise.
• The reception breaks up soon after, with Estus having a heated exchange with the Scala Theatre's manager. It seems that after the night issues and disturbances the owners are pulling the plug on the production.

As the group departs the theatre, arrangements are made by the new acquaintances to meet for lunch that coming weekend.

After such an extraordinary and inauspicious evening, the characters attempt to return to their normal lives. However, the play and its connection to stranger, more singular things, seem to have seeped deep into our Investigator's consciousnesses.

• Nathaniel Browne dreams several times of playing in a discordant orchestra, with a picture of the Yellow Sign instead of music. Researching the play’s origins he discovers the works of Robert W Chambers and that multiple plays of the same name appear to have existed in the past. He starts to write stories featuring elements from the play.
• Andrew Saunders dreams several times of confronting an armed doppelganger of himself in a Carcosan Palace, and arranges to see his sister after the lunch with his friends.
• Captain George Withers thinks little of the play until he encounters a landscape of Carcosa during a regimental function at a gallery.
• Doctor Frederick Bartlett also thinks little of it, but does notice the Yellow Sign in a piece of London graffiti that says “The King will change London”. He also discusses Talbot Estus with Michael Gillen, but states there’s little he can do if Estus is unwilling to see him.

The four new friends meet for lunch at Overton’s Oyster House, with the strange play quickly becoming the focus of the group's discussions (much to George Withers' chagrin). Nathaniel Browne, given a copy of the play's script by Talbot Estus, has discovered that the play as performed does not match the text Estus wrote. Andrew Saunders agrees to mention this to his sister, Hannah.

Later that day, over tea, Saunders discovers that both his sister and her husband scripts are identical to that in Browne's possession, and they reiterate their claim to have 'without a doubt' performed the play as it had been written.

Meanwhile, Dr Bartlett receives an intriguing letter from an asylum superindendent in Herefordshire…