It's late in the evening.
William Shakespeare is visiting his actor
friend Robert Harley.
Will! Just one moment... I have to rescue the cat.
It likes to sleep with the chickens and it
gets locked in the henhouse... come on kitty...
The cat sleeps with the chickens? That's unusual.
It's strange, but they seem quite happy together.
So, Will, I've read your new play The Tempest
and I'm very excited about all the magic,
the music and the monsters,
and my character, Trinculo, the lost traveller:
it's a wonderful part. His meeting with Caliban:
it's very interesting.
Ah, yes, Caliban. Neither man nor fish - a
weird sort of creature.
You put them both in a storm...
Yes: it's an old trick but it's a good way
to bring them together.
Trinculo needs shelter and the strange, well,
almost monstrous Caliban is wearing a gaberdine:
a large coat, big enough for both of them.
Trinculo gets under it, safe and warm from the storm.
But Trinculo isn't happy...
He's feeling very miserable. He actually says:
Alas, the storm is come again!
Alas, the storm is come again! My best way
is to creep under his gaberdine;
there is no other shelter hereabouts: misery
acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.
Ohh, I do like that line: Misery acquaints
a man with strange bedfellows.
When times are hard, people do things they don't normally do...
We'll leave them there for now.
Israel, Hamas strange bedfellows when it comes
to reining in ISIS in Gaza.
You think Miley Cyrus and Michael Bublé should
write a song together?
Well, they'd be strange bedfellows... but
it might just work.
Now Will, it's getting late and there's a
storm coming. You must stay with us tonight.
You can sleep in the henhouse - or you can
share a bed with the Harley family.
Hmmm... To bed or not to bed:
that is the question.
