Summary

Scene Eleven is titled “Backstage.” It begins with the Aborigine, alone. “Perhaps we have been wrong all this time and this is not a dream at all” (100).

The various convict actors arrive and start preparing for their performance. When Mary asks whether “the savages” (101) are coming to the performance, Ketch tells her they are coming to the camp because they are dying of smallpox. Sideway hopes they will not upset the audience. Conversation then reveals that Duckling has been ordered out of Brewer’s tent and back into the women’s camp, but that she is determined to do the play. Mary says she will speak with Clark about Duckling’s situation, and Liz offers to help Duckling with her lines.

Sideway suggests that the group rehearse the curtain call and tries to claim the center spot. Mary claims it for herself...