<aside> 🎭 DRAMATIS PERSONAE

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• Narrator: Caspar
• Lao Tzu: Suzanne
• Chuang Tzu: Joe
• Arthur: Francis
• Merlin: Scott
• Lancelot: Marshall
• The Lady Of The Lake: Aimee
• The People: All Partners

<aside> 🏯 SCENE 1 - Ancient China. The sage emerges from the tiger’s nest, in the highest recesses of the mountains; cloud hidden, whereabouts unknown... Sacred, secret: a monastery made with lost arts, by dragons long ago, for gazing at the stars; and into the hearts and affairs of men, far below; and even, divining the future...

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🦅 LAO TZU SPEAKS:

Crisis is opportunity spelled backwards.

The tiger taught me all I know about making money: Wait for a recession, and then pounce.

🦋 CHUANG TZU SPEAKS:

“Chuang Tzu dreamt that he was a butterfly, fluttering here and there, carefree, unaware of a Chuang Tzu. Then he woke up, and there he was again: Chuang Tzu, beyond a doubt. But was he Chuang Tzu who had dreamt that he was a butterfly, or a butterfly now dreaming that he was Chuang Tzu?”

<aside> 🏰 SCENE 2 - Camelot. The war council commences in the great hall, the lords and ladies gather at The Round Table...

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🏇🏼 Arthur:

All Rise!

My dear friends, my brave brothers-and-sisters-in-arms, I extend a most hearty WELL COME to you. It brought me great joy to feast with you last night, and I trust you all slept well and have been well cared for.

But we have not come from far and wide only to feast and make merry. No, the kingdom is not yet united, the realm is divided, there are many lands left beyond the Pax Brittanica, many dragons to slay, many quests and mysteries lie before us! However, if there ever were heroes and heroines capable of this challenge, surely stand before me...

As some of you know, before I drew the sword from the stone, when I was just a boy, I received my education from Merlin himself, who turned me into all manner of creature, so that I may learn to see the world from more than one perspective, and come to understand our strange human species, from observing the politics of other species. I have been, at various times, an owl, a fish, a goose... even an ant.

By my special request, I have asked Merlin to perform some magic for us, that we may illuminate our war counsel with the perspectives of past and future. Merlin himself has moved backwards and forwards across time, and has gathered the wisdom of all peoples to advise us...

🧙🏼‍♂️ Merlin: