Title: An Inexact Science
Fandom: Slings & Arrows
Length: 300
Characters: Darren Nichols, Geoffrey Tennant
Content notes: no warnings apply
Author note: a little S&A nonsense for ride_4ever
Summary: Geoffrey finds Darren Nichols predictable.




Geoffrey’s seen enough of Darren Nichols’s work to last him a lifetime. More than he ever wanted to see. More than enough that he can predict by now what any given Nichols production will entail.

If Darren’s directing, there will at some point be flames. There will be animals onstage. There will be butchery of the text. There will be crimes against aesthetics, beginning with but not limited to Darren’s godawful outfits. There will be a room full of actors united in their hatred for their director. In extreme cases, there will be covert plotting or outright mutiny. And if a production makes it to opening night without Darren resigning in a tantrum – surprisingly, Geoffrey is the only artistic director to date who’s had the guts to fire him – there will, against all the odds and contrary to all reason and justice, be box office success.

Romeo and Juliet is shaping up to be the exception that proves the rule. Geoffrey couldn’t give a rat’s ass about box office, but he cares about the play. And from what Patrick and Sarah tell him, he knows he has to do something about it.

Darren Nichols is predictable in other areas too, which is handy when you need to manipulate him. Geoffrey checks his reflection in the mirror, tugs a comb through his hair (fuck ow, that hurts), buttons up his coat. Makes sure he’s got his props: a bottle of breath mints and an old photograph.

It works like a charm, as Geoffrey knew it would.

It works a bit too well, as it turns out.



Geoffrey couldn’t know that using the Godspell snap would lead to Darren’s love affair with the musical genre and the abomination that is East Hastings. He’d saved Romeo and Juliet, true, but at what cost?