Scene 1 – A beautiful yet haunty black haired woman sits combing her hair. Beside her lies a beautifully ornate gold gilted mirror. As she combs her hair she leisurely picks up the mirror and contemplates her reflection. She opens her mouth to speak and as she does so, the image of a man appears behind her, throughout the scene she talks to the mirror and not to the man and he talks as if to the audience.
Woman: Mirror, mirror/on the wall…(she trails off)
Man: (harshly and slightly annoyed) Yes what is it?
Woman: (surprised) Well if you'd have let me finish…I'll go on…
(Man puts his hand to his mouth as if he is pretending to yawn and then contemplates his finger nails as the woman speaks)
Woman: …Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who is the fairest of them all?
Man: (depressed) Oh god! Is that all? It's all you ever want to know.
Woman: Well? (beat) Who is the fairest of them all?
Man: Well darling we've been through this before. Nobody uses words like 'fairest' anymore. If you'd have asked who's the hottest of them all, or the coolest of them all I could have given you an answer. But the fairest/You just have to make things difficult for me, don't you?
Woman: (irritated) Would you just say me and get it over with!
Man: (smoothly) Try saying the magic word.
Woman: (angrily) Would you PLEASE tell me I'm the fairest of them all!
Man: (thoughtfully) Well now you come to mention it….much as I like to hear you say please (beat) (smugly) you're not the fairest of them all, or the hottest, or the coolest!
Woman: (glaring now) WHAT?
Man: (upset) Well there's no need to shoot the messenger now is there?
Woman: (slowly drawn out) Tell. Me. Once. And. For. All. Who. Is. The. Fairest. Of. Them. All? Or I shall smash your very ugly good-for-nothing face to smithereens.
Man: (shaken up) The fairest of them all dear queen of the world is no less than your beloved step-daughter.
Woman: (taken aback) What? (calculatingly) Well thank you for that. (to herself) That's something we will have to change.
(She puts down the mirror. The man leaves the stage. She then storms offstage)
