'Horror at Film Studio'

‘HORROR AT FILM STUDIO’

is what most headlines read

and in her Auckland hometown:

‘STARLET VERA CLARK IS DEAD’

Found along the Nile setting,

(a man-made river on Lot 3)

was the body of a woman,

where an actress used to be.

She was dressed as Cleopatra,

her kalasiri gold and white,

with a noted sanguine neckline,

from an apparent cobra bite.

The scene was cinematic,

but not beyond critique,

as the animal in question,

left the studio last week.

So her neck was re-inspected,

and presented two red bands,

which appeared to have been painted

by the starlet’s own two hands.

For each palm was red and blushing,

but no mineral was seen.

The rouge flushing was internal;

the starlet’s hands were clean.

Stranger still the observation

that no matter where you went,

beyond the molded water,

was a distinctly garlic scent.

And finally, the scenery,

which was faulted at its core.

a death in Alexandria

does not match the Nile’s shore.

But as expense would have it,

to save on budget and the crew,

“Alexandria: the setting,”

was installed within Lot 2.

So out of leads at one scene,

and desperate to find more,

a group was sent in earnest,

to the studio next door.

And within this makeshift city,

props stacked high as they could be,

a faint cry for help was lifted,

from a dying Antony.

It was Colin King in costume,

Cleopatra’s leading man,

lying prone upon his stomach,

without the strength, himself, to stand.

But as soon as he was lifted,

each was shaken to their core,

to discover he had stabbed himself,

like Antony before.

But King was quick to comment,

for he had little time to spare,

“Did they see a sword to fall on?

or just that bottle laying there?”

In the path where King was lying,

shards of bottle glistened clear,

with several sharpened edges,

to make stab-like wounds appear.

When the shards were brought together

they presented quite the key

in a label with the spelling:

A-R-S-E-N-I-C

King reported he had fallen,

after he and Vera drank,

all the bottles of prop liquor

- and this “prop poison” as prank.

Too late it was discovered

this was a poison not a Port,

and though she ran to get a drink,

the starlet’s life had been cut short.