- The scene opens with Bel-Imperia giving Hieronimo a hard time for slacking in his revenge duties. She is dismayed that her letter was not enough to inspire him into action.
- Hieronimo says something like, "my bad, but I didn't know if I could trust the letter." And she's probably thinking, "good thing I wrote the letter in blood."
- The two characters smooth everything over and Bel-Imperia promises to do anything she can to get revenge.
- Lorenzo and Balthazar roll up.
- Remember earlier when Hieronimo staged a little play in celebration of Spain defeating Portugal in war? Well, Lorenzo and Balthazar have now come along asking him to stage a new play for the wedding.
- Hieronimo accepts the job, reminding everyone along the way that he was a poet in his youth.
- Conveniently, Hieronimo says he actually has a tragedy he wrote long ago that he is prepared to stage. His only request is that Lorenzo and Balthazar star in the production.
- After a bit of reluctance on Balthazar's part, the two conspirators decide they are up for taking on major parts in the production. Bel-Imperia also says she's down for the play.
- Hieronimo explains that the play is about a knight betrothed to marry an Italian dame whose beauty has stolen the hearts of many a man, including the Turkish Emperor, Suleilman.
- In the play, Suleilman comes to the wedding to scheme on how to steal the Italian dame from her knight. But when the lady shames his game he hires some thugs to kill her man (this is beginning to sound familiar).
- Suleilman's plan goes haywire when the Italian dame kills herself after the murder.
- Lorenzo and Balthazar ignore the uncanny resemblance the play bears to their lives, and agree to take on the roles. Everyone wants to be a star.
- We now have a cast for the play: Balthazar will play Suleilman, Bel-Imperia takes on the Italian dame, and Lorenzo is cast as the dame's fiancé. Does anyone else find it interesting/creepy that Lorenzo and Bel-Imperia will play lovers in the play?
- Oh yeah, one more thing: each character will speak a different language in the play, which sounds downright confusing. But maybe that's the point.
- Hieronimo announces that he will give the audience the script in a single language so they can read along with the action. This means the audience will know more than the actors—juicy stuff.