We Open on Venus — Christopher Stasheff

TOIL AND TROUBLE

The Star Company launched its new venture in classic theatrical style: they got run out of town--on a rocket! But with the reactionary LORDS party left safely behind on Earth, the traveling troupe set its sights on taking Shakespeare to the stars...

Destination: New Venus.

The name hinted at exotic delights--but life on New Venus was thoroughly regimented by Amalgamated Petroleum, a Terran-based oil cartel. And though the planet was awash in petrochemicals from the Bay of Benzene to the Gulf of Oil, none of life's little pleasures--air, water--came cheap in this company town.

Enter the Star Company, with its incendiary mix of veteran troupers, innocent ingenues, and volatile prima donnas. When Amalgamated approved a production of Macbeth--to be staged in the high school gymnasium--the actors bravely took to the boards in the name of the Bard. Little did anybody imagine how much trouble those three witches would stir up!