Editing Come and Go (section)

==Synopsis==
{| class="wikitable" align="left" 
|+'''Successive positions'''<ref>Beckett, S., ''The Complete Dramatic Works'' (Faber & Faber, 2006) p 356</ref>
|-
| '''1'''
| FLO
| VI
| RU
|-
| '''2'''
| FLO
| 
| RU
|-
|
| 
| FLO
| RU
|-
|'''3'''
| VI
| FLO
| RU
|-
|'''4'''
| VI
| 
| RU
|-
|
| VI
| RU
| 
|-
|'''5'''
| VI
| RU
| FLO
|-
|'''6'''
| VI
| 
| FLO
|-
|
| 
| VI
| FLO
|-
|'''7'''
| RU
| VI
| FLO
|}
The play starts with three similar figures of "indeterminable"<ref>Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 193</ref> age, Flo, Vi, and Ru, sitting quietly on a narrow bench-like seat surrounded by darkness. They are childhood friends who once attended "Miss Wade's"<ref name="Beckett, S. 1984 p 194">Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 194</ref> together and sitting side by side in this manner is something they used to do in the playground back then. The three characters – unusually for Beckett – wear colourful full-length coats, albeit now dulled over time. They might give the impression of three faded flowers. "Drab nondescript hats … shade [their] faces."<ref name="Beckett, S. 1984 p 196">Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 196</ref>

Vi's opening line recalls the [[Three Witches]] of [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Macbeth]]'': "When did we three last meet?"<ref name="Beckett, S. 1984 p 196"/> ("When shall we three meet again?" - ''Macbeth'': Act 1, Scene 1). "Their names, especially Ru's, recall the names of the flowers which [[Ophelia (character)|Ophelia]] distributes to [[King Claudius]] and his court in her mad scene"<ref>Roche, A., Samuel Beckett:The Great Plays After Godot, ''Samuel Beckett – 100 Years'' (Dublin: New Island, 2006), p 69</ref> (''[[Hamlet]]'' - Act 4, Scene 5). Ru's/Vi's names bring to mind the phrases rue/flow which hold certain applicable implications to what transpires.

When together they make uneasy, highly stylized/processed small talk in an encounter that takes on a haunting ritual aspect. After a short time Vi, who is seated in the centre, rises and silently goes off stage. Once she is out of earshot Flo asks Ru how she thinks their absent friend is looking. "I see little change,"<ref name="Beckett, S. 1984 p 194"/> Ru replies. Then Flo slides over to the middle to whisper an awful revelation to the other and swears her to secrecy. After this Vi returns and takes the seat vacated by Flo. The same [[scenario]] is then enacted twice more "[w]ith [[choreography]] suggestive of the [[Sleight of hand|sleight-of-hand]] artist (button under the thimble)"<ref>Overbeck, L. M., ‘"Getting On" Ritual as Façon in Beckett's Plays’ in Burkman, K. H., (Ed.) ''Myth and Ritual in the Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London and Toronto: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1987), p 24</ref> and with very similar dialogue until Vi finds herself back in the middle of the group; Ru and Flo's positions have however been reversed.

In this manner all three women at one point occupy the central position and all become privy to a secret about one of the others. Beckett said the action should be: "Stiff, slow, puppet-like."<ref>Harmon, M., Ed., ''No Author Better Served: The Correspondence of Samuel Beckett and Alan Schneider'' (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1998), p 417</ref> The audience however does not get to hear what is whispered. The initial response in each instance is a shocked, "Oh," though Beckett specified that each should be unique in some way. These three whispers present moments of dramatic climax in contrast to the otherwise slow and calm mood. The most sensational whispered information is unheard by the audience and thus creates more mystery and a sense of ongoing interconnection between the trio which includes sharing "secrets."

At the play's conclusion, the three link hands "in the old way"<ref name="Beckett, S. 1984 p 195">Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), p 195</ref> (reminiscent of [[Happy Days (play)|Winnie's]] "old style"<ref>Beckett, S., ''The Complete Dramatic Works'', Faber and Faber p 143</ref>) forming an unbroken [[Celtic knot]]. Finally Flo says, "I can feel the [[Wedding ring|rings]]",<ref name="Beckett, S. 1984 p 195"/> though none are apparent.