The director wanted the dinner to degenerate into an uncivil exchange of insults. (degenerate: deteriorate, decline, worsen; uncivil: rude, impolite, discourteous) The actor objected to the unseemliness of the last line. (unseemliness: impropriety, inappropriateness, indecorum) A timid character might leave the table in silence, he said. Silence did not have to make him craven, passive or witless. (craven: cowardly, pusillanimous, fainthearted; passive: inactive, acquiescent, unassertive; witless: foolish, senseless, mindless)
The director thought his star self-important. (self-important: pompous, conceited, arrogant) The actor thought the director vindictive. (vindictive: vengeful, revengeful, spiteful) Their disagreement threatened to implode the production. (implode: collapse, wreck from within, bring down) Then the youngest player stood, folded a napkin, looked each of them in the eye and left. It was the first time all evening the room fell quiet.
The unseemly part, they realized, had been making the audience laugh at a wounded guest. (unseemly: inappropriate, improper, unbecoming) On opening night the folded napkin drew a gasp. From the wings the two men watched their argument end without another word.