Читать книгу Polonius - Victor Cilinca - Страница 6

SCENERY

The main piece of scenery is a huge wooden staircase climbing up to a wooden platform on which the three actors (King, Queen, and Boogeyman) will play, with their backs to the audience, facing a spot which cannot be seen for the semi-darkness of the background (or for the blinding lime lights in the background). The platform, supported by thick square pillars, can provide the room for the duellists in the final scene. Halfway through the second act, the pillars in the background can make a guillotine or its shadow and, in the final scene, a flag slide along them.

From the platform, the staircase climbs on to the footbridge. A straight curtain, fastened with a bar, can fall in the middle of this segment of the staircase, giving the illusion of a stage. From somewhere under the platform, at a certain height, hang three cardboard crowns, different in model and size. At the end of the play, a huge door will descend from above right in front of Polonius. Its handle is so high that Polonius will have to draw to his full length to reach it.

In front of the staircase, through the first trap door, there is another staircase (only the end of its banisters can be seen) climbing down to the basement. A cellar trap door can be used instead of this staircase. At the beginning of the second act sheets and shirts hang from several lines.

Behind the staircase, there is a bare wall. Hanging from the wall there is a trough for washing; in front of it, there are several straw bales.