Your problem now is to give your audience a picture of this castle, and the varied life of its courtyard, its ladies’ garden, and its great hall. On a stage measuring 30 inches by 55 inches, how can this be done? If the settings are wisely planned, the audience will have such a vivid impression of the courtyard, the garden, and the castle, that they will feel they are living in the time of the play.
You may be interested in the way a group of boys and girls planned the stage settings for this play. The first scene was laid in the courtyard. Instead of trying to show every little incident and detail of the life of the courtyard, every stable and blacksmith shop, every well and water trough, they asked themselves what important things happened in this first act and listed them as follows: First, Myles practised at the pells. Second, the armorer worked in his shop. Third, Myles played with the squire, and threw a ball over the wall. Then they took the ground-floor plan of the XIVth century castle, as they found it in the book, studied it carefully, and planned this setting. Every stage setting must give the actors enough room to move about in. It must have exits. It must be a well-composed picture. It must be related to the scene that follows. You can readily see how this careful planning met each of these requirements: First, it gave room for their puppets to do what they were required to do. Second, it gave them the two necessary exits, one into the castle, the other out to the drawbridge. Third, it made, by the arrangement of wall, towers, and armorer’s shop, a well-composed picture. Fourth, by this arrangement of the first scene, they were able to carry the imagination of the audience, with Myles, when he climbed over the wall, into the ladies’ garden, in the second scene.
Another group planned the second scene. They imagined themselves on the inside of the garden, on the other side of the wall shown in the first scene. They asked themselves, not what do we see, but what happens in the garden during this scene.
First, Lady Anne plays a lute and Lady Alice dances.
Second, Myles tumbles over the wall.
Third, the Earl of Mackworth comes from the castle and returns into the castle.
Here is the plan they made. You can see how they planned first to have plenty of floor space for Lady Alice’s dance, and then, to keep the wall away from the back drop so that Myles could climb over it. Second, it provided the necessary exit. Third, through the arrangement of ivy-covered towers, trellised wall, and garden bench, it made a charming picture. Fourth, by means of the exit into the castle, the interest of the audience was carried into the third scene.
