.. and asking, “why does this have to be part of the show?” Then all the other stagehands would try to come up with the most pretentious, symbolism-laden pile of crap they could at short notice.. “the ladder is a symbol of upward advancement, and lying on the ground it represents the protagonist’s Checkhovian inability to overcome the challenges of yadda-yadda-yadda.” Pure garbage, but delivered in an earnest, “you should be deep enough to understand this” tone, it would fend off week-long angst festivals over whether the door really *needed* that doorknob.
mike stone
2020-10-11 07:10:16 +0000 UTC
I was a stagehand, and freestyle BS was one of our semi-serious games. Directors had a tendency to pick part of the set like a doorknob and ask “why is this necessary.. what story does it tell?” or something. Practical answers like, “the character has to leave through that door, and the actor needs a way to open it” obviously weren’t high-concept enough. So we got in the habit of randomly pointing at anything backstage.. ladder, pile of lumber, milk, fast food bag from somebody’s lunch..