The Marriage of Figaro
I went to see this play at the NEW WORLD SCHOOL OF THE ARTS? theater, in Miami. The actors were all students of different ages, grades and experiences. As with many students? plays, the budget allowed to the play was apparently not very high. This factor, conjugated to the small size of the theater apparently did not allow for a realistic scenery or furniture. The 35? wide square proscenium stage where the actors performed stood in front of two parallel rows of seats in a rectangular theater approximately 20 feet wider than the aforementioned stage.
How does that affect the sceneries in a play? As you may or may not know The Marriage of Figaro?s plot develops mainly in three rooms, adjacent to each other. The Count?s room, Figaro and Suzanne?s room and the Countess? room in this particular order. Instead of making the rooms small enough to all fit in the stage he had at his disposition- thus reducing the acting space of his actors - , the director of this play (Jonathan Gellert) opted for a representational approach to the problem.
What the audience see are three doors forming an equilateral triangle which base is facing them. The door to the right leads to the Count?s room, the one to the left opens on the Countess? room and the further one place in the center leads to the rest of the Almaviva castle. The space between these three doors is Figaro and Suzanne?s room as well as the main acting space during most of the play. Now when I mention the Count and Countess? room, I am speaking of a small empty space barely used in the acting if we omit some eavesdropping and one or two elaborate exits. When a memorable scene occurs...