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I’m writing a play which turns around one of the characters being revealed to be dead/a ghost in the room (not as Sixth Sense as it sounds, honest).
Up to this point said character has been assumed by the audience to be part of the action in the room: he talks and appears to interact with the other characters, but through sneakyclever means the main character isn’t aware he’s in the room. The idea is that the reveal has that moment of ohhhh for the audience in realising he was a ghost all along.
My question is how much of that main character can’t see/doesn’t look at him should I put in the stage directions?
Obviously the reveal is for the audience’s benefit not the actors… will I kill the actors' understanding of The Moment by signposting it too hard, or do I have to tell them pretty clearly the first time round so they get the reveal??
All the reveals I can think of aren’t the same…like nothing physically on stage has to ‘collude’ in the misdirection: An Inspector Calls the ghostly revelation/implication is after he’s left, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf the not-kid isn’t ever on stage (this wouldn’t work for my story: need emotional investment in the guy that turns out to be dead already, difficult to pull that off with him an off-stage character—Woolf was about the parent’s need for a child, not the child).
Any thoughts?
Up to this point said character has been assumed by the audience to be part of the action in the room: he talks and appears to interact with the other characters, but through sneakyclever means the main character isn’t aware he’s in the room. The idea is that the reveal has that moment of ohhhh for the audience in realising he was a ghost all along.
My question is how much of that main character can’t see/doesn’t look at him should I put in the stage directions?
Obviously the reveal is for the audience’s benefit not the actors… will I kill the actors' understanding of The Moment by signposting it too hard, or do I have to tell them pretty clearly the first time round so they get the reveal??
All the reveals I can think of aren’t the same…like nothing physically on stage has to ‘collude’ in the misdirection: An Inspector Calls the ghostly revelation/implication is after he’s left, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf the not-kid isn’t ever on stage (this wouldn’t work for my story: need emotional investment in the guy that turns out to be dead already, difficult to pull that off with him an off-stage character—Woolf was about the parent’s need for a child, not the child).
Any thoughts?
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