I first posted this in Cafe Society, but the artistes let me down.
So, I thought I’d try it in General Questions – after all, it is a factual question about one of the fine arts. You can almost hear the mods scratching their heads.
Anyway, the question is this: There is a classic modern play – on the scale of Ibsen or Chekhov – that includes a scene in which one of the characters performs magic tricks. It always struck me that the stage directions said things like “A bird appears in her hand” without any instruction as to how to bring about these results.
I believe the character performing these tricks is a female, and she performs several in succession. A whole paragraph of stage directions is taken up with this, forcing some poor director and actress to find ways to make these illusions happen.
I could have sworn the play in question is Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, but I scoured that work three times and couldn’t find any such thing.
So, theatre goers, theatre lovers, theatre students – what play am I thinking of? Or have I finally lost my mind?
I don’t know about Ibsen or Shaw or anyone doing this, but Deane and Balderston’s play Dracula has magic stage directions in it. So does the William Gillette/Arthur Conan Doyle play Sherlock Holmes. My editions contain directions for performing the tricks though.
I note that these are both early 20th century plays.
Thanks, CalMeacham , but I’m thinking of a well-known modern piece, which is why I originally thought it was The Cherry Orchard.
The play I’m thinking of has a female character perform at least three tricks in a row, without any indication of how to do them – like a screenplay, I suppose, where writing “An army of orcs besiege the castle” is not given another thought. They’ll just do it with computers, right?
But playwrights often help future directors bring their work to life. Official Samuel French editions can include a photo and blueprint of the set and a list of props and costumes. The play in question contains something like “She waves her hands and a horse appears” without any notes from the writer or original director. The horse (or whatever) plays no role in the show; it’s just there as the result of a magic trick, and then discarded. Thus, the playwright made the show five times harder to produce, for little reason.
I’ve posted this query in two categories and am not getting much feedback. It’s possible this play was just a dream I had… although the fact that I was reading it and not watching does not speak well of my imagination.