Location: Saturday 19th. Onstage during a performance of War of the Roses.
Objective Description: I am faced towards stage left during Richard III’s soliloque in act III. The lighting is very dim. A pool of light on the wall of the playhouse just downstage of the procinium stage left catches the actor’s shadow.
Subjective Description: I see something that in any other context would probably scare me. I try to enjoy it. I forget for a moment about the play, and focus on the story that that hunched shadow on the wall can tell. Is it the shadow of a murderer about to make a kill? Something creeping into a dark corner? Whatever the story, it is not the shadow of a benign being.
I am also briefly reminded of the origins of the word “Grotesque.” Allegedly, the word describes the paintings left by caveman on the walls of caves – or grottoes – and which feature figures with exaggerated features.