Firstly we decided that the two girls would be either side of slighcarp but then halfway through the journey Bonnie would move over to Sylvia to keep her warm. We then changed this so that Bonnie and Sylvia are sat together from the start. I think that this idea works a lot better because it is more realistic than Bonnie just walking across the back of the small carriage. It also makes it more clear that the carriage is still quite small, it is James' and he can't afford much.
When the carriage pulls up at blast burn, the two girls have been asleep for the late part of the journey and still are when they pull up, heads together. However, when miss slighcarp raises her voice to tell mrs brisket that their "plan is working", the two girls wake up with a jolt and are very alarmed to their new sight of the girls school. I thought that this all worked very well because it shows the distraught feelings the girls are feeling and also a contrast in the calmness to the sudden alarm.
Careful here - the carriage belongs to Willoughby Chase, not James, but I take your point about being close together.
ReplyDeleteYour description of the carriage fits in with the way that we approached the set and staging for this piece, you could make a link here to the Brechtian style.