“Did you know it was lit?”
“Yes.”
“My understanding is that it’s not common practice to raise a lit chandelier into the flyspace.”
“That’s right.”
“So, why did you do it?”
“The short answer is because Green told me to, but the long answer is a little more complicated.”
“I’d like to hear the long answer.”
“We used the chandelier for interiors,” Jack begins. “Ballrooms, great halls, that type of thing. It was in use for the final scene ofThe Father, as well as the first few scenes of the pantomime, which was fine until we got to the scene where everyone ends up in the forbidden forest.”
Ritchie is writing down everything Jack says, and Jack pauses to make sure he doesn’t need him to speak slower. “Go on,” says Ritchie.
“Before the curtain raised, I should have lowered the chandelier to the floor, snuffed the candles, then raised the lamp into the flyspace.”
“But that’s not what you did?”
“I forgot.”
“You forgot?”
“I got distracted.” Even now, when he thinks about Mrs. Green and that bladder full of pig’s blood, he loses his train of thought. “I feel awful about it. But I’m like that. There’s always so much going on, and I never know where to look or what to do first.”
Ritchie studies his notes. “So, the chandelier is just hanging there? Where it doesn’t belong?”
“Right.”
“And was there any danger in it remaining where it was?”
“None at all,” says Jack. “It just looked ridiculous. Who wants to see a chandelier in the middle of a dark forest?”
“When did you realize you’d forgotten to deal with it?”
“When Green pointed it out, after Hopkins Robertson had made his entrance.”
“Is that when he ordered you to raise it?”
Jack shakes his head no. “At first, he didn’t care what I did with it. He just wanted it gone. But I explained that it had to stay where it was until the next set change.”
“What did he say to that?”
“It’s like he wasn’t hearing me. He was completely focused on the fact that the chandelier was ruining this important scene.”
“Wasit an important scene?”
The question hardly bears considering. “Aren’t they all important?”
Ritchie shrugs. “So, what did Green say when you told him to wait?”
“He didn’t like it. Told me I worked for him and that I needed to do what he said.”
“So, you raised it?”
“I argued with him for a little while,” says Jack. “But what do I know? He and Placide have been doing this for decades, and I’m just some boy they hired for the season.”
