May 3, 2005
Act II: The Picnic
And then ... as darkness descends, Hal stops dancing with Millie, and instead starts dancing with Madge, the older sister. In an instant, you can feel the heat between them, the need. Millie - and the fact that SHE had been on the date with Hal - is forgotten. She's just a little girl, after all. Hal was taking her to the picnic just to be a nice guy. Madge and Hal circle around in the sunset, as Millie watches from the background. Millie sees someone's coat hanging over a chair, and in a pocket of the coat is a flask of whiskey. She starts to swig it down, steadfastly, in the background. This will not end well ... for Millie or for anybody else ...
Notice how the sunset deepens in the background throughout the act. In each picture, the sky looks different. Again - genius lighting design. All of Act II was a lonnnnnng sloooowww cue ... sunset glowing, night falling ...
Millie looks pretty bummed out in the background, I've got to say.
Posted by sheila