STAGE DIRECTIONS FOR THE MARSCHALLIN

ACT I

(only her beautiful hand is seen at first, and the arm from which the lace sleeve falls away) (she sits up among the pillows) (quietly) (very dear) (laughs softly) (tender) (she drops the bed curtains and disappears) (steps out from between the curtains) (she has turned up a dressing gown trimmed with fur) (tenderly, on the sofa) (she strokes his hair, his face on her knee) (they breakfast very sweetly) (they breakfast on) (as a shadow flies across her face) (she falters) (distracted, listens) (listens) (after a brief lapse of helplessness) (pleading) (stamping impatiently) (with flashing eyes) (starts vigorously for the little door and listens) (funny) (she laughs) (she has to laugh) (laughs) (kisses him fast) (she sits with her back to the door and begins to drink her chocolate) (looks over her shoulder, then gets up to meet the Baron) (a gesture) (sits down on the sofa after she has offered the Baron a chair) (getting up, ceremoniously offering her seat again) (relieved) (signals to Octavian with her eyes to go away) (resigned) (to Octavian) (must laugh at Octavian’s cheeky comedy play) (wants to get up) (to herself) (loud) (to the steward) (listening inattentively to the steward and observing the two, she has to laugh softly) (laughing to the steward) (laughing) (amused) (laughs) (very amused) (with feigned severity) (motioning to Octavian) (in kind) (a little hesitant) (fast) (holds out the locket) (pointing to the locket) (deliberately ignores the Baron) (she steps forward) (to the Baron) (she beckons the youngest of the three orphans, gets a purse from the steward and gives it to the girl, kissing her on the forehead) (beckons the singer to her, offers him her hand to kiss) (seeing herself in the hand mirror, half-aloud) (her face remains sad) (over the shoulder to the steward) (she gets up) (nods) (laughing a little) (alone) (alone) (sighing) (takes the hand mirror) (sighing) (calm) (very quiet) (calm, with a half-smile) (defending him) (quickly collected) (emphatically) (calm) (escaping from him) (she caresses him) (fierce) (warm) (quietly) (very seriously) (a little hesitantly) (calm) (gently) (alone, passionately) (she rings hard) (calls forth) (rests her head on her hand and remains in repose until the end)

ACT II

a love story she is not in

ACT III

(she enters) (motionless, does not answer, looks around questioningly) (to the Commissioner) (to the left, looking at the Baron expectantly) (as if she did not hear Octavian, she keeps her eyes fixed on the Baron) (over the shoulder to Octavian, privately) (speaks quietly to the Commissioner) (she comes up to the Baron from behind and taps him on the shoulder) (blithely superior) (to the Commissioner, as well as his guards) (the eyes of the two women meet, Sophie offers an embarrassed curtsy) (impatient, stamping her foot) (turns her back on the Baron) (from the right, where she now stands) (one step closer) (condescending) (as before and without looking at Octavian) (with a long look, then with great certainty) (pause) (very decisively) (seems to be looking around for a chair, Octavian jumps up to give her one, she sits down portentously) (left alone with Sophie and Octavian) (she laughs bitterly) (has, meanwhile, gotten up, but stops herself and sits down again, carrying on privately at the same time as Octavian and Sophie) (she wipes her eyes, stands up) (sees his embarrassment; a sad smile crosses her face) (goes over to Sophie without paying attention to Octavian) (faces Sophie, looks her over carefully but kindly) (defensively) (softly, with an indefinable expression) (completely toneless) (motions to him to stay back) (she lingers in the doorway) (to herself, together with Octavian and Sophie) (sighing) (she exits left without being noticed) (Faninal leads her back in by the hand) (Faninal leads her to the center door) (the two attendants, with candlesticks, step ahead of her)

Jameson Fitzpatrick is the author of Pricks in the Tapestry (Birds, LLC, 2020). The recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts/New York State Council on the Arts, she teaches first-year writing at New York University.