Jesus, the Pharisees and the 20 people are inside ‘the house’. Half the people are at the back (UP CENTRE to UP LEFT) facing the audience. Jesus is standing in front of them facing the same way. The rest of the people are standing with their backs to the audience, in front of Jesus from CENTRE to LEFT CENTRE. A space is left on the left-hand side for the ladder to be put up at the side of the house. Jesus can barely be seen as the people with their backs to the audience are pushing and shoving to get closer to him. It is evident that some people cannot see over the top of the head’s of others as they are moving about from side to side and jumping to get a better view.
When the lights go up at the beginning of the play, the two friends enter from UP RIGHT carrying the paralysed friend on a stretcher. They walk straight to DOWN RIGHT then turn and stop DOWN CENTRE. The man with his arm in a sling (who shall be called the Doubting Man), approaches them from the back of the crowd and is making his way DOWN RIGHT.
There is no barrier separating the house from the outside so it is the actors who indicate the boundaries.
When the two friends decide to let their friend down through the roof, one of them climbs up the ladder and begins to take imaginary tiles of the roof. The ladder is at an angle so the audience can see what is happening. It is not necessary for the person on the ladder to be level or higher than the people below. He can stay as low as he is comfortable on the ladder even if realistically he may not be ‘roof height’. The stretching up and miming the removal of tiles is more important than him actually being high up on the ladder. If he is a considerable distance away from the people below, then he will appear higher up when removing the tiles. On a small stage, extra care must be taken to ensure that the ladder is not placed too near any perimeters. He hands the tiles to his friend below who carefully places them on the floor. As more tiles are removed, the people ‘inside’ the house begin to notice and react accordingly. One by one, they look up at what is going on and they start to brush dust off their clothes. Others try and hide for cover because they don’t know what is happening.
