Throne room

Throne room is both the ceremonial center of Berenger the First’s court and the setting for the play’s final disappearance. Its initially decayed, Gothic appearance frames royal ritual in a space that is gradually stripped away until neither the room nor its ruler remains.

Design and Stage Arrangement

The room is presented as vaguely dilapidated and Gothic. At the center of the stage, steps rise to Berenger the First’s throne against the back wall. Two smaller thrones stand downstage on either side, assigned to his wives, Queen Marguerite and Queen Marie. The arrangement makes the royal household visible as a hierarchy organized around the King’s seat.

Several openings define the room’s stage geography. A small door upstage left leads to Berenger the First’s apartments; another small door is upstage right. A large door stands downstage on the right, with a Gothic window between it and the smaller door. The left side has another small window and a small downstage door. The Guard stands near the large door with a halberd, placed at the threshold between the court and whatever lies beyond it.

Ceremony and Courtly Sound

Before the curtain rises, during its ascent, and for several minutes afterward, the audience hears a derisive version of regal music reminiscent of a seventeenth-century royal levee. The sound establishes the room as a place of monarchy while undercutting the dignity of its ceremony.

When The Guard announces that the ceremony is about to commence, the court erupts into general commotion and its members take their positions as if preparing for a solemn rite. Berenger the First sits on his throne with Queen Marie beside him. The formal arrangement turns the room’s fixed hierarchy into a performed ritual, even as the music has already made royal pageantry seem faintly ridiculous.

Disappearance and Final Image

At the end, Queen Marguerite suddenly disappears on the left while Berenger the First remains seated on his throne. The disappearance does not stop with a person: throughout the final scene, the doors, windows, and walls of Throne room slowly vanish. The stage’s architecture is thus removed piece by piece, undoing the enclosed setting that had organized the court and its ceremonies.

Once the room has disappeared, only Berenger the First and his throne remain in a grayish light. Then both the King and the throne disappear, leaving the gray light alone. Throne room’s ending reverses its opening function: the space that first gave royal authority a visible center is progressively erased, until even the ruler’s seat cannot persist. The last image reduces the stage to light without architecture, court, or monarch.