The stage itself is merely the foor of a large room called the STAGE House. Study the parts in Ilus.8. No one knows how the TEASER and the TRORMENT got their strange names, but they are extremely important. The teaser MASKS the FLIES. The tormentors mask the sides of the stage and serve as anchors for the edges of interior sets.
Each of the tormentors in Ilus.8 is made up of two fat picces of scenery: the tormentor proper, which frames one side of the set; and a FLIPPER, which is a narrow piece that holds the tormentor erect and keeps people from seeing between it and the curtain.Some tormentors are much more elabor- ate and contain equipment for mounting stage lights.
Illus.9 shows a plan of the stage. Here,the set is provided with RETURNs. These resemble tormentors without flippers and serve the same functions. However, they are parts of the set, whereas tor- mentors are permanent stage equipment like the curtain.Sets built for professonal use normally include returns, which make them adaptable to stages of different widths when the play is on tour Tormentors can rarely be moved more than a foot or two; returns permit larger adjustments.
