After the “boxing scene” the relationship deteriates between Eddie and Rodolpho and Marco. This scene is important because it is the turning point as Marco shows his strength through lifting a chair with one hand, yet Eddie (up till now) has been the character in control but can not lift the chair unlike Rodolpho. I think this scene sets the tone for the rest of the play because Eddie changes from “Mr. Cool.” To someone who is no longer in control of everything. He is now suddenly no longer in full control of Catherine which is someone he loves wants to control.
At the start of the scene I am going to direct there is a lot of tension in the room between Eddie, Beatrice and Catherine as Catherine asks Rodolpho to dance. I would show the shock of Eddie as his Catherine is dancing with someone else by getting him to freeze on the spot and look over casually (but obviously so the audience can see and understand his shock) to Beatrice and Marco to see what they think, and to see if they are also shocked. As Beatrice says “Go ahead, dance, Rodolpho.” Eddie would put his drink of whisky in his hand, swill it around and sit down watching Rodolpho’s every move. As Beatrice tries to make conversation I would get her to say it once or twice to make it look as if Eddie is so involved in watching Rodolpho. He would then say a sharp and quick “Yes!” to convey he is not interested in what she is saying but only in their dance.
I would use white lighting to light up the dance and a dull light would fill the rest of the room. When Marco talks about Rodolpho being a cook as well a red light to show anger would then shine brightly on Eddie as he stands up and then talks loudly and says, “He’s a cook too!” The red light would then fade as Eddie cools down to show the audience his anger is fading. In Rodolpho’s defense Catherine will quickly reply “They get some high pay them guys. The head chefs in all the big hotels are men. You read about them.” They will carry on dancing, Rodolpho showing a bit of anxiety by looking at Marco in a confused way. Eddie then stands up and starts to talk about how the dock is no place for Rodolpho. Beatrice looks away as if she is ashamed Eddie is saying this. Catherine and Rodolpho stop dancing and start to listen to Eddie, Catherine giving looks of worry towards Beatrice. The main spotlight shines on Eddie so the audience can see this is an important part for Eddie. When Eddie gets near to the end of his speech because he is trying to make Rodolpho see he should levee he starts to swill his glass too much and then spills bits of it. Realizing Eddie is making a bit of a fool of himself he freezes, sits down and offers to take Rodolpho to a boxing match.
Catherine who is somewhat shocked by Eddie’s quick change of heart, she shows this to the audience by to Beatrice then offering to make coffee. As he asks Rodolpho if he has ever done any boxing before he puts his cigar and whisky down as this will make the audience aware he is going to get up. The audience are now aware of Eddie and his explosive anger and know he does not like Rodolpho, the audience are aware he is going to try something funny. As he asks Rodolpho to box Beatrice will try to cool Eddie off and try to get him to sit back down, in reply to this Eddie says “Beatrice step aside, let the man learn how to box if that is what he wishes, you are a real man right?” This line puts pressure onto Rodolpho as he wants to be seen as a man and especially by Eddie, so he accepts the offer. Beatrice then backs off and lets Eddie teach Rodolpho how to box. Rodolpho is a bit embarrassed, as he doesn’t know what to do. Eddie teaches him slowly, then Rodolpho begins to get the hang of it and they go at a faster pace. Eddie encourages Rodolpho as if he actually wants Rodolpho to hit him. Beatrice sees no harm and comments on how well Rodolpho is doing. Tension is starting to be created in the audience and there is also some dramatic irony because the audience know Eddie is going to do something.
Eddie is now practically telling Rodolpho to hit him. Catherine enters the room and she is shocked at what she sees so rushes off to Beatrice and demands to know what is going on. Eddie then says “you’ve had a good crack at me, now let me have a go at you!” Rodolpho is just about to say something when Eddie hits him lightly around the cheeks and warns Rodolpho to be ready at all times, he then throws a second quick punch and connects it to Rodolpho’s face. Rodolpho is pushed back by the shock but just mildly hurt. At the time of the punch Marco is blocking the audience's view of Rodolpho and Eddie actually hits Rodolpho’s hand, it will still make the same sort of sound but the audience will not know Rodolpho wasn’t really hit. The audience is stunned. Catherine runs over to Rodolpho to see if he is alright. Eddie quickly says “ Your alright, you couldn’t be hurt by a blow like that could you?” Again this puts pressure on Rodolpho to answer no, he replies “ No, I’m fine, honestly.” He staggers over to a chair with Catherine comforting him. Beatrice then calls over Eddie, she scolds him as if he was a small child and warns him not to do anything like that again. Beatrice and Eddie break the silence by once again telling Rodolpho how well he did. Marco stands and calls over to Eddie “ Eddie, How strong are you?” “Fairly strong, why?” Eddie replies, interested. “ Think you can lift this here chair?” Eddie is confused so he goes over to Marco. Catherine and Rodolpho start to dance to “ Paper Doll.” Once again. Marco says “ Watch me.” He then gets down onto one knee and strains but manages to lift the chair with one hand. He stands up with the chair and looks directly into Eddie’s eyes as if challenging his power and strength.
Eddie all most laughs as Marco asks him to lift the chair up. Everyone has stopped what they are doing and are now watching Eddie. Eddie clutches the chair and strains but cannot lift the chair. Eddie’s face turns from smiling to disbelieve. Eddie stands and says “ Oh eerr…never new that about a chair, good party trick that Marco.” Marco then replies “ Yes it is but only if you can do it.” Marco says this deadly seriously as if he is teasing Eddie because he couldn’t do it. Everyone on set freezes and curtain falls.
