A View from the Bridge/All My Sons [antikvár]

ACT ONE The street and house-front of a tenement building. The front is skeletal entirely. The main acting area is the living-room-dining-room of Eddie's apartment. It is a worker's flat, clean, sparse, homely. There is a rocker down front; a round dining-table at centre, with chairs; and a portable phonograph. At back are a bedroom door and an opening to the kitchen; none of these interiors is seen. At the right, forestage, a desk. This is Mr Alfieri's law office. There is also a telephone booth. This is not used until the last scenes, so it may be covered or left in view. A stairway leads up to the apartment, and then farther up to the next storey, which is not seen. Ramps, representing the street, run upstage and off to right and left. As the curtain rises, louis and mike, longshoremen, are pitching coins against the building at left. A distant foghorn blows. Enter alfieri, a lawyer in his fifties turning grey; he is portly, good-humoured, and thoughtful. The two pitchers nod to him as he passes. He crosses the stage to his desk, removes his hat, runs his fingers through his hair, and grinning, speaks to the audience. alfieri: You wouldn't have known it, but something amusing has just happened. Yoti see how uneasily they nod to me? That's because I am a laA\ryer. In this neighbourhood to meet a lawyer or a priest on the street is unlucky. We're only thought of in connexion with disasters, and they'd rather not get too close. I often think that behind that suspicious little nod of theirs