Cue Twelve

Text 1: The House Lights, by Tessa Morland

An original short story extract.

Before rehearsal, the theatre belonged to dust. It floated above the empty seats and rested on the bare stage, visible only where a blade of daylight slipped past the curtains. From the control desk at the back of the auditorium, Leena looked down at rows of silent chairs. The lighting board waited beneath her hands, crowded with sliders and tiny labels. To anyone else, it might have resembled a complicated machine. To Leena, it was a box of possibilities.

She raised the first slider. Amber light spilled across the floor. A blue beam climbed the brick wall; a circle of white opened at centre stage. Leena nudged, trimmed and softened, watching the colours meet without swallowing one another. When a dark shadow appeared beside the doorway, she eased another light upwards until the shadow thinned and disappeared. Then she selected cue twelve, and the bare boards glowed like a square of late summer. She grinned at the transformation.

Voices sounded in the corridor as the rehearsal company approached. Leena ran the sequence once more, her fingers moving quickly now. Blackout. Blue. Amber. Dawn. Each change arrived exactly on its mark. The stage manager appeared below and called up to her.

‘Ready?’

Leena rested one fingertip on the final slider. Around her, the theatre seemed to hold its breath.

‘Ready,’ she said.

How does Tessa Morland’s use of language and structure convey Leena’s enjoyment as she prepares the theatre lights?

You should use relevant subject terminology to support your answer.