Sleep No More Spoiler Discussion

[alexxkay]

Massive spoilers will be in the comments. I'll be gradually adding to this over the next while, as I get spare moments to write. Hopefully, other folks who've been will also comment!

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The Second Mrs. DeWinter

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

This visit, I spent a lot of time shadowing a young blonde woman who turned out to be The Second Mrs. DeWinter through almost her entire story cycle. Happily, I had seen "Rebecca" in the interim, so I had a bit more clue as to what was going on with her. In this show, she is also Duncan's wife, so I suspected who she was when I saw her dancing with him. Here's some of what she did, though not necessarily in order, and certainly incomplete:

In the hotel lobby, the Porter was very mean to her. She did sign the register: "Mr. and Mrs. DeWinter, Manderley, Cornwall", which clinched her identity. A few minutes later, Mrs. Danvers came in, and they did the 'Mrs DeW drops the glove and both of them reach to pick it up' bit from the film. Curiously, this was almost their only interaction; Mrs. D spends most of her time tormenting Lady MacDuff...

Mrs. DeW sits on the sofa. She starts pouring herself some tea, with scared glances over atthe looming, creepy Porter. She pours the milk, then the sugar. The Porter wanders off. She lifts the teacup -- revealing a key! She quickly snatches the key and puts it in her purse.

Returning to her room, she uses the key to unlock a formerly locked door. This is clearly rebecca's room, and we get a few more movie allusions, as she reacts to the various contents with "R" monograms, and even puts on one of R's pretty dresses.

Suddenly, a knocking at the door! Mrs. DeW frantically tries to put everything back the way it was, guilty at being discovered here. As she does, the knocking gets louder, rising to a pounding. At last, she opens the door, and lets in a young man (not sure who), who is incredibly distraught. There's some strange business involving a watch. The man drops it, and Mrs. DeW bends to pick it up, but he stops her with great urgency, as if the watch was dangerous, poisonous. He uses a handkerchief to pick it up, and carefully secretes it inside an envelope, which he then hands to her. She puts it in her purse. He leaves.

Mrs. DeW sits at her desk. She tears off a small strip of paper, and writes upon it: "Set me as a seal upon your heart, for love is stronger than death," She folds the paper up into a tiny square, then sticks a pin through it. She pins it to an apple, then puts four more pins in a square around it. She winds a piece of red thread about the pins, sealing the note in.

She then takes out a large Holy Bible and kneels on the floor with it (and a candle, and The Key). Soon, she notices one of the ghosts(guests) and reaches out to them. She takes them into Rebecca's room for some one on one time. (She does one-on-one's at least four times during the cycle. I got to be in one, but that was a complex enough event to deserve it's own post, later.)

Later, she undoes the string on the apple. She opens a trunk, which is lit on the inside, and full of water. She slowly tears the note into small pieces, dropping them into the trunk, and stirring them with her fingers. Then she reaches into the water and retrieves a playing card, clearly of some significance. She runs down to the basement. There, a Witch takes the card from her.

She wanders into a Detective's Office. He is not there, but she finds a folded photo of her husband, Duncan. She starts searching the office, finding nothing but strange bird parephenalia: feathers, eggs, essays and books about birds. During this, the detective sneaks quietly in. After observing her for a while, he confronts her. They talk(?), and eventually end up in a passionate clinch. As they kiss, the desk fans speed up, blowing feathers everywhere.

At some point, someone confronts her in the Chapel about the Watch, but I was just cacthing up after a run, and didn't get a clear view...

Re: The Second Mrs. DeWinter

[mermaidlady]

I was outside the door when the pounding started. The man (who I believe was Banquo, but I have trouble telling the men apart) had been on the landing. The stewards had ushered us behind the double doors or stopped people on the landings above and below this one.

Banquo (let's just say it was) performed an incredible, athletic, acrobatic "dance" with a chair and the staircase. He was clearly in turmoil. After his performance (a highlight of my evening), he went to the door and began pounding on it.

I realized then that I had been in this scene already, but from inside the room.