Trials of Wisdom

Introduction

The room with the piano

You look around with uncertainty. This isn’t a room normally accessible to the public. You didn’t even know it existed. But your show had finished, the audience was all leaving, and as you filed out with them you just... spotted it. That door, with its sparkling stained glass window. You had to find out what was behind it.

You had no idea it was going to lock behind you.

Your heart beats fast. You need to find a way out of here before security finds you. And yet, curiosity still floods your mind. What is this room? It isn’t remarkable – all you see is a piano and an old-timey telephone sitting on a table. It rings, vibrating madly. You pick up the receiver.

You have no idea what it means, so you hang up.

You head to the piano instead. It’s a well-kept Steinbach Baby Grand. Unable to resist, you sweep your fingers across the keys... only to be disappointed. Most of them don’t work. In fact, only four of the A keys work, two of the Bs, one C, three Ds, and none of the Es, Fs or Gs. Pity.

There’s no music on the rack, but there seems to be something else. A map, with four areas shaded: an Orchestra Pit (labelled A), a Props Room (labelled B), a Costuming Department (labelled C), and a Theatre (labelled D). Behind the map you find a letter.

Room B

Props Room

This room is so packed you can barely open the door. As soon as you enter you’re bombarded by a collection of vivid, colourful animal props of varying shapes and sizes. Some are practically full-sized, whereas others have been scaled up or down, and almost none are their natural colour.

You first walk past a life-sized pink giraffe and brown elephant, then a huge aqua whale and green polar bear. After that, a regular-sized black cat, blue turkey, silver wallaby, and white possum. Next come the ones that are bigger than you but normally wouldn’t be: an enormous indigo flamingo, purple fox, and yellow snake. Finally you pass the ones that have been miniaturised, a small gold lion, orange gorilla, and red horse.

At this other end you’ve discovered a workshop area, where props are built and finished. Sitting in a row on a workbench is a collection of open paints. You read their labels:

Room D

Theatre

There’s noise coming from the theatre. You creep in silently and see that on the stage are a dozen ballerinas, all practising the same movements. That’s odd. Surely nobody should be rehearsing at this time of night, let alone in the theatre. But here they are, practising, with a demanding woman out the front calling, “Make sure you know your positions in relation to the sign!”

You watch them dance, and see that behind them is a prominent sign that reads “THE BORDER”. The letters are as big as the dancers. It looks like they’re recreating an abstract scene from The Magic Flute, representing the border between night and day.

You observe their warm up and memorise the order of their movements:

1. Fourth position
2. Plié
3. Fifth position
4. First position
5. Second position
6. Third position
7. Plié
8. Second position
9. Fifth position
10. Fifth position
11. Jeté