I tackled this play with the idea of the dirty, sooty feel of a house that has experienced a fire. Everything in the kitchen set was tacky and out-of-date and severely dirty as if no matter how much she worked on the house, the mother could never keep up with the soot. The set was monochromatic grays, ranging from dark to very light, with an occasional splash of orange or red to remind us of the dreadful fire down below.

The theme of this play is that fear is the thing that sends one to their demise. The mother expresses her fear of being ignored and is promptly killed by an explosion from the large incendiary crevice in the basement. The daughter is next, with her fear of growing up to be like her mother. She runs outside and is struck by lightning. The son is afraid of not being like everyone else and suffers a brain hemorrhage at the table. Finally, when the constable finds the wife doesn’t keep Tabasco sauce in the house, he says, “Is that so?” and fills the father with lead when he says, “I’m afraid so”.