No one set scenes more brilliantly and economically than Shakespeare. Consider the opening lines of Hamlet: Barnardo: Who’s there? Francisco: Nay, answer me. Stand, and unfold yourself. Barnardo: Long live the King! Francisco: Barnardo? Barnardo: He. In five terse lines Shakespeare establishes that it is night-time and cold (‘unfold yourself’ means ‘draw back your cloak’), that the speakers are soldiers on guard, and that there is tension in the air. With just fifteen words – eleven of them monosyllables – he has the audience’s full, rapt attention.
