#segeste

act 2 scene 3 - contrary to what the original word-book says, varo and segeste remain after they finish their lines ( "e di affligger tusnelda il core avrò" ). as the accompaniment for arminio's aria ( "duri lacci" ) in the next scene starts, he is lowered in a glass box.

( i should give the context that he is put in a variety of unconventional bounds throughout the opera- to quote my notes, if we're going to hold him captive for most of the story, we might as well be creative about it. :p )

scene 4 remains here, and then at the end of arminio's next aria ( "sì, cadrò" ) the camera pans sideways, to tusnelda. scene 5 begins. segeste walks up to her, and as they talk...

...the darkness fades to reveal them standing in a space filled with staircases and walkways made of metal, the kind you'd see in a factory, perhaps. she cries, he tries to stop her, she sings an aria ( "al furor che ti consiglia" ).

i didn't illustrate scene 6 because it happens in the same place, but ramise enters and tries to stab segeste ( "principe senza fede, padre disumanato!" ). she's followed by sigismondo, who pleads with her and tries to stab himself. she takes the weapon, then sings an aria ( "niente spero, tutto credo" ), in which she moves around the complex of stairs and walkways a whole lot. sig follows her around too, though keeping some distance. once she's done, there's a pause in the music, and...

the set splits apart, leaving sigismondo on a ladder, alone in the void. he whines ( as he often does ) to nobody in particular ( "o ramise, o segeste, ambo fatali!" )

his aria ( "quella fiamma" ) starts soon enough, and there, he's just on the ladder, occasionally climbing around. images flicker in the background- polygons, parts of faces.

in the last verse he climbs down the ladder and the scene ends with him getting to what is presumably the floor ( which we can't tell, because it's all just a white void ) and walking off.