Have you ever seen the stage play, "Noises Off?" It's a fast-paced farce where all sorts of misunderstandings occur because people enter the room at awkward and unpredictable times and frequently leave by the wrong door. People are always frantically looking for someone who's on the balcony right above their heads, or who's just disappeared behind another door. It's a play where the set design is crucial.
I've seen the story three times, both on stage and on film, and every time I see it I leave wondering if a real room in a real house could be built like that, a room made with the deliberate intention of provoking comic misunderstandings.
When you think about it, it's an interesting set (above). There are three doors on the bottom floor and four on the mezzanine, plenty of opportunity for confusion. Plenty of opportunity too, for the percussive sounds of slamming doors and thumping staircase runs. The set is electric with potential. Why can't a real living room be like that?
In the set design above (all these pictures are from different productions of the same play) the shower room is given it's own level, which is a great idea. That means people on the bedroom level attempting to take a shower have to walk along the ramp and down the stairs in a big old hangdog robe and carrying a brush on a stick...which strikes me as funny. If they forget something they have to do it all over again, calling attention to themselves when they'd rather be stealthy. It creates tension on the stage and would probably do the same in real life.
The sofa (above) has its back to the window and doors, a placement with lots of potential for surprise and gags. If you were sitting on the sofa you might have no idea that someone had just come in behind you, and don't even think about necking in private.
Of course if this were a real house the owner wouldn't be inconvenienced. He'd be sitting on a second sofa in the foreground facing the window, watching everybody else's confusion. This idea is too good to use only on the stage, or the Jerry Springer show. Let's see real living rooms designed like this.