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ELLEN SPOLSKY, Sent Away from the Garden? The Pastoral Logic of Tasso, Marvell, and Haley

visitor that his violence will have no consequences beyond his enjoy-
ment: “It’s okay, Mr. Woodnut. I always resurrect” (50).
In the theater, as the pastoral stage set descends from the fly loft,
a collective oooh is heard from the audience. For those who recognize
them, the meta-communicative genre features come fully to the fore
and are engaged, retained: the pastoral fantasy, as in an impressionist
painting, being immediately appreciated. In their sensuous enjoyment
of the scene, the audience cannot help but become complicit, even if
they have never actually logged onto a child porn site.

Fig. 2: Stage set for The Nether at the Royal Court Theatre and Head-
long, designed by Es Devlin. 17 July-9 August 2014. Jeremy Herrin,
Director. Cast in photo: Zoe Brough, Stanley Townsend. Photo by
Johan Persson.

The refreshing play of light and green, and its existence as an escape,
in clear contrast to the controlling “police state,” is as fully present
here as in As You Like It. In the Hideaway, time and consequence are
suspended, identities based on social status don’t exist, the life of the
senses can be fully enjoyed at leisure. Sims shares his green world,
as does Haley, and whether or not the audience recognizes the fic-
tional genre, all can enjoy the representation of a hideaway in the
woods on a day when sun dapples the bright green leaves. Papa and

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