When it comes to modernizing a play, there are many obvious things that would have to be changed right of the bat. The first thing would be the scenery. In the play, the room should be set up in a way that would resemble a modern house or apartment. This could include lighting, tables or TVs being switched around. In the play they stated the room was being lit up by candles, however this could be switched to dimmed lighting or purely using candles as decoration.

One of the biggest changes that could be made would be to change out the skull for something else. In this play it may have made sense in the time period, however in the modern era people won’t normally ship a skull to someone else. To make the play make more sense, this could be changed to another item. The problem is, changing the item could also change the meaning of the text, and take away from what the story was originally supposed to tell.

One other thing that could be modernized would be the clothing that the actors are wearing. It would have to be changed out to the current style, most likely jeans and t-shirts, something casual. They are sitting in the living room and not out and about.

References

Legend – a One-Act Play by Floyd Dell, http://www.one-act-plays.com/dramas/legend.html.