Three scenes of _Men of Iron_ are laid in Devlin Castle, England. What do we know about castles and about English castles? When were castles built? We go to the library and find books that give us both illustrations and descriptions. In one of these, Quennell’s _History of Everyday Things in England_, there are drawings and descriptions of castles of the XIth, XIIth, XIIIth, XIVth, and XVth centuries. The story of _Men of Iron_ is laid in the year 1509. Devlin Castle had probably seen many generations of the Mackworth family come and go long before this time. It probably was built in the XIIIth or early XIVth century. Let us follow, therefore, the plan of a XIVth Century castle. On page 86, we find a ground plan and a picture of such a castle. Read the description of its massive stone walls and towers, colorless and gray, and of its courtyard and great hall. The first scene of the play is laid in the courtyard. The second scene is laid in the ladies’ garden. The third is laid in the great hall. Your problem now is to give your audience a picture of this castle, and the varied life of its courtyard, its ladies’ garden, and its great hall. On a stage measuring 30 inches by 55 inches, how can this be done? If the settings are wisely planned, the audience will have such a vivid impression of the courtyard, the garden, and the castle, that they will feel they are living in the time of the play. [Illustration: [Stage]] You may be interested in the way a group of boys and girls planned the stage settings for this play. The first scene was laid in the courtyard. Instead of trying to show every little incident and detail of the life of the courtyard, every stable and blacksmith shop, every well and water trough, they asked themselves what important things happened in this first act and listed them as follows: First, Myles practised at the pells. Second, the armorer worked in his shop. Third, Myles played with the squire, and threw a ball over the wall. Then they took the ground-floor plan of the XIVth century castle, as they found it in the book, studied it carefully, and planned this setting. Every stage setting must give the actors enough room to move about in. It must have exits. It must be a well-composed picture. It must be related to the scene that follows. You can readily see how this careful planning met each of these requirements: First, it gave room for their puppets to do what they were required to do. Second, it gave them the two necessary exits, one into the castle, the other out to the drawbridge. Third, it made, by the arrangement of wall, towers, and armorer’s shop, a well-composed picture. Fourth, by this arrangement of the first scene, they were able to carry the imagination of the audience, with Myles, when he climbed over the wall, into the ladies’ garden, in the second scene. [Illustration: [Stage]]