Answer: The empty chair represents the father's absence and the family's grief: his place cannot be filled. Daniel standing up "as if it were hot" suggests he feels he has trespassed, and that the loss is still raw.

Answer: The case is a visible reminder of what is missing: both the watch and the father. Because the audience knows why it is empty, the prop becomes a symbol of Ruth's secret and of the lost connection to the past. Ending with only the case lit makes it the focus of the whole scene.

Answer: She is overwhelmed by memories of her father's patience and kindness, which deepens her guilt about selling the watch. The short, quiet lines suggest she is struggling to hold herself together.

Answer: It begins as afternoon light through dusty blinds; later the light shifts so the chair falls into shadow, and finally fades until only the case is lit. The fading light suggests the truth being obscured, the passing of time and the darkening of the relationship.

Answer: The audience knows the watch will not turn up because Ruth sold it. His hopeful confidence is painful to watch and increases the tension about whether Ruth will confess.

Answer: Model: after a long pause, she says it very quietly, without looking at Daniel, perhaps turning away toward the door, so the audience senses she is about to confess but cannot. Accept any reasoned choice that conveys guilt, hesitation or sorrow.

Model answer: The playwright builds tension by letting the audience share Ruth's secret, so that every ordinary line becomes loaded with guilt and dread. Because we have already watched Ruth sell the watch, Daniel's innocent question, "You haven't seen it?", traps her in a lie that we can see but he cannot. The stage direction that the tape "screeches" as she pulls it fills her pause with a harsh, uncomfortable sound, externalising her panic. Her reply, "That's a lovely idea," is polite on the surface, yet its subtext is painful, since she knows Daniel's plan to give the watch to his son is impossible. Nervous actions, such as picking up a box that is "already taped", show her desperation to avoid his gaze. The empty velvet case becomes the scene's central prop: when Daniel places it on the father's chair, the absent watch and the absent father merge into one image of loss. Meanwhile, the shifting light that leaves the chair "in shadow" suggests the truth slipping further out of reach. Daniel's confident line, "Things like that always turn up," is cruelly ironic, and Ruth's single-word reply after "a long moment" leaves the audience waiting for a confession that never comes. Ending with only the case lit before the blackout ensures the unresolved secret lingers, making the tension last beyond the scene.