Theatre shows used to be highly naturalistic, so you’d be looking at something akin to a large dolls house but with real people. Dolls houses have three existing walls and the front one is missing so the kids can peer in and watch the stories unfold between rooms. That missing wall is the fourth wall.

Theatre has moved on now and become more inventive, so sometimes the audience is on all sides (in the round) three sides (a thrust stage) or on two sides (a catwalk). But we still call acknowledgment of, and talking directly to, the audience ‘breaking the fourth wall’. It means that at least one of the dolls in the dollhouse knows there’s someone watching :o)