A small jewel of Rehearsal Logic: 

Full tilt immediately into Act I.  Walking through the set with the director.  Looking forward to this (having worked with her before, I know I can trust her not to make the character of the three gossips/bitches in any way nice); we ask what the pile of stuff in the middle of the stage is (mainly to work out what we're going to be tripping over). 

Ah yes, she says, corpses.  From right to left, "Schafe, Schafe, Schafe, Hund" ("sheep, sheep, sheep, dog"; indicating in turn three cardboard boxes and a dead sheep...).  An eyebrow must have escaped from the iron discipline of one of our faces; cue an irresistible directorial giggle, cackling all around, and the settling knowledge that this is going to be fun!