The invisible fourth wall in stories allows the audience to be merely a fly on the wall, watching the drama unfold without taking part in it. Metalepsis is when that wall is broken, as is frequently done on television, in movies, on stage, etc. for comedic effect. The characters may break that barrier momentarily to comment on something supposedly outside the fabula, like in that Family Guy clip we watched in class yesterday of Stewie commenting on the 24 ad at the bottom of the screen. But what happens when there’s a narrator? Does the narrator exist on the characters’ side of the wall or the audience’s? I would guess that since the narrator mainly interacts with the audience, he would be outside the wall with them. If that’s the case though, then what happens when the characters in the story begin to interact with the narrator as well? Into The Woods is a prime example of this when the characters within the story are looking for someone to sacrifice to the giant and suddenly notice the narrator speaking to the audience from the side of the stage. Have they broken the wall without actually interacting with the audience or does the wall merely engulf the narrator now as well? Also, where is that wall built in cases like Cabaret? At the very opening, the Emcee addresses the audience directly with the song “Willkommen”, saying that he is their host and that they are in the cabaret. Suddenly, the audience has become part of the fabula, yet they still exist outside of the story as well. In the production of Cabaret I saw (I don’t honestly know if this is common for all productions or merely an idea that Shenandoah University had) the Emcee stayed on stage for the duration of the musical so that even during the scenes that took place outside of the cabaret, the fourth wall could not be definitely established as existing in front of or behind the audience. Even the band was in costume as cabaret performers. Is it possible for a story to exist if there is no fourth wall?