-->

Malcolm Nichols

Theatre History II

2/19/13

Elevator Stages, Treadmills, Trap doors, oh my!

            The 19^th century was full of theatrical technology innovations. The change from backdrops to box sets, from low to detail to immensely realistic scenery, the innovation of gas lighting, trap doors in the floor, stages that moved up and down and much more. The type of show that was performed began to change, which forced a change in the way scenery had to be designed.

            Steele MacKaye designed the elevator stage in the late 1800s. He was frustrated with the restrictions that many sets laid out in front of him. As a director and playwright, he was tired of being locked into a set location, or be unable to change scenery on a large scale to facilitate the change in locations in the play.

            Steele’s answer to his problem was the creation of the elevator stage. The elevator stage is two stages, one on top of the other on a counterweight system. When the lower stage was at house level, the upper stage would be above on another level, being prepared for the next scene. When the upper stage was lowered down to house level, the lower stage would be at a basement level where it was being prepared for the next scene.  It would take about 40 seconds from the time the curtain closed to the time the curtain opened with the new set upon it.

           

The creation of the elevator stage didn’t receive the type of hype and craze that Steele wanted. It was a wonderful idea, but at the time it wasn’t cost efficient enough.  The amount of money and manpower that went into the construction and implementation of the elevator stage was considered to not be worth it at the time.

            The advance of modern technology has made the idea of the elevator stage even less needed. Nowadays we have the ability to move enormous scenery on and off stage with the use of castors, hydraulic systems, fly rails, and more. 

            Around the same time as the elevator stage is being built, the use of treadmills and moving panoramas is implemented as well. A treadmill was built into the floor with a rotating diorama behind the horse. This effect was used for things such as horse races on stage, stampedes, and more. The painted backdrop that was the norm evolved into the moving background we call the diorama.

            Treadmill on stage. 

 Another innovation of the 19th century was the widespread use of trap doors in the stage. Though these had been used and seen before. The 19th century was when they truly began to take off. Most trapdoors in the stage floor were used for the purpose of special effects. But some directors used them to build stairs into, giving the realistic effect that the actor was walking down into a basement or lower level. The following video goes backstage in study of the trap door. 

Until the 19th century, many scenic designs consisted of a painted backdrop in the background, with realistic scenery and props in the foreground. This was considered the "right way" to do theatre.

 As the way theater was performed change, so did the way it was designed. Because of the shift, the "Box set" came to be. A box set is the idea that the stage is box, and the proscenium in the side of the box that we have ripped off and as audience members are able to see the life of the actors. The box set comes in many different sizes. It can be small, it can be large.  It can be filled with beautiful scenery or left blank. Even though the box set may seem constricting,  it is actually a very versatile design concept. 

Previous to the 1800's, the main sources of lighting in the theater came from candles and kerosene lamps. In the days of Shakespeare,  theatre was performed in the light of day.  English innovator F.A. Windsor had something to say about that. In 1804, he patented the use of gas lighting. And where did he decide to use it first? The theatre. The Lyceum Theatre in London to be exact. With this innovation came the ability to control the brightness of the light, as well as the placement.  

19th century was a revolutionary year for technical theater. The technology advanced, the ideas changed, the way performances were thought of changed, and many more things. The 19th century was a major building block for what we have today.