Newfangled Contraptions, 3D design and Lighting the Stage

           During Cromwell’s near 20 year rule of England, Charles II spent his exile in France and the Spanish Netherlands where theatre was far more advanced than the theatre in England.  Charles II was a great supporter of the arts and immediately reestablished theatre in England once he returned to his throne.  Before theatre had been condemned by Cromwell, the scenery for each play remained the same throughout the entire production and the sun’s light was used to light the stage, but after the restoration of the monarchy, innovation in the area of theatrical productions was needed.  Over the course of the puritan rule, theatre did not entirely stop but slowed and moved indoors in order to escape the notice of the government.  Because indoor theatre could not depend on natural light and scenery, it was forced to find new ways to light and set the stage for action.

            Though changeable scenery had been in use in France and Ireland for a long time, the first changeable scenery production in England took place at the Lincoln’s Inn Fields on the 28^th of June 1661—an opera/play called The Siege of Rhodes.  Charles II himself made an appearance for the first time at a public playhouse in order to see the spectacle.  After one playhouse introduced changeable scenery, the others had no choice but to follow their lead in order to sell tickets.  The settings themselves were not the only innovation; the methods used to change the sets were of great importance.  Because the set changes were done in front of the audience, efficiency was paramount and to cope with the demands of set changes everything from pulley systems to roller-rails in the floor and even sub-stage organization accessed through trapdoors were used (and even used as elements within the plays—Aphra Behn’s The Rover trapdoor scene).

            Lighting was originally provided by the sun in the afternoon showings of outdoor plays but when theatre moved inside it was necessary to find new ways of lighting the stage, made more difficult by the fact that gas lighting and electricity were unavailable in the Restoration period.  In the early years after Charles II was restored to the throne, windows, candle chandeliers and candle footlights were used to illuminate the stage.  In order to ‘color’ the light, bottles of colored liquids were placed in front of the candles and provided atmosphere for different scenes.  It was not until the mid 1700’s that candle mounts called ladders were introduced to light the sides of the stages, and kerosene lamps were invented which greatly lessened the effort involved in lighting a play.

            I find it fascinating how much our modern theatres depend on techniques developed during the Restoration to entertain their audiences.  Too cool!