Moreover the i8th century stage was carefully calculated to enhance painting in perspective. The stage floor sloped up. The side flats receded until the rear of the stage was very near the true vanishing point, so that an alley of trees or an avenue of columns receded very much as they would in nature. But on the stage of to-day the spectators are looking into a space so shallow that any illusion of depth is difficult to attain. In an average pro. duction there is rarely more than 8 to i o ft. from the garden wal to the distant mountains; often there can be only 4 or 5 f t. frorr a window to the sky.
The early technique of shifting scenery was done by having the side flats on grooved slots, set in pairs, tied to a rod which con nected with a series of windlasses in the cellar. At a given mo ment one turn of these windlasses would shoot the rear flats out like a shutter, and withdraw the front flats out of sight, achieving a complete change of scene with great precision. A beamed grid iron under the ceiling, with another series of windlasses, hoisted and lowered the clouds and the platforms on which gods and god desses descended. Owing to the shallow space of the modern theatre and the suppression of the apron in front of the curtain, the front rows of spectators can see clear to the roof and to the side walls. The modern stage settings therefore have had to become a three-sided box with a lid over the top, when interiors are called for; for exteriors a curved sky, either of canvas or of plaster is used, instead of a sky in flounces as seen in the 18th century theatres. There is so little room on the stage for stack ing scenery that most of it has to be broken apart, or unlashed, for each change of scene, and hoisted into the air where it hangs until it is needed again, and as certain sets may be 24 and sometimes 3o ft. high they have to be hoisted high enough to be
out of sight when not in use. Hence the gridiron from which scenery is hung—handling is facilitated by having the lines that haul it attached to counterweights grouped at one side of the stage,—is the most important part of standard stage equipment. The opening which the audience sees, the proscenium frame, is in reality a mouse-trap shutter at the bottom of a tall shaft. The average proscenium opening is 24 to 3o feet. The curtain in actual use is rarely drawn higher than 20 ft. for exteriors, and 1 2 to 14 ft. for interiors; the remaining space is occupied by flounces and draperies. And the gridiron must be a minimum of 65 ft. in height; for hauling scenery out of sight, 8o to 85 ft. is better. At the Century theatre, New York, it was about ioo ft. above the stage floor.
In any case the space behind the stage opening is mainly storage space for hanging scenery in mid-air. The place occupied by the largest scene is approximately one-seventh of the total stage space, and the proportion will not vary greatly in American theatres or most commercial theatres of Europe.
The system outlined above is not by any means the best either mechanically or aesthetically. It is, in method, as archaic as hoisting sails ; indeed the workmen on the stage who shift scenery are known as the crew to this day. The revolving stage introduced by Lautenschlager from Japan was used extensively, and did away with the necessity of a gridiron almost entirely. At Dresden, Linnebach at the State theatre and Hasait at the Opera, con structed elevator stages worked by hydraulic power, so that heaviest sets could be set in the cellar, hoisted to stage level and slid into place with extraordinary speed. The cellar being two or three storeys deep, the settings for two or three entire productions could be kept intact indefinitely.
These mechanical marvels have never developed because the economic trend of the time is against them. Land has become too expensive to allow the amount of space and excavation required; rising costs everywhere in Europe make the duplication of any such installation prohibitive. In the United States where a single elevator platform r 2 by 3o costs approximately $25,000 to install, an entire stage so equipped would represent a capital investment that only the very wealthiest theatrical producer could carry. Thus theatres tend to become smaller and shallower and the theatre everywhere approximates to American conditions where every thing has to be crowded into a standard building site of ioo ft. square.