The orchestra occupies the space immediately in front or the proscenium, and this space is arranged so as to be capable of being enlarged or contracted as occasion may require. The proscenium is a small portion of the stage which projects a few feet in front of the curtain, so as to enable the actors to stand well forward, that they may be distinctly heard by the audience. The part of the house on either side of the proscenium is that on which there is usually the greatest amount of ornament. The sides and ceil ing of the proscenium form, as it were, the frame through which the picture represented on the stage is seen; and as on it every eye must rest, it is made more ornate than the rest of the auditorium. The ceiling, presenting as it does a large broad surface, and being well seen from many parts of the house, is also a place well adapted for ornament, and is generally made as handsome as possible. The same remark applies to the fronts of the dress circle and galleries. The stage extends backward from the proscenium, and ought to be of considerable depth, so as to admit of the scenic effects, dissolving scenes, etc., now so much run upon. The great length of the stage from front to back is one of the most striking differences between the modern and the ancient theater, and arises entirely from the introduction and development of movable scenery—an invention of the archi tect Baldassare Peruzzi, and first used in Rome before Leo X., in 1508. The floor of the stage is not laid level like the floor of a room, but is sloped upward from front to back, so as to elevate the performers and scenes at the back, and render them more easily seen. The inclination of the stage is generally about half an inch to every foot. The stage department of a theater not only requites to be very long, but also very lofty above, and deep below the stage, so as to allow the large frames on which the scenes are stretched to be raised or lowered in one piece. The stage itself is a most complicated piece of mechanism, a considerable part of it being made movable either in the form of traps, for raising or lowering actors, furniture, etc., or in long pieces, which slide off to each side from the center, to allow the scenes to rise or descend. There are also bridges, or platforms constructed for raising and lowering through similar openings, some of them the full width of the stage. The traps and bridges are almost all worked by means of balance-weights, and the slides by ropes and windlasses. Besides the large frames above described as containing pictures occupying the full opening of the stage, there are other scenes which are pushed from the sides to the center, each being only one-half the width of the opening. These are called flats, and usually slide in grooves above and below. The grooves are arranged in clusters at intervals, having clear spaces between,. called the entrances, through which the actors pass on and off the stage. But in modern French theaters and in the opera-houses—such, for instance, as Covent Garden theater —these grooves are regarded as an incumbrance to the stage, and are entirely done away with. Their place is occupied by narrow openings or slits in the stage, below which are blocks running on wheels, and containing sockets, into which poles are dropped from above, ,and to these the flats are attached. Another advantage of this system is, that the gas-wings and ladders may be made movable, and slip backward and forward in the same manner as the flats. When occasion requires, the whole stage eau thus be entirely cleared. According to the old plan of fixed grooves, only the center of the stage can ever be cleared without uuscrewiug all the grooves, and the gas-wings must always remain in the same relative position. Besides the flats, there are also smaller scenes which move in the grooves. These are called wings, and are used to screen the entrance. Corresponding to the wings are similar narrow scenes dropped from above: these are called borders, and are used to hide the gas-battens. These and the scenes which are drawn up, the gas-battens, etc., are all worked by means of ropes from the flies, or gal leries running along the sides of the stage at a high level. The ropes from these up into the barrel-loft (a space in the roof filled with large drums and barrels on which the ropes are coiled) and down again to the flies, form a complication which seems to the uninitiated observer an inextricable mass of confusion. While such is the usual arrange ment connected with movable scenery, it is to be noted that latterly a very great change has been introduced into the higher class of theaters. This change consists in the dis missal of wings or sliding side portions of scenes with intervening gaps, and substituting for them large pieces of scenery resembling the sides and further end of a room—au arrangement every way more natural. In cases of this improved kind, the actors enter on the stage and depart by doors. In connection with the stage, it is usual to have a large space set apart for containing scenery, called the scene-dock. This is frequently placed at the back of the stage, and may, on occasion, be cleared out, to give extra depth to the scene. There are also numerous apartments required in connection with the stage for the working of the theater—such as manager's room; dressing-rooms for the actors and actresses; the "green-room," in which they assemble when dressed, and wait till they are called; "star-rooms," or dressing-rooms for the stars; the wardrobe, in which the costumes are kept; furniture stores, scene stores; "property"-makers room; and workshops for the carpenter, gas-man, etc. There must also be a good painting room, which must necessarily be a large apartment, from the size of the pictures which have to be painted—each being the full size of the opening of the stage. The canvas for these scenes is stretched on frames, which move up and down by means of a winch with balance-weights; and thus the painter stands comfortably on the floor, and moves his picture up or down, so as to get at any part he wishes. An interesting point on the
stage is the prompt corner, from which the prompter has command of all the lights of the house, and bells to warn every man of his duty at the proper moment. He has a large brass plate, in which a number of handles are fixed, with an index to each, mark ing the high, low, etc., of the lights; and as each system of lights has a separate main pipe from the prompt corner, each can be managed independently. The side of the house on which the prompter is seated is called the "prompt side," and the other side is called the " O. P." or opposite side.
The house, or auditorium department, is generally lighted by means of a large luster or sun-light in the center of the ceiling, and much of the effect of the building depends on how this is managed. There are also usually smaller lights round one tier of the boxes at least. The proscenium is lighted by a large luster on each side, and by the foot-lights, which run along the whole of the front of the stage. These are sometimes provided with glasses of different colors, called mediums, which are used for throwing a red, green, or white light on the stage, as may be required. The stage is lighted by rows of gas-burners up cinch side and across the top at every entrance. The side-lights are called gas-wings, or ladders; and the top ones, gas-battens. Each of these has a main from the prompt corner. They can be pushed in and out, or up and down, like the scenery. There is also provision at each entrance for fixing flexible hose and temporary lights, so as to produce a bright effect wherever required. The mediums for producing colored light in this case are blinds of colored cloth. Another means of producing bril liant effects of light is the lime-light, by which, together with lenses of colored glass, bright lights of any color can be thrown on the stage or scenery when required.
Theaters are usually either very cold or insufferably hot. This arises from want of proper means of heating, and insufficient ventilation. The center luster is the great cause of ventilation, the draught caused by its heat drawing off the foul air at the ceiling. The suction caused by this withdrawal of air is naturally supplied from the great body of air in the stage. The stage ought, therefore, to be moderately heated by means of hot-water pipes or otherwise, so as to prevent cold draughts. The passages and lobbies round the house should also be heated in the same way, so that any air drawn in to the house may be properly tempered. An attempt has been made in Paris, of late years, to obviate the great heat and draught caused by the center luster, by doing away with the luster, and making the ceiling partly of glass, with powerful lights and reflectors behind the glass in the roof. This mode of lighting is, however, of rather a subdued character for a theater, although very appropriate to such chambers as the house of commons, where it acts admirably. In Paris they have also tried to supply fresh air from the gardens outside by means of a large tube, from which numerous small tubes branch and distribute the fresh air all round the theater from the fronts of the boxes, round the proscenium, etc. The idea is an excellent one, and is said to answer well practically.
There is a novel and agreeable class of theaters now in use in Germany, but of which we have as yet no specimens in this country. It consists of a double auditory, one at each end of the stage. One of these auditories is arranged and lighted in the usual manner, and is called the winter theater. The other auditory is called the summer theater, and is so arranged that performances may be represented in daylight during the summer season. It is lighted by large windows in the outer wall, which corresponds in form to the interior curves of the galleries, and also by windows in the roof. The entrances are by means of staircases at each side, near the proscenium, and by wide cor ridors and balconies round the curve of the exterior wall. One of the most effective of these sum:Ler-theaters is the Victoria in Berlin, by Zitz.
The art of dramatic representation, has undergone great changes. In ancient Greece, partly from the character of the subjects selected, and partly from the origin of the drama itself, costume and acting were conventional, artificial, and stereotyped. On this point, we quote the words of Witzschel, who has written a handbook for students on the Athenian stage. (Eng. transl. by Paul; ed. by T. K. Arnold, Loud. 1850): " There can be no doubt," says he, "that the somewhat fantastic costume which was handed down without any change from one generation of actors to another was closely connected with the religious character of their tragic performances. The peculiar fashion and brilliant colors of the tragic wardrobe belonged rather to the Dionysian solemnities than to the stage. That $schylus, by whom the greater part of it was invented, kept steadily in view the original intention of tragedy is evident from the notices which we find in an cient writers of his theatrical dresses having been worn in other religious ceremonies and processions. It is only reasonable to suppose that he would have given to the tragic stage a wardrobe of a very different description had he not been influenced by the con viction, that theatrical performances were in some sort a religious ceremonial. Anotner proof of the feeling entertained on this subject may be found in the ridicule with which Aristophanes overwhelms Euripides for introducing his heroes, not only in pitiable situ ations but in dirty, ragged, and beggarly weeds, to the great disgust of all true-hearted Athenians, and the utter annihilation of tragic ideality. In the Acharnenses, the whole of the tragic poet's squalid wardrobe is held up to public derision.