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In conjunction with A&C Black, The Stage is please to present a chapter from the publication 'The Staging Handbook (3rd edition)' by Francis Reid.

Permission to reproduce the material from the following title is kindly granted from A&C Black publishers

The title listed below can be purchased from the A&C Black website.

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The Staging Handbook (3rd edition)

by Francis Reid
© 2001, 1995, 1990, 1978 Francis Reid

Chapter Five

Scenery

This book is concerned with practicalities rather than aesthetics; with the practical realisation of a scene design rather than the ideas which have determined that design's format and style. This does not mean that scene designers, scene builders and scene shifters should work in non-communicating cells. Scene designers will not get very far if they do not understand something of the way in which scenery is built and moved. And those who build and move scenery will communicate more easily with the designer if they have an interest in, and knowledge of, the design process.

The available stage and its facilities, the available money and time are certainly factors that must be considered in establishing the form of scenery. These do not necessarily impose a heavy restriction on the designer's creativity. Within the limitations of the quantities, shapes and movements of scenic elements it is still possible to design in a wide range of styles.

Hidden Scenic Costs

When accusations of scenic extravagance are made, producing theatres often respond by pointing out that the major part of their budget is devoted to salary costs and that the outlay on scenic materials is a very small portion of total expenditure. However, a small increase in the complexity of scenery can produce a larger increase in running costs due to the extra labour and/or time required to set up and move the scenery before and during the performance. This is particularly true of theatres performing in repertoire with daily changeovers: a significant proportion of the total personnel costs can be attributed to the complexities of the daily changeover - often requiring overtime and overnight working.

Indeed, there may be a case for incurring extra production costs to build scenery in a way that will make its handling less labour-intensive in performance. All the financial implications must be considered seriously in the early stages of scenic design.

Cost-Effectiveness

To help control costs, it is useful to have as detailed a breakdown as possible of individual scenic item costings, particularly if the design has to be trimmed to come within budget. It is surprising just how often the more expensive items of detailing on a set can be the least effective in communicating the production's intentions to the audience. Comparison of cost and effect can be a useful approach to keeping a design within budget.

Masking

In most productions the technical areas of the stage are hidden from audience view. This masking often has to be added - almost as an afterthought - by the technical staff, using neutral borders at the top and neutral legs or wings at the side. Masking, however, should be part of the design; good masking not only conceals the technical areas but defines the performance area. Ideally a design will be self-masking. The various elements of the setting will define what the audience should see and conceal what they should not - perhaps with the addition of just a high black border and a couple of discreet black legs for the benefit of those sitting in the difficult masking positions at the ends of the front rows. One popular design format is a permanent decorative surround which masks while giving unity to a series of scenes defined by the minimum of representational objects.

Masking should be worked out in plan and section at the drawing board by checking lines of sight from extreme seating positions. Some production styles deliberately leave technical areas (particularly lighting equipment) unmasked, but the amount of unmasked area should be a calculated decision rather than left to chance.

Standing or Changeable

If the action of a script does not require changes in location, the performance will require only one set. If this set is for a run of performances on only one stage, it may be constructed from relatively heavy materials and fixed together by relatively unsophisticated means. If it is to be toured, however, or played in repertoire, light construction and speedy assembly are advisable in the interests of budgeting and scheduling. In the case of scenery changed during a performance, sophisticated construction becomes essential rather than just advisable. The time and staff available for the scene change will determine the degree of sophistication required.

There has been a move away from completely changeable scenery where 'scene change' implied a complete replacement of everything behind the proscenium. This is not due entirely to economics, although cost considerations do play a significant part in restricting the amount of scenery. It results largely from the aesthetic aim of establishing style by the presence from scene to scene of constant unifying elements. Consequently, much of today's scenery tends to consist of a basic standing set with changeable elements.

Scenery Movements

Scenery changes may be hidden from the audience by a curtain or by a blackout, or they may be incorporated into the action. Scenery moving in view (an old technique enjoying a revival) should be designed and built to move without visible human assistance. Costumed staff or actors can assist a visual change, but such a change is usually more effective if the assistance appears to be delicate rather than heavily physical.

Vertical or Horizontal

Scenery can be moved vertically or horizontally. On the huge operatic stages of Central Europe, complete scenes can be lowered into the basement, and some smaller, simpler stages around the world have various elevators and traps which allow a limited lowering of parts of the scene. In most cases, however, vertical movement of scenery means hoisting upwards into a fly tower above the stage.

Horizontal movement of scenery to storage spaces (scene docks) at the side of the stage can be done manually by planning the set so that it breaks down into pieces which can be carried, preferably by not more than two people. Alternatively, sections of the set can be assembled on wheeled platforms (trucks) for easier movement. On the bigger opera stages there are often huge sliding platform-stages which can move a complete scene from the acting area into an off-stage dock.

Hemp Flying

The simplest form of flying is hoisting scenery into the fly tower by sheer brute force - manual heaving on ropes without any assistance from machinery, counterweights or pulley systems giving mechanical advantage. This simple form of flying is usually known as hemp, and a theatre equipped in this way is referred to as a hemp house - the word 'hemp' indicating the original type of rope. The work is done from a gallery at the side of the stage known as the fly floor, from which the ropes pass up to the grid (a supporting frame for pulley blocks at the top of the fly tower) and down to the stage. Each set of flying ropes consists of three lines: the long, the centre, and the short, named with reference to distance from the fly gallery.

The ropes are tied off on the fly gallery to large wooden or metal cleats. There are normally two rows of these cleat rails: the bottom row for the lowered position of the scenery and the top row for the raised position. These positions are known as deads (trims in America). The bottom dead of a cloth, for example, is when the bottom of the cloth is absolutely straight and just, only just, touching the stage floor - that is, touching without the floor taking any of the cloth's weight, for that would result in creases. When deading, instructions are given to the fly crew in terms of in (down) and out (up) on the short, centre and long: for example, 'in on your short, out on your long'. The lines are kept tied off on the bottom dead cleat and when the scenery is flown out of sight it is tied off on the top dead. Any piece of scenery flown as high as possible is said to be gridded. Sets of lines not in use are tied to a sandbag to provide weight for lowering to stage level when next required.

Whereas gauzes, borders and light cloths can be handled in this way, the sheer weight of built scenery makes it difficult to fly smoothly. Moreover, hemp flying is not just wasteful of manpower but is rather unpleasant work. Mechanical assistance can be given by rigging a pulley system with mechanical advantage - a billy-block - and this is particularly useful for the heaviest pieces. However, the real solution lies in counterweight flying.

Counterweight Flying

Here the weight of the flown scenery is counterbalanced by an appropriate number of weights, usually iron but occasionally lead, in a vertically travelling cradle. Steel wires run from this cradle over grid pulleys to a metal bar the width of the stage. As the width of stage increases, more suspension wires are provided and the single bar becomes a pair of bars with cross-bracing. A rope loop running from the top of the cradle up to the grid, down to the stage floor and back to the bottom of the cradle allows one person to fly pieces of any weight in or out, provided that the correct number of counterweights have been added to the cradle. Ideally, the cradle has the same travel as the bar and scenery which it is counter-balancing - that is, from grid to stage floor. In this case, the weight in the cradle will equal the weight to be flown. In some situations, particularly when there is restricted wall space due to the stage being wider than the fly tower, or when there is restricted height above scene dock doors, all or some of the cradles can only travel half the distance of their fly bars. In these circumstances a system known as double purchase is used, with the cradle carrying twice the weight of the load.

Since the weights must be added to the cradle after the scenery has been attached, the weighting has to be done when the cradle is high (near the grid) corresponding to the bar being low (near the stage). Therefore there has to be a loading gallery just below grid level. While scenery is being hung, a member of the fly crew is positioned in this gallery to add weights to the cradles as necessary.

Safety in Flying

Safety routines are very important in counterweight flying. Weights must not be added to the cradle until the scenery is attached to the bar and, conversely, scenery must not be removed from a bar until the counterweights have been removed. Otherwise the over-weighted bar will run dangerously fast to the grid. Counterweight sets have a lock which clamps on the handling rope and this should always be clamped when the set is not being handled. These locks, however, are not intended to hold a bar that is incorrectly weighted.

In hemp flying it is vital that no lines are untied from a cleat unless it is absolutely certain that enough crew are standing by to take the weight.

In all flying, particularly during fit-ups, rehearsals and get-outs, it is essential that the fly crew have a clear view of that part of the stage where the flown scenery will land or take off. Where the crew operating the lines cannot see, they should work under instructions from someone who can see.

Single purchase counterweights can be operated from a fly gallery or from stage level. Double purchase can only operate from a gallery. There are bonus points either way. At stage level the fly crew may see more clearly and be in better contact with other stage staff and stage management. In a fly gallery the atmosphere may be calmer and concentrated on one technical job; it is also easier to have advance warning of scenic pieces in the fly tower fouling one another.

Anything hanging above a stage must be regarded as a potential source of danger, only to be averted by constant vigilance over such matters as knots, over-strained wires, etc. - not to mention hammers and other tools hooked 'temporarily' over a bar while working.

Safe procedures for flying are detailed in a Code of Practice published by The Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT).

Advanced Flying Systems

Hydraulic and electric power are applied to flying with two objectives: first to simplify performances by allowing one person to operate several bars moving at different speeds in different directions, and, secondly, to simplify rigging by making the system self-balancing and thus free from the labour of manual counter-weighting. The most elaborate of these systems is based on a series of single wire hoists which can be linked in any combination by a computer.

Flown Scenery

Painted cloths, where the thickish paint would crack and crease if the cloth were folded, are normally fixed to timber battens at top and bottom by sandwiching the cloth between two pieces of wood. The cloth is stored and moved by rolling it on its bottom batten. For hemp flying the ropes are tied directly to the top batten. For counter-weight flying the batten is suspended from the fly bar with chains. Dyed and thinly painted cloths and gauzes are usually supplied with tapes at the top and a pocket at the bottom. The tapes can be tied directly on to the fly bar (or on to a timber batten in a hemp house) and the pocket can either be filled with chain or, better, a length of screwed electrical conduit which will keep a gauze straight and stretched. This type of cloth is folded for storage. For ease in hanging, all cloths and gauzes should have their centres clearly marked.

A French flat is a flown flat or series of flats battened together for flying. The weight must be taken from the bottom of the flat where a steel wire is attached to a hanging iron screwed or bolted to the timber framework. This wire is kept flush to the flat by passing it through a ring screwed to the top of the flat. The amount of wire between the top of the flat and the fly bar is known as the drift and care must be taken in calculation and measurement to ensure that it is not too short (the bar would come into sight) or too long (the flat would not fly completely out of sight). The portion of drift wire in sight is often painted black to avoid it glistening in the light. Black plastic-sheathed flying wire is now available for use, subject to particularly careful safety checking for hidden corrosion.

Fly Plots

All sets of flying lines are numbered from downstage and are usually at fixed intervals of between six and nine inches (150mm and 300mm). In addition to the fixed numbering it is common practice to chalk the name of the flying piece (e.g. 'ballroom FF' or 'garden BC') on the frame adjacent to the cradle. Deads are marked on the ropes with coloured tape. Fly crew usually keep two plots: a hanging plot listing the items on each bar, and a running plot of the bars that move on each cue.

Spot Lines

When a single line is required for an effect, a lighting boom or perhaps to pick up something like the curved end of a cyclorama bar, a temporary spot line is dropped through the grid at the required position. If this line is to move on cue, it can be fed over pulleys to the fly gallery; if movement is not required, it is often tied off to fixings immediately above the grid.

The Role of Flying

Flying is a very useful method for storing and moving two-dimensional scenery. It is the only satisfactory way of handling cloths, and it is a useful way of handling framed scenery provided that it sets parallel to the front of the stage. This is the main limitation of flying - it can only handle scenery in quantity if everything flies in one plane. It is possible to fly on the oblique, but one flown flat set on an angle blocks all the lines between the upstage and downstage limits of that flat: the steeper the angle, the more lines blocked.

It is possible to fly flats parallel for storage, then set them on the oblique when they are at stage level, but this requires a tricky operation known as overhauling. Once the scenery reaches the stage, the bar is lowered further until there is enough slack on the drift wires to allow the flat to be angled. To do this the fly crew have to pull against the counterweights as they are no longer in counter-balance with the scenery. The technique has to be used with caution and is only advisable when the scenery is relatively lightweight and the scene change is not visible to the audience.

For changes carried out in sight of the audience, flying can be quick and graceful. For horizontal movements, curtains and gauzes may be hung from tab tracks; either the standard overlapping twin track with a pair of tabs opening from the centre outwards, or a single wipe track where a single curtain can be drawn over all or part of the stage. Conventional tracks bunch from the on-stage end of the track. Rear-fold tracks bunch at the off-stage and this can be a rather more elegant movement.

Generally speaking, counterweight flying is a very cost-effective way of handling scenery: once a piece is tied on to a bar and counterweighted, it can be handled with ease, accuracy and certainty by one person.

Suspension on Small Stages

There are many proscenium stages without fly towers. Unfortunately, many of these stages also have limited wing space or even none at all. But if there is no flying space, there is often hanging space: material can be suspended but not flown out. At worst there may be only a couple of feet and its use restricted to lighting equipment and masking borders. Cloths can be flown out of sight by rolling. The cloth is slowly lowered while a team rolls it on to the bottom batten after which it can be flown out of sight. For rolling in sight of an audience it is possible to arrange lines to roll the cloth from the bottom on a special large diameter round timber.

With slightly more hanging space available, it is possible to fly a cloth in half its height by tumbling. The cloth is raised on two sets of lines, one set from the top and one from the bottom. To smooth the operation, an unattached round timber may be rolled in the fold. Alternatively, the second set of lines may be attached to a timber batten midway up the cloth and the two halves flown simultaneously.

The main hope for such a stage is to ensure that as many lines as possible are available. Minimum line and pulley provision is often made on the assumption that masking will be hung on dead lines tied from the top of a ladder. This is frustrating and time wasting.

The only true solution to a poorly equipped or non-orthodox stage is to accept its limitations and adopt a scenic style that tries to make imaginative use of what exists, rather than try to force the technical facilities to do something for which they were never intended.

Built Scenery

The aim of good scenery construction is a three-dimensional structure which can be assembled very quickly from two-dimensional components. If these component pieces are absolutely flat, they can be packed in a very tight wing space ready for assembly in a quick scene change. They will also take up minimum space in stores and transport trucks. The traditional flat is canvas stretched over a timber frame with every detail, including three-dimensional mouldings, expressed in paint. With the growth of naturalistic styles of production, real mouldings have become an increasing feature of flat construction. Where these mouldings are relatively thin they can be fixed permanently, but pieces of any considerable thickness should be provided with bolts to allow removal for transportation. The search for realism has led to flats being faced with plywood rather than canvas. While such flats may be fine for a permanent set, their weight complicates scene changing by requiring more staff and more time.

The traditional method of joining flats is by line and cleat: the join is quick to make and, just as important, quick to break. Heavier timber flats, or canvas flats top-heavy with cornices, etc., are often pin-hinged together. This method is firm and positive but it is in no way quick.

A well-designed and well-constructed set should almost stand up by mutual support, especially on a stage without a rake. Normally the flats will join at an angle and in an endeavour to give an impression of solidity there are likely to be quite a few pillars made from narrow flats (jogs) meeting at right-angles. Where necessary, support is given by braces, either the standard adjustable-length brace hooked into a screw eye on the flat and weighted or screwed on to the floor, or a French brace hinged to the flat and weighted to the stage.

Contemporary scene design makes very little use of the technique of scene changing by building complete sets from flats. Standing box-sets of realistic rooms are still built from flattage but, if a scene change is required, a more representational scenic style is likely to be adopted. The ever increasing weight of materials used in scene design and the need to reduce labour costs, together with the desire to let scenes flow continuously into one another rather than be broken by periods of waiting, has encouraged techniques of flying and trucking rather than manhandling. As a result, recent years have seen an increase in the amount of heavy handling involved in the setting-up preparations for a performance but a reduction in such handling during the performance.

Trucking

A lot of scenery is mounted on castored platforms called trucks. Although a small scene may be mounted on a single truck, it is common practice to use several trucks, rather in the nature of sub-assemblies. These are small enough to be stored in restricted wing space yet relatively quick to push into position on the stage. The individual scenic elements usually pin-hinge to each other and to the truck base; the result is quite solid and rigid. Wherever possible the individual bits are flat for transportation.

False Stages

When trucks are required to move 'magically' in sight of the audience without too obvious a visible means of propulsion, it is possible to tack temporary slender timber guiding strips to the stage floor and manoeuvre the trucks with crew concealed behind them or with lines or rods manipulated from the wings. But floor guides make life difficult for actors and impossible for dancers. So, a false stage floor is laid for complex productions, particularly big musicals. This has tracks cut into it to guide the trucks, which are pulled to and fro by steel wire cables laid in the cavity between the stage and the false floor. Movement is by hand winch or motor.

Revolves

Revolving turntables may be built into the stage floor as part of the permanent equipment, or laid on top of the stage as part of the production. The temporary revolve is the most adaptable as it can be made to the appropriate size for each production. Drive is often by hand winch for temporary revolves, although usually by motor for permanent equipment. Revolves can be used to shift scenery with the curtain down or in a blackout, but they are more interesting when used as a means of keeping the production flowing from scene to scene while the actors continue the action. Apart from the conventional single revolve, twin revolves side by side have been used to good effect, particularly in musicals - each revolve changes the scenery on its own half of the stage.

Mechanised Stages

In some parts of the world, mainly in Central European countries with a long tradition of repertoire opera, stages have extensive machinery installations. The main stage area is broken up into a series of elevator sections which can sink below the stage or rise above it. In some cases the under-stage area is so deep that entire scenes can be set below and brought up to stage level. There are various formats of wagon stage, but perhaps the most frequently used is the cruciform. This uses three wagons (left, right and centre) which are the same size as the main stage acting area. These wagons, carrying complete scenes, can be driven on to the main stage as required. In the off-stage position, large soundproof shutters allow scenes to be changed on the wagons while the performance continues. There are many variations of the engineered stage, including enormous revolves of a diameter much wider than the proscenium opening and with huge scenic lifts built in.

Studio Stages

At the other end of the scale are performances staged with planks and passion. Some studio stages are quite elaborately adaptable while others are just a bare room enclosing actor and audience. There is only one desirable common structural factor for all studios: bars of standard scaffolding diameter at strategic points on ceiling and walls to provide a universal fixing. Ideally this should form an all-over grid with the bars spaced to provide a symmetrically sized module.

Materials

There seems to be no limitation on the type of materials used in today's stage decor. This is partly a result of the search for new textures and partly because representational styles of design require the representative objects to have what can only be called 'truth', resulting in a move away from fake and illusion towards real materials.

In practical terms this means that scenery has become heavier. The tendency of flats to be covered in plywood rather than canvas has already been mentioned. Large chunks of metal, sometimes tortured to produce a textured sculptural surface, have become popular, as have structures built of expanded-metal shapes. GRP (glass reinforced plastic, often called 'fibreglass') and similar modern synthetics can be less weight to handle but roughened textures, which respond sympathetically to light, can be brutal to hands. Foam plastics are very easy to work; indeed they are so easy that they need a gauze applique to stop them crumbling at the edges.

Decisions about materials for cloths, gauzes and borders are closely linked with lighting.

Fireproofing

A major restriction on choice of materials is fire risk. Actual regulations vary from country to country, and in Britain the finer points are subject to the interpretation of the fire prevention officer within whose jurisdiction a particular theatre is situated. In judging borderline cases the fire officer usually takes into account a personal assessment of the local stage staff, particularly the resident stage manager. This makes a lot of sense since fire prevention owes a great deal to the sort of careful, responsible attitudes that go beyond the chapter and verse of regulations.

Restrictions on materials are naturally more stringent in open stage theatres or on apron stages thrusting beyond the fire curtain. In conventional theatres, the proscenium wall is a fire-wall in which every opening has a fire-resistant door so that once the fire curtain has been lowered a combination of fire-wall, smoke lantern and sprinklers will retard the spread of the fire until the auditorium has been evacuated.

Fire resistance is either an intrinsic property of a material or is superimposed by surface application of chemicals. Whenever possible, theatres buy ready fireproofed materials for scenic construction. Non-fireproof materials can be treated with fireproofing solutions or fire-retarding paints. The fireproofing of fabrics, particularly gauzes, tends to wear off with time. Long running fabrics should be checked from time to time with a match (if you don't do it, the fire officer certainly will) and re-sprayed if necessary.

Guidance on fire prevention and many other safety matters may be found in 'Model Rules of Management for Places of Public Entertainment' published by the ABTT as part of the Code of Practice for the entertainment industry.

Painting

From the early 1960s to the early 1980s, the art and craft of pictorial scene painting began to decline due to lack of demand. The pictorial style grew so unfashionable that it became quite difficult to find painters with the training and experience to realise designs incorporating 'traditional' perspective cloths, gauzes and borders. The trend was reversed just in time, but the role of paint in many of today's design styles remains textural. Developments in synthetic paints have simplified some of the problems of dealing with newer materials.

Projected Scenery

Projection should not be regarded as a cheap and easy alternative to painted scenery. Full-scale projection is complex and expensive: it is a technique to be used when the visual style of the production requires frequent and rapid changes of location and an atmosphere of translucent images. Most European operatic stages have full projection equipment as part of their permanent installation, with the projectors located on properly positioned galleries. With few exceptions, projection in the rest of the world requires a temporary installation of expensive equipment and there are frequently problems arising from lack of depth on a shallow stage. Anyone tempted by projection should budget early and schedule additional time for pre-planning and for technical rehearsals. On the small stage, images from 35mm slide projectors of the carousel type can be an interesting component of non-realistic design.

Models

The basis of any scenic design is the model and the ground plan, both normally on the scale of a half inch to the foot (metricated at 1:25). At least one section (on the centre line) is required in order to work out hanging and masking with accuracy. Two-dimensional sketches, particularly in the form of storyboards, are useful accessories to indicate the atmosphere of particular scenes, but they are no substitute for models, plans and sections.

Computer Aided Design

While full CAD (Computer Aided Design) is still relatively rare in the theatre world, experimental work in progress suggests that it will become an increasingly important support tool. While the scale model seems likely to remain the core scene-design artefact - both as working method and as statement of intention - the potential of computers as design aids makes their growing use inevitable. Areas where they can offer particular support to the designer, both when working alone and when in discussion with the director and other members of the design team, include access to image banks, manipulation of images, rapid scaling experiments and instant viewing from alternative sightlines. There is already a fast accelerating use of computer drafting systems to produce stage scenery plans and adapt them for touring (as discussed in Chapter 15).

Bauprobe

The 'Bauprobe' or 'build rehearsal' is a Central European institution that could perhaps have wider application in more theatres producing their own shows. Once a design is close to being finalised, it is set up roughly on stage using substitute flats, rostra, cloths, furniture, etc. Two things come out of this. Firstly, the director, designer and choreographer are able to move about the dimensioned mock-up set to find out if the spacing is as they require. Secondly, minor adjustments in dimensions to enable the use of items like stock rostra or elevators may be suggested and demonstrated. Such changes may not affect the design concept but may save a lot of money in both initial production costs and daily running costs. However, it is usually easier for the technical staff to 'sell' this sort of idea to directors and designers by practical demonstration rather than by paper discussion.

Scenery Organisation

The organisation of a production's scenic environment, from fit-up through rehearsals and performance to get-out, is discussed in later chapters on the different types of show. Meanwhile, the usefulness of a trial set-up in the workshop should be mentioned. Space problems often make this impossible, but if the set - or sections of it - can be assembled prior to the stage fit-up, a check can be made on details such as positioning of cleats and hinges. And the director may be able to anticipate problems over matters such as door and step sizes. It is surprising how frequently, despite detailed planning, one hears phrases like, 'Oh, I didn't know the door was going to hinge downstage.'

From The Staging Handbook 3rd edition, by Francis Reid,
© 2001, 1995, 1990, 1978 Francis Reid

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'THE STAGING HANDBOOK 3RD EDITION' is available to purchase now from the A&C Black website.