'It Opens!' The Victorian Wood Stage and its Magic Box Aesthetic

D'Arcy, Geraint (2012) 'It Opens!' The Victorian Wood Stage and its Magic Box Aesthetic. In: Society for Theatre Research. UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

The modern performance space often rejects the fly-tower and removes the under-stage machinery and since the early 1900s the proscenium arch has become increasingly unfashionable. What it has not abandoned, despite the "new" intermedial turn, is the versatility of the wood-stage system certainly in its philosophy of spirit: the ability to stage action imaginatively in as many different ways as possible in a single space. The psycho-plasticity of the modern performance space owes its inheritance to the wood-stage of the Victorians. This lecture draws upon his research and theories and examines the traps and devices collectively known as the Victorian wood-stage. It asks if there was more to those machines than just cabinetry and pulleys and how does the aesthetic of a nineteenth century spectacle hold the key to understanding modern theatre technology?

Item Type: Book Section
Uncontrolled Keywords: theatre history,theatre aesthetics,theatre technology
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Art, Media and American Studies
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 29 Apr 2020 00:08
Last Modified: 06 Aug 2021 23:40
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/74887
DOI:

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