You are here: Home > Music > Sullivan's Ivanhoe > The construction of the Victorian theatre

Ivanhoe

The construction of the Victorian theatre

The design of the Victorian theatre was basically the same as that of a present-day one, indeed many theatres used today were built during the Victorian period.

All the theatres had the usual proscenium arch with a thick curtain to cover it. The forestage projected well out into the auditorium, although this began to go out of fashion towards the end of the century.

In larger theatres, such as that at Covent Garden, the auditorium consisted of the stall, then four, five or even six tiers of boxes in the usual horseshoe shape, surrounded by a gallery at the top. In smaller theatres the boxes were limited to the sides of the stage and capacity was increased by the introduction of the 'circles'.

The decoration of the auditorium was invariably lavish, with considerable amounts of gold, rich colours and flock wallpaper.

Until the opening of the Savoy Theatre in 1881 gas lighting was usual in the auditorium. This made the atmosphere very hot, dry, smelly and lacking in oxygen. This unpleasantness tended to give theatres a bad reputation among the upper classes.

Backstage the complexities of the Victorian theatre became apparent. There were two distinct varieties of scene available, the 'set' scene and the 'flat' scene, and they had different effects and purposes. Indeed, one of the criticisms levelled against Victorian scenery towards the end of the period was that the two different types of effect were mixed indiscriminately in the same show.

The 'flat' scene was called 'flat' simply because it was all painted on the flat on the canvas stretched on two great frames, which slid together in grooves and joined at the centre. After use, the picture was split up the middle and the two halves were pulled apart again. All this was done without having to drop the main curtain so the audience could see what was happening.

The 'set' scene on the other hand was much more complicated. It was not flat but made up of several separate cut-out moveable pieces (called 'set pieces') arranged one behind the other on separate planes. The contemporary objection was against having some scenes painted on the flat and some in three dimensions. Every scene, moreover, had to be preceded by either an interval or a flat scene behind which it was prepared. This put a great limitation on playwrights who had to see that no two elaborate scenes came together. A common method was the 'corridor cloth' with a scene taking place in a corridor.

It would seem likely that Julian Sturgis had these limitations in mind when constructing the libretto of Ivanhoe:

Act One
Scene One	The Hall at Rotherwood	Set
Scene Two	An Anteroom in Rotherwood	Flat
Scene Three	The lists at Ashby	Set

Act Two
Scene One	The Forest, Copmanhurst	Set
Scene Two	A Passage-way in Torquilstone	Corridor
Scene Three	A Turret-chamber in Torquilstone	Set

Act Three
Scene One	A Room in Torquilstone	Set
Scene Two	In the Forest	Flat
Scene Three	At Templestowe	Set

It has not proved possible to ascertain whether or not this scheme was used for the original production. All the illustrations to hand show only those scenes which would have been 'set' scenes. Sullivan does state in a letter that "between the first and second scenes of the last act we shall have to drop the curtain for ten or twelve minutes owing to the heavy set required for both scenes".

In 1910, Beecham mentions a twenty minute wait at the same point while the debris from the burning of Torquilstone had to be cleared away.

Gas lighting was also used backstage, causing a tremendous fire risk. There was always a row of footlights along the stage. Backstage, lenses were used to increase the brightness of the gas mantles. Every lamp was supplied with a metal shutter which would stop it shedding its light on stage, thereby making blackouts possible in theory, if not in practice.

Electricity backstage did not become common until the 1880s and even then the fire risk was almost as great as it was with gas because of the tremendous amount of heat produced.

Other effects included traps of every description (there were at least fifteen different types), waterfalls, fires, etc.

Above the stage was situated the 'upper fly floor' where the ropes that controlled the hanging scenery were operated.

This was written in 1977 as part of my Bachelor of Music degree at Royal Holloway College, University of London.