Tag Archives: backstage

Education

Props in Brome’s Antipodes, 1638.

Richard Brome was an English playwright during the Caroline era, making him about a generation removed from Shakespeare. One of his plays, The Antipodes, first performed in 1638, features a sort of play-within-a-play that gives us a glimpse into a properties storeroom of the time. The character of Peregrine is fooled into believing he has traveled to the Antipodes, a mythical “anti-London” on the opposite side of the world. The inhabitants are simply theatrical actors, though, hired by a doctor in an attempt to treat Peregrine. Peregrine eventually finds his way “backstage” into the props storage area, known in this time as the “tiring house”, and begins destroying the props, believing they are real items in the Antipodes. Another character, Byplay, recounts this event. It gives us a glimpse into what manner of props and scenery may have been stored at an English theater during this time period:

Byplay: He has got into our tiring house amongst us,
And ta’en a strict survey of all our properties,
Our statues and our images of gods, our planets and our constellations,
Our giants, monsters, furies, beasts, and bugbears,
Our helmets, shields and vizors, hairs and beards,
Our pasteboard marchpanes and our wooden pies.

later…

When on the sudden, with thrice knightly force,
And thrice, thrice puissant arm he snatcheth down
The sword and shield that I played Bevis with,
Rusheth amongst the foresaid properties,
Kills monster after monster, takes the puppets
Prisoners, knocks down the Cyclops, tumbles all
Our jiggumbobs and trinkets to the wall.
Spying at last the crown and royal robes
I’th’ upper wardrobe, next to which by chance
The devil’s vizors hung and their flame-painted
Skin coats, those he removed with greater fury,
And (having cut the infernal ugly faces,
All into mammocks) with a reverend hand,
He takes the imperial diadem and crowns
Himself King of the Antipodes, and believes
He has justly gained the kingdom by his conquest.

The Antipodes by Richard Brome, Act 3 Scene 1. 1638. https://www.dhi.ac.uk/brome/viewTranscripts.jsp?play=AN&act=1&type=BOTH

Useful Sites

First Prop Links of December

Get Up Close With the Props of Dear Evan Hansen – Take a look backstage at the hit Broadway show to see how the props are stored. This series of photos is a great look at all the minute detail that goes into preparing seemingly ordinary props. Even the most mundane details have some story behind it, or some kind of trick rigged into it to make the show run smoothly and consistently.

Woman’s Day Magazine’s Star Wars Playset Designs (1978, 1980) – In two separate issues in 1978 and 1980, Woman’s Day Magazine published plans and instructions to construct Star Wars playsets for the popular action figures. These plans had you build them fully from scratch, using sheets of plywood, plastic, laminates, and other raw materials. This article includes links to the original plans as well, so grab them while you can!

The Secret Tools Magicians Use to Fool You – In another photo series, Louis De Belle has photographed devices used by magicians for his upcoming book, and shares a few of them with us here. He doesn’t actually give away how any of the tricks work, but it is a fun exercise to guess what each magical prop accomplishes.

National Theatre explores “exquisite miniature world” of stage set models – The National Theatre in London has an exhibition of some of the set design models for shows that have been produced there since the 1970s. The exhibition runs until March 2019, and was curated by Eleanor Margolies, author of Props (Readings in Theatre Practice).

Reprints

The Theatre Staff, part 2, 1866

Here is the continuation of the illustrations from backstage of a French theatre in 1866. Again, it’s all in French, but the scenes are recognizable to anyone working in theatre.

The staff, big and small things, a scenic study by Bertall (part 2)

Ooh, here we have people flying and disappearing down traps. And that guy really likes the leg on that chorus girl.

Flying, disappearing, and visiting the extras
Flying, disappearing, and visiting the extras

Uh oh, the prompter has fallen asleep!

Prompter and boats
Prompter and boats

This looks like one of those “and give up show biz?” moments.

Making waves
Making waves

And finally, some costume and wardrobe pictures.

Costumes
Costumes

Bertall. “L’envers Du Théatre.” L’illustration: Journal Universel, vol 48. 1866: 204.Google Books. Web. 26 July 2016. <https://books.google.com/books?id=-rRLAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA204#v=onepage&q&f=true>.

Reprints

The Theatre Staff, 1866

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I came across the following wonderful illustrations of backstage theatre from 1866. It’s all in French. I thought I could try translating it on my own, but no luck, so here it is in its untranslated glory. If any of my readers know French and would love to take a crack at it, let me know!

The staff, big and small things, a scenic study by Bertall.

The Stage
The Stage

The next few illustrations show some manual sound effects and props.

Thunder and lightning
Thunder and lightning
Wind and rain
Wind and rain
Shooting
Shooting
Sound and food
Sound and food

Bertall. “L’envers Du Théatre.” L’illustration: Journal Universel, vol 48. 1866: 204.Google Books. Web. 26 July 2016. <https://books.google.com/books?id=-rRLAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA204#v=onepage&q&f=true>.

Reprints

Behind the Scenes of Aida, 1880

I came across these illustrations giving a backstage look at the opera Aïda. It is a French production from 1880. Even though it is over 135 years ago, some things still look the same.

The Egyptian Warriors at rest
The Egyptian Warriors at rest.
Orchestra reinforcement.
Orchestra reinforcement.
The final duet.
The final duet.
The big parade.
The big parade.

Originally from: Aïda, vue des coulisses de l’Opéra. (L’illustration, v.76, Oct. 30, 1880, p. 283-286; illus. on p. 292.)