A Brief History Of Theatre Equipment

Theatre equipment has been around for at least 2,500 years when in the 5^th century BC we know that the Greeks produced deus ex machina by which an actor could be lowered on to the stage. They later began to use movable scenery which was mounted on wheels. The Romans added traps which meant that actors or objects could spring out of the stage floor, and they also had pumping systems for outdoor theatres which could flood them for aquatic scenes.

Late in the 14^th century in Italy, engineers designed similar machinery for use in churches so that with a system of pulleys and ropes a whole cloud of angels singing could descend from heaven through the clouds. Further developments were made on the periaktoi devised by the Greeks which enabled scenery to be changed on movable prisms. In fact, stage equipment in Italy eventually became so complex that they had to invent the very decorative proscenium arch in order to keep it all out of sight.

Early Italian operas had sea scenes with waves made using spiral columns that were painted and turned slowly. Complex systems of wires and pulleys enabled gods and angels to fly across the sky, while monsters were operated by teams of men inside them. In the late 17^th century, Inigo Jones and Italian engineer Torelli produced a system for moving the wings so that scenery could be changed instantly. All of this became increasingly complicated and also expensive.

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