TPO 9 Lecture 1 Theater
Listen to part of a lecture in a theaterclass.
Pro: As we have seen, the second half of the18th century was an exciting time in Europe: it was not only an age of greatinvention, but social changes also led to a rise in all sorts of entertainment,from reading to museums, to travel. And finding himself in the middle of thisexcitement was an accomplished French painter named Philippe Jacques deLoutherbourg.
Loutherbourg arrived in England in 1771, andimmediately went to work as a set designer at the famous Drury Lane Theater inLondon. From his first shows, Loutherbourg showed a knack for imagination andstage design, all in the interest of creating illusions that allowed theaudience to suspend disbelief completely. He accomplished this by giving thestage a greater feeling of depth, which he did by cutting up some of the rigidbackground scenery, and placing it at various angles and distances from theaudience. Another realistic touch was using three-dimensional objects on theset, like rocks and bushes as opposed to two-dimensional painted scenery. Healso paid much more attention to lighting and sound than had been done before.
Now, these sets were so elaborate that manypeople attended the theater more for them than for the actors or the story. Atthe time, people were wild for travel and for experiencing new places; but noteveryone could afford it. Loutherbourg outdid himself, however, with a showthat he set up in his own home. He called it the "Eidophusikon".
"Eidophusikon" means something likerepresentation of nature, and that's exactly what he intended to do: createrealistic moving scenes that change before the audiences' eyes. In this, hesynthesized all his tricks from Drury Lane: mechanical motions, sound, light,other special effects to create, if you will, an early multimedia production.
The "Eidophusikon" wasLoutherbourg's attempt to release painting from the constraints of the pictureframe. After all, even the most action-filled exciting painting can representonly one moment in time; and any illusion of movement is gone after the firstglance. But Loutherbourg, like other contemporary painters, wanted to add thedimension of time to his paintings. You know, the popular thinking is thatLoutherbourg was influenced by landscape painting. But why can't we say thatthe "Eidophusikon" actually influenced the painters? At the veryleast we have to consider that it was more ... it was more of a mutual thing.We know, for example, that the important English landscape painter ThomasGainsborough attended almost all of the early performances, and his laterpaintings are notable for their increased color and dynamic use of light.
Loutherbourg's influence on the theaterthough, he was incredibly influential: the way he brought together design andlighting and sound as a unified feature of the stage, can easily be seen inEnglish theater's subsequent emphasis on lighting and motion.
Now, the "Eidophusikon" stage wasactually a box: a few meters wide, a couple meters tall and a couple metersdeep. That is, the action took place within this box. This was much smaller ofcourse than the usual stage. But, it also allowed Loutherbourg to concentratethe lighting to better effect. Also, the audience was in the dark, whichwouldn't be a common feature of the theater until a hundred years later. Theshow consisted of a series of scenes, for example, a view of London fromsunrise that changes as the day moves on; mechanical figures, such as cattle,moved across the scene, and ships sailed along the river.
But what really got people was the attentionto detail, much like his work at Drury Lane. So, for example, he painted veryrealistic ships, and varied their size depending on their distance from theaudience. Small boats moved more quickly across the foreground than larger onesdid that were closer to the horizon. Other effects, like waves, were also veryconvincing. They reflected sunlight or moonlight depending on the time of dayor night. Even the colors changed as they would in nature. Sound and light wereimportant in making his productions realistic. He used a great number of lamps,and he was able to change colors of light by using variously colored pieces ofglass, to create effects like passing clouds that suddenly change in color.Furthermore, he used effects to make patterns of shadow and light, rather thanusing the uniform lighting that was common at the time. And many of the soundeffects he pioneered are still in use today, like creating thunder by pullingon one of the corners of a thin copper sheet.
One of his most popularscenes was of a storm. And there is a story that on one occasion, an actualstorm passed over head during the show. And some people went outside, and theyclaimed Loutherbourg's thunder was actually better than the real thunder.
Listen to part of a lecture in a theaterclass.
Pro: As we have seen, the second half of the18th century was an exciting time in Europe: it was not only an age of greatinvention, but social changes also led to a rise in all sorts of entertainment,from reading to museums, to travel. And finding himself in the middle of thisexcitement was an accomplished French painter named Philippe Jacques deLoutherbourg.
Loutherbourg arrived in England in 1771, andimmediately went to work as a set designer at the famous Drury Lane Theater inLondon. From his first shows, Loutherbourg showed a knack for imagination andstage design, all in the interest of creating illusions that allowed theaudience to suspend disbelief completely. He accomplished this by giving thestage a greater feeling of depth, which he did by cutting up some of the rigidbackground scenery, and placing it at various angles and distances from theaudience. Another realistic touch was using three-dimensional objects on theset, like rocks and bushes as opposed to two-dimensional painted scenery. Healso paid much more attention to lighting and sound than had been done before.
Now, these sets were so elaborate that manypeople attended the theater more for them than for the actors or the story. Atthe time, people were wild for travel and for experiencing new places; but noteveryone could afford it. Loutherbourg outdid himself, however, with a showthat he set up in his own home. He called it the "Eidophusikon".
"Eidophusikon" means something likerepresentation of nature, and that's exactly what he intended to do: createrealistic moving scenes that change before the audiences' eyes. In this, hesynthesized all his tricks from Drury Lane: mechanical motions, sound, light,other special effects to create, if you will, an early multimedia production.
The "Eidophusikon" wasLoutherbourg's attempt to release painting from the constraints of the pictureframe. After all, even the most action-filled exciting painting can representonly one moment in time; and any illusion of movement is gone after the firstglance. But Loutherbourg, like other contemporary painters, wanted to add thedimension of time to his paintings. You know, the popular thinking is thatLoutherbourg was influenced by landscape painting. But why can't we say thatthe "Eidophusikon" actually influenced the painters? At the veryleast we have to consider that it was more ... it was more of a mutual thing.We know, for example, that the important English landscape painter ThomasGainsborough attended almost all of the early performances, and his laterpaintings are notable for their increased color and dynamic use of light.
Loutherbourg's influence on the theaterthough, he was incredibly influential: the way he brought together design andlighting and sound as a unified feature of the stage, can easily be seen inEnglish theater's subsequent emphasis on lighting and motion.
Now, the "Eidophusikon" stage wasactually a box: a few meters wide, a couple meters tall and a couple metersdeep. That is, the action took place within this box. This was much smaller ofcourse than the usual stage. But, it also allowed Loutherbourg to concentratethe lighting to better effect. Also, the audience was in the dark, whichwouldn't be a common feature of the theater until a hundred years later. Theshow consisted of a series of scenes, for example, a view of London fromsunrise that changes as the day moves on; mechanical figures, such as cattle,moved across the scene, and ships sailed along the river.
But what really got people was the attentionto detail, much like his work at Drury Lane. So, for example, he painted veryrealistic ships, and varied their size depending on their distance from theaudience. Small boats moved more quickly across the foreground than larger onesdid that were closer to the horizon. Other effects, like waves, were also veryconvincing. They reflected sunlight or moonlight depending on the time of dayor night. Even the colors changed as they would in nature. Sound and light wereimportant in making his productions realistic. He used a great number of lamps,and he was able to change colors of light by using variously colored pieces ofglass, to create effects like passing clouds that suddenly change in color.Furthermore, he used effects to make patterns of shadow and light, rather thanusing the uniform lighting that was common at the time. And many of the soundeffects he pioneered are still in use today, like creating thunder by pullingon one of the corners of a thin copper sheet.
One of his most popularscenes was of a storm. And there is a story that on one occasion, an actualstorm passed over head during the show. And some people went outside, and theyclaimed Loutherbourg's thunder was actually better than the real thunder.
