Peep box stage
The term peep-box stage is used (rather mockingly) for a type of theater stage or stage design that was particularly widespread in the 19th century and is still the most important design today. With its portal frame, the peep box stage marks a clear separation between the stage and the auditorium. It has three walls, only the fourth wall is open to the audience. The name comes from the fairground attraction of the peep box .
Peep box in the broader sense
Often the peep-box stage in the broader sense is equated with the frame stage or backdrop stage , which has a fixed frame as a proscenium (which often separates it from a front stage in the auditorium). Its lateral and upper boundaries were, however, still marked with a series of retractable scenes and festoons . Together with perspective stage prospects and a slope of the stage floor, they should give the impression of infinite depth ( perspective stage ). This stage form is typical for the baroque theater .
Peep box in the narrower sense
The "flat" side walls and the clear closing background of the peep-box stage in the narrower sense, as they appeared around 1800 (see also the room pictures in the painting), on the other hand, were a more modern principle with which one demonstrated the departure from the baroque stage. The space was clearly defined as a result: it was not of illusory breadth, but of realistic delimitation.
During the period of stage naturalism , “closed room decorations” with furniture, doors and windows were modern as peep box stages that created an illusion of privacy. Differentiated lighting technology and the complete darkening of the auditorium, which had only been common practice since the end of the 19th century, were the prerequisites for this effect. A transformation on the peep show stage can happen very quickly if the theater has complex stage technology with which the entire picture is shifted to the upper, lower, back or side stage or rotated with a revolving stage .
Attempts to overcome
From the point of view of more modern stage concepts since the avant-garde at the beginning of the 20th century (e.g. Edward Gordon Craig or Wsewolod Meyerhold ), the peep box stage is the epitome of the outdated. However, they have not replaced more modern types such as the arena stage or space stage or reconstructions of older stage forms such as the apron stage from the 17th century, and visions such as Walter Gropius ' total theater could not prevail over the long term. However, depending on the staging , many peep show stages are now being expanded to include spatial possibilities by means of front stages, inclusion of the auditorium or foyer, etc., and urban theaters also have alternative venues such as factory halls. In the opera in particular , the peep box stage is still predominant today. If a box set is constructed as an element of the set, it is called a “stage on the stage”.
literature
- Günter Schöne: The development of the perspective stage from Serlio to Galli-Bibiena according to the perspective books , Leipzig: Voss 1933
- Eberhard Werner, Hans Gußmann: Theater building. Historical development , Berlin: VEB Verlag Technik 1954
- Bruno Grösel: Stage technology. Mechanical facilities , Vienna: Oldenbourg 2007. ISBN 978-3-7029-0555-2