Curtain (theater)

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Curtain in the Coburg State Theater
Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro , painting by Eliseu Visconti (1908)

In connection with the performing arts , the term curtain (also theater curtain ) has the following meanings:

Main curtain

On the one hand, it describes the main curtain for the optical separation of stage and auditorium - in contrast to curtains that divide the stage space such as festoons , curtains between the alleys or stage brochures , and are therefore part of the stage design .

The following main curtains are common:

  • The upwardly drawn, mostly undivided curtain ( German curtain ). As a prospectus curtain, it can be smooth and painted. He needs an upper stage with sufficient height. No storage space is required on the sides for this.
  • The curtain divided in the middle, mostly attached to rails. It can be opened in three ways - in some places optionally.
    • As a Greek curtain (the most common version) it is attached to rails with rollers and can be pulled up to the sides.
    • With the Italian curtain , the halves stay together at the top and are opened diagonally with ropes attached to the edges in the lower half.
    • The French curtain (the most technically complex version) is drawn up with two combined pulls, both upwards and diagonally. A variant of this is the Wagner curtain .
  • More rarely in the manner of a are blind constructed gathered curtain ( " clouds curtain ") of the roller blind (roller above) and the Wickelvohang (Character below).
  • There is also the half-curtain that is only drawn up on one side , which is also known as the “Brecht curtain”.

The manual operation of a curtain pull with hemp rope requires special skills, as the speed has to be varied for technical reasons and for the sake of elegance. Usually, however, the curtain is automatically controlled by technology on the machine control system.

history

While the theater of ancient Greece had no curtains, people in ancient Roman theater have been using a curtain since the middle of the 1st century BC. A front curtain, the "aulaeum" or "siparium". The medieval simultaneous stage had no main curtain, but used smaller partial curtains to cover and reveal individual locations. With the stage set , the main curtain came from Italy to the German-speaking area through the courtly opera and ballet performances since around 1519. The Jesuit theater also used it, and the main curtain in the Volkstheater can be traced back to 1637. From the 18th century, the main curtain was also used to denote the end of acts. In the 20th century it changed its appearance and function many times, for example as a half-height Brecht curtain, and sometimes it was dropped entirely.

The East Asian theater developed various types of partial curtains, so since the middle of the 17th century the Japanese kabuki had known the main curtain in addition to the entrance curtain, as well as the nude and transformation curtains, back curtains and the revelation curtain.

Iron Curtain

The iron curtain (often “the iron one” for short) or protective curtain is a fire protection device in the theater that separates the stage and auditorium from each other in a fire-proof and somewhat airtight manner. It is pulled up immediately before the performance. After the Vienna Ringtheater fire in 1881, it was generally introduced.

The iron curtain is in front of the main curtain for the audience. Its front is usually artistically designed.

Symbolic meaning

In a figurative sense, the "curtain" is a measure of the audience's applause . If there is sustained applause, the curtain is opened several times to reveal the participants, or the performers step in front of the curtain. Each of these appearances is then counted as a "curtain". Allegedly, Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nurejew received 89 curtains in 1964 after a performance of Swan Lake at the Vienna State Opera .

literature