Theatre Design & Technology - Dec 1969 - 18

as needed. This style is at its best in fantasy, for example Mozart's Zauberflote,
which was staged in Wiesbaden with marvelous effectiveness by Majewski.
Bayreuth has been in the past decade,
almost synonymous with the experimental
staging of Wieland Wagner. Wagner was
an avowed disciple of Adolphe Appia and
determined to apply Appian principles exactly where they were first intended to be
applied-to Wagnerian opera. The results
have been controversial from the point of
view of Wagnerites, but remarkable to students of stagi ng for their simpl ified unity
and their reliance on lighting and projection as much as on scenic construction.
Scenic projection has been a major element
at Bayreuth from the beginning of electricity in that theatre, but Wieland Wagner
raised it to the highest level of artistic
merit. Unl ike most of the rest of northern
Europe, Bayreuth has fixed upon the xenon
lamp as its projection light source. Most
of the images are produced by lensless
xenon units of high power and high color
temperature. The results are often startling
in their clarity and artistic conception.
Since the death of Wieland Wagner nearly
two years ago, Bayreuth is in a state of
flux. However, it seems certain to remain
in the forefront of design in Europe. One
remarkable development is that Josef Svoboda has been invited to design at Bayreuth next season. This is certainly an indicatIOn of continued development in the use
of projection and in the furthering of the
Gesamptku ns twerk.
Svoboda is still another example of a designer who uses projection as an important
but well blended element in his palette of
designer's techniques. Svoboda is best
known in the USA for his designs in images
and light for the Czechoslovakian Exhibit
at Montreal's Expo 67. He has evolved
artistically a great deal since Expo 67,
and since the Tales of Hoffman mentioned
above. His Tristan und Isolde staged at
Wiesbaden in 1967-68 is an example of
this. The setting consisted of a vortexlike spiral ramp filling the entire stage. This
was surrounded by floor-to-grid panels made
of cotton cording spaced about 1" O. C.
neutral grey in color. These panels of cord
were backed in the wing areas with blacks
as far removed as possible and upstage
center with a translucent sheet for rear
projection, again as far removed from the
cording as possible. Lighting for the performers was tight area lighting supplemented
subtly with following when absolutely necessary. The rest of the setting was projections. Images ranging from moderately
realistic patterns of sails to pure abstractions were front-projected onto the colton
cord panels. From the rear of the upstage
sheet, abstract images were projected to
form a sort of "horizon" which appeared
to the audience to be at a completely indeterminate distance beyond the curtain of
cord through which they viewed it. At no
time was it apparent that anything like a
projection sheet was being used.
All was in careful synchronization with the
music of the opera. Fades and/or changes

followed the gradual evolvement of new
themes in the musical score rather than
the more abrupt alteration of setting apparent in the words. Thus a shift from the
helm of the ship to the cabin (Act I)
would involve gradual fade-out of the sail
projection and a fade-in of the abstract
patterns timed to coincide with the musical "change of scene." Action, in terms
of Tristan's cross from one area to the
other on the unit setting, followed a different and faster tempo. Rather than resulting in confusion, as it might in a realistic
framework, this double rhythm contributed to
the dream-like larger-than-life quality of the
entire production.

tend to be relatively small 2KW units,
often the standard Reiche und Vogel converted spotlight. If a large area is to be
covered, more projectors are used, not a
larger projector. This eliminates the need for
super-short-focal-Iength lenses and all of the
troubles these glass monsters bring. Images
are vignetted togetheras necessary and often
with great skill. Thus stage pictures rivaling the architectural monsters of the Bibienas are sometimes projected to form an
entire setting. I found these to be artistically unsatisfactory, but they did convince
me that there are other ways to handle
full stage projection than the development of
a hugh projector.

The Gesamptkunstwerk at its best defies
analytic study. All elements from script to
acting to the minutest detail of make-up
blend into an artistic whol e. Alteration or
removal of any element results in alteration and/or deterioration of the whole.
Since much 9f the effectiveness lies in the
interaction of the blended elements, an
effect which lies largely in the eyes, ears
and emotions of the observers, part-by-part
analysis is not very rewarding. However, the
theatrical effect is stunning; the sense of
the parts addi ng up to much more than the
arithmetic sum is powerful to experience
even if it is diHicult to evoke second-hand.

The European stage still depends to a large
degree on an art almost unknown to us
for its projection images. This is the art
of hand painting slides. There are a number of specialists who spend most of their
lives doing just this. They work on hard
glass squares, either 13 or 18 centimeters
square, which are usually bought already
coated with clear gelatine to take the paint.
The paints themselves are usually photo
coloring media, although some artists have
developed their own materials or adapted
other pigments. The work these artists do
rivals that of the miniaturists who detailed
scenes on glass for cathedral windows.
Moreover, these specialists are able towork
in allowance for distortion that will take
place during projection. This distortion is
carefully calculated on a grid which is
used as a guide for the painter.

Technical Developments: The artistic eHorts
described above could not have happened
without accompanying technical eHorts. For
example, one of the remarkable things about
Josef Svoboda is his willingness to invent
devices as needed to get artistic results.
Thus the limits of the rear stage area in the
150 year old theatre at Wiesbaden led
him to create an ingenious shadow projection device using spotlights as multiple
color sources and a three dimensional plywood frame to produce the horizon projections already mentioned. Many new and
refined appl ications of xenon sources have
evolved from artistic necessity at Bayreuth.
These are often strikingly simple-plain
metal cutouts for instance-and directly
related to the artist's needs at the moment.
One seldom sees anything resembling a
projection sheet on a European stage and it
is safe to add that the audience almost
never sees one in a Gesampkunstwerk.
If such a device is used, it is well concealed behind other elements which blend
into the setting and remove it from the category of a "misplaced movie screen."
(Perhaps we in America are too much taken
with the technology of the motion picture
"process shot." We may not always remember that this technique was originally
devised for a single viewer-the camera.
Indeed the latest high eHiciency screens
work only for the camera!) Instead of projection sheets, images are focused softly
but with precision on almost anything visible to the audience.
Scenic projectors in Europe are not usually
the mechanical monsters they tend to be
here. True, there are some huge ones, including 10,000 watt machines which predate ours, and there are xenon units of
incredible power, but most of the units

However, painting projection slides is apparently a dying art. Color photography is
making this ki nd of precision unnecessary
and proving to do an even better job. Also
the use of abstractions in modern set design removes much of the need for precise distortion correction. A set of hand
painted slides for a production is a huge
investment of time and money. Breakage is
a terrifying thought, especially for slides
painted by a now-deceased artist. Thus
slides are often used long past their intended lifetime which ends when the color
fades or burns until they no longer resemble
the original.
Modern photographic means solve these
problems. Duplicates are easily made and
determined by the size of the slide. Any
competent photographer can make another
work copy from an original kept under lock.
Another interesting development is the use
of various materials to provide shadow patterns much in the manner of a photographic
shadowgram. For example, Majewski used
pieces of Contra-H to produce patterns for
projection in his Zauberflote setting.
Projection lenses do not offer the European
artist the same problems we encounter
here. There are two reasons for this: (1)
the slides are much larger than most of
quantity of light through them to the lens
and (2) there is not the same effort to
get large area coverage at short throw.
European technicians are generally satisfied
with their lenses although their theoretical
efficiency is much less than that of our
better lenses.

ITIITI:J THEATER DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

DECEMBER,1969

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