7 Mermaid on Seahorse Tessin-HÃ¥rleman Collection, Vol. K1, #47, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm Figure 5 illustrates one of these devices. The operator would sit inside the monster and control the movements of the head, arms and, perhaps, the tail. A lever attached to the operator's head extended into the monster's head to control movement of the monster's head and neck. The operator's arms were placed in the monster's arms to allow them to move. Although it is not clearly shown, it is possible that the operator's feet were used to move the tail. The operator's legs and feet would seem to be a problem since they appear to have been too big to fit into the typical shutter cut. The movement of most of the preceding devices was restricted to lateral movement across the stage by the use of the shutter cuts in the stage floor. Several other creatures could carry performers around the stage without such restrictions. The musician shown in figure 6 could move anywhere. The snail was part of the costume and hid the legs of the performer. False legs were used to create the illusion that the performer was sitting on the snail shell. In actuality the snail shell was attached to the performers waist and could slide across the stage floor. The sketches at the top of figure 6 show the same technique used for a large bird and a crocodile. 8 Seahorse and Mermaid on Stage. Computer reconstruction. Figure 7 illustrates another performer who could move anywhere on stage while creating the illusion that she was riding on an animal. In this case a mermaid is shown riding on a seahorse. Again the animal was a rigid costume hiding the legs of the performer. The tail of the mermaid was part of the seahorse costume. The seahorse was attached to the performers w i n t e r 2011 theatre design & technology 41