Terra Incognita I went to a concert last week. It
was held in -one of the better-known London halls, and I was greatly interested by my first view of the conditions under which musicians perform in public. The platform was lit by—in addition to footlights —one powerful bulb suspended centrally and encased in a large shade shrouded in black. Flanking it on either side, and facing the audience, were two doors over which appeared the illuminated legend EXIT, in massive capitals; and at the side of each door shone a small but brilliant light rather like a gas-mantle. The effect of all this was naturally to distract the eye and to make it less easy than it should have been to concentrate on the central figure of the musician; and I came away wondering whether in all concert- halls there is the same lofty disregard for the elementary principles of stage-lighting; and, if so, why.
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