FINE ARTS.
STAGE-ILLUSION: THE SCENIC ART.
THE representation of Acis and Galatea at Drury Lane Theatre is remark- able for displaying that rare excellence in stage-shows, invention : it is a classic conception, and the artist's fancy is ably seconded by the inge- nuity of the machinist. The series of animated pictures of which it is composed form one complete, consistent, and coherent whole, linked together with an evident continuous design : the spectacle is throughout auxiliary ; developing the story, not delaying the action ; and supply- ing just what was wanting to fill up the outline of the lyrical drama: whatever is attempted in the scenic illusion and stage business is ac- complished in an artistic manner ; and altogether it is the nearest ap- proximation to the perfection of scenic art that has been exhibited on the English stage. As such, it is particularly adapted to illustrate a few general remarks on scenic illusion, that are called for by the ludi- crous mistakes constantly made, and the misdirected expenditure of money and pains in providing the now essential requisite of dramatic representations, spectacle.
We have incidentally taken oceasion to expose such absurd incon- gruities as embodying pictures on the stage by groups of actors in a seeming state of catalepsy, introducing real water surrounded by painted trees and canvas castles, displaying a statue reclining on grass in a draperied recess, representing antique sculpture by living persons, and other palpable blunders of theatrical showmen : but there are less glaring errors and inconsistencies observable in stage-shows of a higher character, that denote a want of sufficient attention to the rules which constitute the science of scenic illusion. Precedent prevails more than principle in the theatrical world : what has been done before is re- peated, because it has received the sanction of custom ; and the value of a step in advance is estimated by the stride made, without much consideration as to the direction taken or the point beyond which it is desirable not to go. The Parisian stage is our model, and a better could not be found: in costume and grouping it is unrivalled, because these matters as well as the scenery are regulated by artists ; whereas with us, until Madame VESTRIS introduced a change at the little Olympic Theatre, they were left to tailors and stage-managers. In scenery we excel the French, inasmuch as they have no STANFIELD.
The aim of the stage is to produce an illusory representation of a sup- posed reality, by means of real persons and fictitious accessories : the drama is the mould in which these materials receive the impress of life, and the imaginative power exercised by the dramatist over the minds of the audience is the medium through which the stage-creation is viewed. The influence of this power is too commonly overlooked by the scenist ; who often labours to produce literal imitations, or obtrudes gross realities, that violate the conditions of dramatic illusion. As the aim of illusion is to convey a deceptive idea of reality, it is ignorantly supposed that a real object must be better than a fictitious one. Realities have no business on the stage unless they assume a mimic shape. It is not what a thing is, but what it appears to be, that has to be considered. The proscenium is the frame of a representation, of which movement, utterance, and space are the elements : to produce this is the art of the scenisL It is a canon of all imitative arts that no part of the imitation should approach nearer to nature than another : when this law is infringed, "keeping" or consistency is destroyed ; and the effect of the ensemble is injured. A painter might as well stick a piece of flesh or a fold of silk or a lock of hair on his picture, as a scenist introduce real water, or actual rocks or turf on the stage: they make the rest look unreal, and yet look themselves unnatural, because we see the natural objects under artificial circumstances. The old joke of a stage-property-man, who was sent to look at a camel that the manager coveted as a "star," and on seeing it exclaimed—" That a camel? I'd make a better one any day," involves a practical truth : the artist felt that this creature had no business in his mimic world. A great deal of needless expense is incurred by introducing handsome furniture on the stage, of which the upholsterer is now a great upholder ; but the scene-painter would eclipse its splendour at a tithe of the coat; and unless the apartment be completely enclosed, the effect is incongruous. So with the materials of dress : costly stuffs and ornaments are lavishly supplied in many cases where
the semblance would be equally effective. We have heard of badi es embroidered with gold being stuck on the arms of retainers, he audience only being_ cognizant of a patch of yellow. Attention to mi-
nutiae is praiseworthy, but superfluous outlay of this kind is wasteful and ridiculous excess. As well might the stage be adorned with r, al
pictures, or marble statues, and kings and queens strut in goleen crowns set with real gems : even real steel armour does not look so wcli on the stage as gilded leather, while the block-tin shields and breast-
plates r onjure up ideas of pot-lids and dripping-pans. Costly realities are not less vulgar than "real water" or live animals, when their stage value consists solely in the cost: to give them due effect, the up- holsterers' and mercers' charges should figure in the playbills. A liberal mai-. is the best policy in producing a drama, but money super- fluously eXpended on the accessories tends to limit the number of plays produced; at best it serves but to pamper the actor's vanity. Taste is an inexpensive indulgence. Ads and Galatea, we dare say, cost as little as any ordinary representation: the dresses at all events are not costly, for sumptuous attire is out of place in Arcady ; but the wealth of NiertoLas Poussor's classic fancy is drawn upon, and STAN- FIELD'S magic pencil has brought the beauties of Sicily before the eye. The costly curtain of crimson velvet gives place to a " drop-scene " exhibiting a triad of pictures by ANNIBAL CARACCI and N. Pones's:— " Galatea rising from the sea," "Polyphemus on the rock," and 'The flight of Acis and Galatea"—that prepares the eye, as the overture does the ear, for what follows. The opening transports us to the coast of Sicily, the scene of the mythological drama ; the moon sheds her mild lustre on the calm blue sea; the waves swell and dash into foam on the beach, alternately advancing and receding, with audible indications of their visible motion. The combination of mechanical ingenuity and pictorial beauty is here complete; and the scene being distant from the eye, the illusion is perfect. The strip of canvass with the pageant of Galatea crossing the water injures the effect ; nor is it necessary, for Galatea herself enters on the scene : the introduction of her shell chariot, on four wheels, dragged on land by Nereids, is a great mistake. The next scene, a height overlooking the sea, with Mount Etna in the distance, and a colonnade covered with a vine trellis in the foreground, is a lovely landscape, one of the most beautiful pieces of painting ever seen on the stage. Here occur those examples of the value of the painter's art in arranging the stage tableaux, which give such refined character to this spectacle. On the light side of the picture, two figures are seen, one in blue the other in red, and on the shaded side is a figure in dusky drapery ; these seem part of the painting, so perfectly do they harmonize with the scene. The entry of the troop of nymphs and swains from below, dancing and piping and singing round a terminal statue of the god Pan wreathed with flowers, is as if some of POUSSIN'S groups had been animated: the sober hues of the classic draperies have the effect of massing the figures ; so that with continual movement there is none of that flutter of flaunting colours which is so fatiguing to the eye in shifting multitudes gorgeously clad. The groups into which the actors throw themselves on the ground, and the attitudes they assume in changing their postures, must have been studied before- hand under an artist's direction, yet they seem perfectly natural to an Arcadian scene. The scene where Polyphemus appears is of a wild mountainous character, taken from one of N. Poussue's classic compositions ; its russet tints harmonizing with the severity of the rocky forms and the character of the incident. The action of the chorus is consentaneous and expressive, but too uniform ; for the hands to be all pointing or uplifted in the same way is neither natural nor according to art—the impulse should be universal, but its effect various ; and the postures are continued too long. The transforming of Acis to a river is not so well managed as the falling of the rock : the water gushing over the face of the cliff is beautiful, and almost illusory ; but the flood that should pour from the urn is represented by a solid motionless bunch of metal, and the first bound of the torrent is imitated by a flat opaque revolving disc, whereas the transparent effect should be continued throughout. Diverse imita- tions of the same object in one scene are almost as bad as the confusion of realities and illusions.
Transparent painting might be more frequently employed in scenery, as it is in this and in the moving panorama of the Covent Garden pan- tomime. The moving scenery, by the way, is neither so effective nor so like nature as changes of scene : in rapid travelling the landscape seems to move, but as spectators of a scene we cannot enter into the idea of this ocular deception. The completeness of the stage-picture depends materially on con- verting the boards into a foreground to the flat scene, and blending the two together, by covering the floor with painted representations of grass, rock, pavement, or real carpets. This improvement was first introduced on the English stage by Madame VErrrars at the Olympic ; and it has been successfully employed by her at Covent Garden in the Midsummer Night's Dream, one scene of which exhibits a raised bank, seeming to be the pathway to a wood, which some of the characters enter. A scene in KNOWLES'S now almost forgotten play John of Procida, represent- ing a ruined amphitheatre, was also remarkable for the illusion produced by covering the stage with an imitation of stone, and scattering frag- ments of cornices and columns around. In the more extended of these "set" scenes, as they are termed, the side-scenes or " wings " are with- drawn out of view, or so painted as to form a component part of the picture ; but in ordinary cases they exhibit a violent perspective, that appears correct only to a few persons in the centre : would it not be a material improvement if the wings were painted to represent the sides or profiles of buildings, or their fronts directly facing the spectators, instead of a perspective view broken into several bits, each one seen under a different angle?
A word on lighting the stage. It was suggested some time ago, that in lieu of the foot-lamps, which are prejudicial to personal appearance and expression of face by casting shadows upward, a strong illumina- tion might be thrown from above : the Bude light offers facilities for adopting that suggestion ; its rays being not only more powerful, but warmer than gas or the Drummond light. A lamp placed in front of the gallery might be so contrived as to throw a stream of light upon the stage, in the same way that the disc of the oxyhydrogen microscope is illumined ; and by using gauze screens of various colours and densities, the effects of moonlight, twilight, midnight, and fire, might be imitated almost to illusion. The effect of lightning might be produced by shift- ign a lamp before a mirror ; which would cause a momentary-and vivid flash, more pervading than the sadden illumination of a transparent sky or the shaking of a resinous torch.
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