PLAN SHOWING THIRD AND FOURTH SCENES OF FIRST ACT.

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The “under machinery”—the traps, chariots, bridges, etc.—are worked in various ways, and they are as accessible and as easily managed as in the ordinary stage. The overhead work is about the same as in any other modern iron theater.

A stage of this kind, constructed of iron, and equipped with electrical driving devices, would meet the most exacting requirements of the present age. The success of Herr Lautenschlager’s plan in the Munich Theater gives ground for the hope that it will soon be adopted in other theaters.

The inventor of this stage, Karl Lautenschlager, was thoroughly educated as an engineer, and has had so much experience in the management of the mechanical devices of different theatres that he is admirably fitted to plan a thoroughly practical stage which meets the entire approval of those interested in “stage reform.”

A revolving stage was patented by an American, Mr. Charles A. Needham, in 1883. It certainly seems to contain the germ of Herr Lautenschlager’s invention. A Mexican, J. Herrera y Gutierrez, of the City of Mexico, invented in 1892 a theatrical arrangement in which the conditions of the revolving stage are reversed. In the center of a circular building were five auditoriums forming a circle which was capable of turning. The stages were rectangular and surrounded the auditoriums. A different scene was set upon each, and the auditoriums were turned, facing each scene in turn.

THE “ASPHALEIA” STAGE.

In some theaters there is a whole series of traps worked by hydraulic power. These traps are capable of raising a whole section of the stage if desired. In the so-called “Asphaleia” stage—in which each trap goes right across the stage and is divided into three parts, each of which rests on the plunger of a hydraulic press, so that it can be raised and lowered either independently or simultaneously with the rest of the traps in that division—the whole of the floor can be raised or lowered as desired. It will be readily seen that by this means a stage manager has at his disposal a very effective aid in setting a large scene. Each section of the floor of the stage can be fixed in an oblique position, and the traps can be arranged one after the other so as to form a succession of steps, bridges, balconies, or even a ship, in a moment, with perfect safety, and without previous preparation. The old clumsy timberwork set pieces and the building up of scenes is avoided, and the method of working is in many ways an ideal one, but, after all, does not seem to possess the flexibility of a series of divided bridges such as are used at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. The hydraulic traps permit of the easy representation of uneven ground, which strengthens the possibility of illusion and gives a chance for a far more picturesque arrangement than is permitted the plain ordinary stage. The trap arrangement of the “Asphaleia” stage should be regarded as something more than a mere arrangement of traps. In this theater it is arranged so that entire scenes can be raised and lowered through the slides simultaneously. It is possible to raise up from below the stage, in view of the audience, a complete scene representing a room. With these facilities the waits are very much shorter. The hydraulic stage of the Chicago Auditorium is a fine example of good hydraulic work. In the “Asphaleia” stage even the drop scenes are manipulated by hydraulic power from a central point. The fire curtain is also actuated by a hydraulic cylinder fixed to the middle of the fire curtain. Valves are provided in various parts of the stage, which permit of dropping the curtain. For detailed information concerning the splendid stages at Halle, Buda-Pesth, and Chicago, the reader is referred to Mr. E. O. Sachs’s series of articles on “Modern Theater Stages,” in “Engineering” for October 23d and November 13, 1896, and to his monumental books upon the same subject.