Makr Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 I'm doing a history project on the fly tower and I need to find out when it was invented and things like that... I've looked everywhere on the internet, but I can't find anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 I can't be certain, but I'd say they were most likely first used around the time of Madame Vestris' (1797 - 1856) management of Covent Garden - before that, most theatres used the goove system of scene changing - Vestris was the first to introduce a box set, which was complete with a roof. Having said that, the Bristol Old Vic was built in 1766 (one of the oldest theatres outside London still in operation), and has a fully fly tower, but this may have been added at a later date. I'm no theatre historian, so would be happy to stand corrected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryson Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Speaking of Theatre Historians, for the definitive answer, I'd get in contact with the ABTT's Theatre Archeology Committee who are bound to have a lot to say on the subject. email: office@abtt.org.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jram Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 If you have access to a reference library, that's got to be a shot as well. Or if you want to look up the British Library or the Mitchell Library (in London and Glasgow respectively), you may be able to email them for help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 Bristols entire stage was demolished and re-built in the 70's. So is now an ugly concrete thing, however in the foyer there they have a very nice timber model of how the fly-tower used to be, complete with all of the stage machinery that there was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filmer Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 I'm a little late to this thread ... It might be hard to nail down when the fly tower was invented. It might be more accurate to say that the technology gradually developed. A lot of early theatres had spaces that may have been called 'the flies' even though they weren't what we might now call a fly tower. Richard Leacroft's 'The Development of the English Playhouse' (1973) is a useful book. He mentions the Theatre Royal in Leicester as having been renovated in 1888; the renovations included the installation of a fly tower. I read somewhere else that the Flemish Theatre in Brussels was a continental forerunner as far as flytowers were concerned. I'd be interested to know what you find out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 thinking about it, if we use 'flys' to mean the place above, that theatrical work is done from, then even the Globe had flys - certainly the ability to lower things during performance, or drop things on cue could be done - so does the Globe stage ceiling count as 'flys' - my guess is that it does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_s Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 lowering things from above was a facility that classic Greek theatre could brag about in 5th Century BC. And they didn't have a roof . Now that's clever. (this is thought to be the origin of the phrase "deus ex machina" meaning a solution to a problem appearing out of nowhere - like the gods who frequently appeared from above in greek plays.) Don't know what the greek for "flys" - I failed my greek o level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jram Posted May 21, 2005 Share Posted May 21, 2005 It's just occurred to me as I re-read this - the citizens' in glasgow has all their original victorian stage machinery still in place. Think the websites glasgowcitz.co.uk - something like that. Anyway, in Victorian times many scene changes were done from BELOW the stage using a variety of traps. At some point I'd like to read more about that myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzler Posted May 23, 2005 Share Posted May 23, 2005 A great place to try is the library at the theatre museum. You have to ring and book an appointment, but at the same time you can tell them what you're looking for so the library staff will dig out all the information they can for you. Dazzler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bec Posted May 30, 2005 Share Posted May 30, 2005 I believe that the whole flying mechanisms etc.. really took off in I think 18th century Italy with the development of the proscenium and grand spectacle and opera, although rudimentary versions existed well before (since Greek times.. )I would research Italian theatre.. bec Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy jackson Posted June 5, 2005 Share Posted June 5, 2005 Theatre Engineering and stage machenery by Toshiro Ogawa, marvelous book and will cover everything anyone ever needs to know.publiched by ETP http://www.etbooks.co.uk/ bout £30 but well worth it. - got me through my dissertation! Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makr Posted June 27, 2005 Author Share Posted June 27, 2005 I basically found that the technology evolved over time and that fly towers started to take shape as we know them in the 19th century somtime. from the Greek devices to the way that the globe used it's space above the stage (and below) to sailing machinery in the 18 and 19 century. It's been a gradual process with technology and engineering backing it all up. Thanks for the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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