kurzweil_dude Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Watching a few shows last month got me thinking about how its pretty much a staple of [musical] set design in productions now to have the proscenium as part of the set and extend out (with a thrust) into the auditorium. Notable current examples being Phantom, Les Mis, Matilda etc. I can think of a few shows in the 80s with this, but when did this trend begin and who set it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 The Greeks? (Only slightly tongue in cheek) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerry davies Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Not that silly an answer, Jon. I visited this place and sang to a bemused audience of German tourists to test the acoustics. The Pros arch itself is just a late addition to stages such as The Globe so basically the question is one of chicken and egg. I think that the basic platform of the "thrust" came first but ....... who cares? Aspendos is right up my street as a "theatre". They used to flood it, sail in full sized warships and hold flat-out sea battles complete with casualties. All the fun went out of it when they stopped you killing the turns, innit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurzweil_dude Posted February 6, 2016 Author Share Posted February 6, 2016 Nice responses, although I think my point may have been missed slightly (maybe I didn't word myself adequately).I recognise that Amphitheatres, The Globe etc, had a large thrust for action, I guess this was more of a response to voice amplification more than artistic merit. I was leaning more towards set construction to incorporate/replace the [standard] procession as part of the set, geared more towards production in the last decade. For example: Theatre Royal Drury Lane, LDN. Standard Theatre mode:http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/DruryLane/AuditoriumJH.jpg Production mode: Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImagineerTom Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 It's been a staple of pantomime for decades - it essentially is a result of shows "touring" from venue to venue rather than being conceived and intended to remain in just one venue so I'd hazard that at some level as long as there have been shows touring proscenium theatres there have been false prosceniums. It's definitely a side effect of scenic and practical needs rather than purely as a means to hide modern technology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w/robe Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 Just to slightly disagree with IT.False prosceniums that cover the actual pros, as opposed to portals behind the pros, have been a staple of producing houses for years. It is much easier to do this when you have only one venue to fit the set in to. In the venue I am currently working in none of the touring shows it receives or sends out have a false pros that covers the existing pros. The earliest I can remember working on was covering a pros in corrugated steel for a production of Journeys End in 1987, this was before I saw the light and moved in to Wardrobe. I can not believe that we were the first to do this be a long way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 I think we have terminology clash. Traditionally a false pros is a combination of legs and border (scenic rather than masking) up stage of the theatres physical pros used to close down the stage /performance area. I'm not sure of a term to describe the act of dressing or completely cover the building's pros arch, which is I think what the OP is refer get to. T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 I've never called legs and borders anything other than portals? False pros to me has always been a new 'letterbox' through which the audience view the performance. I've seen complete ones, like the rather nice Charlie and the Chocolate Factory one (digressing, Ian Grundy takes very good photographs but ruins them with the over large copyright notice), but also others that simply thicken the opening - maybe with a relief of a few feet. Staple technique of pantomimes now, and some rather nice ones too - that really just disguise the random openings normal proscenium walls have at the edge? Over flamboyant and dated like the roses and flowers type - 60's straight lines, gold and gilt that kind of thing. I think they were in use in the 60s, possibly earlier in the type of style and design we now take for granted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurzweil_dude Posted February 7, 2016 Author Share Posted February 7, 2016 I think we have terminology clash. Traditionally a false pros is a combination of legs and border (scenic rather than masking) up stage of the theatres physical pros used to close down the stage /performance area. I'm not sure of a term to describe the act of dressing or completely cover the building's pros arch, which is I think what the OP is refer get to. T Good point. As suggested, I am talking about down-stage, audience side of the pros. Must agree that I like the 'frame' on Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. Its not distracting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Some Bloke Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 One of the best examples of what you're referring to, as I understand it, is Wicked: http://londonmumsmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/IMG_0475.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurzweil_dude Posted February 7, 2016 Author Share Posted February 7, 2016 One of the best examples of what you're referring to, as I understand it, is Wicked: -Wicked image- Correct. Although I particularly dislike Wicked.I prefer this example from Phantom. Its integration into the production is seamless and brilliant. Wickeds is a bit more over the top, and a bit "everyone else is doing it so how can we do it.."Interestingly, with regard to Wicked, I only recently found out that the Pipes at the top are actually part of the organ in the theatre, not the set.http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-da4LxRMy3AE/UD8lmGiq12I/AAAAAAAAcEU/TSljy__9u9c/s1600/Phantom+of+the+Opera+Manila+24.JPG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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