ABSTRACT
After a period of readjustment, from 1865 there was a spate of theatre building. Twelve new ones appeared in the West End of London between 1865 and 1900, and four were completely remodelled. And theatres became synonymous with their productions: at the Prince of Wales’s there were ‘cup-and-saucer’ plays; at the Savoy, Gilbert and Sullivan operas; at Drury Lane, spectacular shows, especially pantomimes; and at the Royal Court, Pinero’s farces. Typically, Victorian productions alternated between ‘flat’ scenes and ‘set’ scenes. ‘Flat’ scenes were of two types – ‘drops’ or ‘cloths’, painted backcloths which could be lowered or raised as necessary – or ‘flats’, painted canvas stretched on wooden frames. Advances in scene-making also made possible the many trick effects associated with Victorian theatre, from ghostly apparitions created by the use of gauzes to the ‘Pepper’s Ghost’ trick, which involved an angled sheet of glass which reflected a figure off stage'.
