ABSTRACT
Overview Rotating scenery on a turntable, either for the dynamic visual effect they can provide, or to simply change scenes quickly in a blackout, is a relatively recent introduction into Western set design. The concept was imported into Germany in the late 19th century from Japan where turntables had been used in Kabuki theatre from the 1700s. In truth, turning platforms are documented in some Medieval and early Renaissance events, but they were forgotten after the development of the chariot and pole scene changing system in the early 1600s. Most German opera houses built in the last century have permanently installed turntables. These most often take the form of either a massive steel structure installed during the building’s construction that spins both the stage floor and the trap room, or as a turntable built within a full stage wagon that stores upstage and rolls downstage when needed. The Frankfurt Opera has an exceptional example of the former, with one immense turntable 37.4 m (123 ft) in diameter, that carries on it a smaller turntable (relatively at least) of 16 m (52.5 ft) in diameter.1 The Metropolitan Opera in New York, the stage of which was built to German models, has a 60′ square, 1′ thick upstage wagon that contains within it a 58′ diameter turntable.
