Scene Design and Stage Lighting ed. by W. Oren Parker, Harvey K. Smith (review)

168 Books Italian and French versions of Denis Bablet’s cool technical monograph and to one by J. M. Burian in the U.S.A., is the closest to a faithful discussion of Svoboda’s work. According to the survey at the end of the book, Svoboda’s scenographic work, over a span of 30 years, by I973 comprised 369 productions staged in Czechoslovakia, U.S.S.R., England, U.S.A., German Federal Republic, German Democratic Republic, Italy and other countries. The book is divided into three parts. In the first part Berezkin reviews the development of scenography from the decomposed picture of historical scenes of the 16th century to the 19th and 20th centuries when new requirements of expression from the viewpoint of playwrights, actors and directors led to present efforts to exploit space in scenes and scenery. In the second part, Svoboda’s artistic development is discussed, beginning with the influence upon him of innovations in the Czechoslovak theatre between the two World Wars and until 1958,when his own form of artistic expression took over the stage of the National Theatre in Prague. Svoboda returned to some of the stage techniques of acting and scenography (Theatregraph and Polyecran) of the D34 Theatre, which performed in Prague before World War 11, and, taking advantage of new technological developments, especially in cinema and electric lighting, developed the highly successful Magic Lantern theatre. The third part, which analyzes Svoboda’s innovations in individual stage productions, is the most important one. His ingenious use of space on the stage is pointed out, for example, by means of a simple staircase in a play and of realistic compositions in an opera. Berezkin also stresses the attention Svoboda gives to dramatic expression of actors in designing scenery to give environmental support. In the realm of stage lighting, apart from the Magic Lantern (Polyecran) techniques, Svoboda introduced the ‘light curtain’ in plays such as ‘Racek‘ and ‘Drahomira’. A specific feature of Svoboda’s approach is what can be called ‘kinetic scenery’. Parts of scenes are shifted during a play-in his scenography for ‘Romeo and Juliet’ a whole building was transformed during the play’s performance. Scene Design and Stage Lighting. 3rd ed. W. Oren Parker and Harvey K. Smith. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, London, 1974. 597 pp., illus. f8.25. Reviewed by Miroslav Kouiil* The content and arrangement of this book reflect its intended use as a teaching aid and as a source of detailed information for electricians, draughtsmen and carpenters. There is little in it for a professional scenographer. The comprehensive chapter ‘Drafting the Design’ deals with the details of making drawings in various kinds of perspective and of constructing models of scene designs. Attention is paid to the importance in the contemporary theatre of changing the appearance of scenery by means of lighting. A European reader will find strange the descriptions of the most elementary drawing aids. Evidently, the authors had in mind apprentices of theatre scenography in the U.S.A. who had no previous technical preparation. What is more, I found that some of the tools and aids listed are now rarely used. Part 2 of the book, entitled ‘Executing the Design’, after mentioning the details of technical stage devices, pays much attention to the painting of scenery and to the colour aspect of costumes. Examples of composing a colour scale are given for stage productions and they are compared with thefinal scenery and costumes, unfortunately , in white light only; as regards colour lighting, the 3-colour system is briefly mentioned in Part 3. The impressionistic realism of light in terms of colour on mood, scenery and costumes is but little treated. Something about this can be deduced from the physical explanations in Chapters 8 and 14, but this requires a knowledge of how to combine the effects of projected light on an area of given colour. A stage director and especially a scene designer or scenographer must possess this knowledge to the highest degree, in addition to being skilled in scene design and construction. The authors divide scene design into two parts-the design proper and lighting. Two professions are proclaimed here. If one looks upon scene design...