scene design and stage lighting: The Middle Ages

The religious plays of the Middle Ages were performed at first within, and later in front of, the church, with the separate scenes organized around an open space. This form of staging continued when the plays were moved into the street, but the individual platform scenes became more elaborately built up, and there was widespread use of machinery and traps. Information about medieval lighting is uncertain although it seems likely that torches, both moving and stationary, were utilized.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• The Twentieth Century
• The Nineteenth Century
• The Eighteenth Century
• The Renaissance to the Seventeenth Century
• The Middle Ages
• Ancient Rome
• Ancient Greece
• Bibliography

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