Monday, August 26, 2024
Travels of a Scenic Artist and Scholar: Adelina Patti’s Stage Scenery
Drypigment.net: On August 7, 2024, Mike Hume and I visited the Adelina Patti Theatre in the Craig Y Nos Castle, Wales. My last post focused on this well-known soprano and the construction of her theatre. This blog is going to look at remnants of her stock scenery collection. A few borders and a garden drop are all that remain. Visitors can only catch glimpses of delicate branches and lacy foliage high above their heads.
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This is such an interesting blast from the past! The reliance on painted drops and the history of this one drop painted by Walter Hann got me thinking about scenic art in today's industry. An art that has slowly been getting phased out with the new introduction of projections and LED walls. With that said the level of craftsmanship, attention to detail and overall look compared to the touch ups is truly amazing, how much detail has been lost over the years. It pops a question into my head is scenic art getting less detailed and why is that? Is it the ability to utilize lighting gobos, ect to increase texture? Are we as audiences less inclined to notice highly detailed painted drops? This article also had me thinking about how wasteful our industry is and how unbelievably rare it is to see something maintained and preserved. Is there a place to start preserving some of these shows for the sake of history? After all, theatre is culture and culture is worth preserving.
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