No photographs at all, are permitted of the Arkhangelskoye Pietro
Gonzaga teatr. Why? Claims are made of the theatre, but the claims
are a bit expansive. To be precise, the claims are groundless, and
photographs would clearly show this. Lets examine these claims.
Flats exist, but are moved manually. No machinery exists under
the stage attached to the flats to move them. No ropes, no
pulleys, no winding machinery. The flats must be moved manually.
Indeed, the vertical space under the stage decreases from a maximum
of about 4' to about 2'. There is not adequate understage space
for machinery to move flats (or trap doors for people to descend
under the stage, unless dwarfs are used for actors or singers).
No linear perspective is in evidence, none at all! Not painted on
flats for example. A loge is set aside for the "presence" (Tsar),
but is not designed to take
advantage of perspective. Linear perspecive is ignored in this
theatre.
No machinery such as wind machines, rolling thunder machines, rain
machines, or wave machines. No aerial machines can be seen, either.
As an interesting note, the orchestra pit is separated from the main
audience, at the same level. However, the Yousapov theatre at the
Yusupov estate in Saint Petersburg has the orchestra pit at 10 meters
below the level of the main audience
level! The members of the orchestra must
not contaminate
the people in the audience! Music is not so significant! There are no
"blind loges" for the orchestra. How significant is music at the
Yusupov Arkhangelskoye Pietro Gonzaga teatr?