Adolphe Appia & Gordon Craig

Adolphe Appia, a Swiss designer, and Edward Gordon Craig in Britain are often linked, not because they were collaborators in any way, but because, working separately, their combined vision asserted a profound influence on Scenography. Neither had many shows that were actually produced, but both of them eloquently expressed their design theories both in print and in a series of evocative drawings. Appia published La Musique et la Mise en Scéne in 1899 and Craig published On the Art of the Theatre in 1911.

To understand the impact that Appia and Craig made on theatre production, it is first necessary to look at the standard mise en scene when they appeared. Victorian stage decoration generally meant a flat stage and large painted drops. Frederick Lloyds illustrates a typical arrangement of backdrop with wings and borders.

Frederick Lloyds: A Practical Guide to Scene Painting and Painting in Distemper,
George Rowney & Co., London, 1875

Lloyds also illustrates obvious limitations that become annoying whenever the painted scenery meets three-dimensional objects. William Telbin does a better job of intgrating the floor with the vertical elements, at least in his rendering

Frederick Lloyds, designer; Charles Kean, producer: Henry V, Princess Theatre, 1859
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

William Telbin, designer; Charles Fletcher, producer: Hamlet, Lyceum Theatre, 1864
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The solution seems to have usually to hide the defects by flooding the stage with bodies.

Frederick Lloyds, Charles Kean: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Lyceum Theatre, 1856
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Frederick Lloyds, designer; Charles Kean, producer: Henry V, Princess Theatre, 1859
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Emile Zola: L'Assommoir, Adapted for the stage by William Busnach and Octave Gastineau, Théatre de l'Ambigu-Comique, 1879,
Istituto per il Teatro e il Melodramma

Jules Férat: Drawing of L'Assommoir, Staged by William Busnach and Octave Gastineau,
Théatre de l'Ambigu-Comique, 1879
Bibliothèque Nationale de France

The Moscow Art Theatre often created a back wall of varying depth, divided the floor area with raised levels, and replaced the wings with a wall running upstage to downstage. Still, the effect was largely two-dimensional. Where Appia and Craig would diverge from this standard practice was in the understanding of three-dimensional shapes. And more importantly, how those shapes could respond to light.

Anton Chekhov: The Cherry Orchard,
Moscow Art Theatre 1904