Here Comes the Storm: Set Spectacle

Spectacle was the name of the game for Victorian theatre, and especially for Gothic Melodrama which generally had some sort of storm, or ship wreck, or ghost appearance.

The climax of The Inchcape Bell is during a storm, which wrecks the villain pirate's ship. In the description it goes "the wreck of the rover's vessel on the Inchcape Rock, during a storm. As the scene changes, a dreadful crash is heard."(Booth, pg. 29) The boat also

Sound effects would have been used plentifully, and would have been made by specialized instruments, such as "rolling cannon balls down a wooden trough" to produce thunder, or rain might be crushed peas in a wooden box, which would then be shaken. Wind could be produced by a wind-machine that "resembled a paddle-steamer wheel." (Malheiro, Sound Effects)

Lighting effects would have been more minimal. Sources of light came from oil and gas lamps. Gas-lit chandeliers would have illuminated the Auditorium, and would have been kept on for the run of the show, expect when they may have been minimized for a moonlit scene. (Malheiro, Lighting)

At one point the mast is struck by a lightning bolt. (Booth, pg. 30) I can only imagine a set piece, such as a painted lightning bolt, being brought in to "strike" the mast, since control of light at this time was limited.

There are other, smaller effects, that I imagine a hidden crew of stage hands would assist with. Such as "the raft is lifted up and down by the rising and receding of the tide" (Booth, pg. 21) Another, small effect may be when Sampson "breaks away one side of the Bell with his hatchet," which would require a special properties bell to make happen. This bell, according to Michael Booth in his Explanatory Notes states that "large bells, cast from bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, were highly susceptible to fracture" and this would be possible to break with a hatchet.

Another effect was "a boat is seen leaving the shore in the background" after the storm has destroyed the shop, and this was likely done, again according to Mr. Booth, by having an upstage miniature boat in profile drawn along by a crew member offstage. (pg. 238)


Resources Used:

Booth, Michael R., Michael Cordner, Peter Holland, and Martin Wiggens, eds. The Lights O' London and Other Victorian Plays. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. N. pag. Print.

Malheiro, B. "Victorian Playhouse and Production." Victorian Theatre Management. N.p., 1999. google.com. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. <http://logicmgmt.com/1876/theatre/production.htm>.