monsters & Transformations:

Baroque Performer-Operated Devices

by Frank Mohler

Published in TD&T, Vol. 4t No. 1 (Winter 2011)

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Monsters & transformations
1
Baroque Performer-Operated Devices
by Frank Mohler

M any Renaissance and Baroque productions

included monsters and mythological creatures
as characters. Creatures such as centaurs and
dragons are shown in the drawings and engravings
for intermezzi and operas of the period. Some
productions included performers transformed into
Above, Monster
other creatures or inanimate objects.
Transformation;
Archives nationale,
Paris Vol. 01.32-38-42, 5a

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Details about some of these creatures are known from re-
cords of court productions. For example the dragon that was
slain by Apollo in the third intermezzo of La Pellegrina at the
Medici court in 1589 was constructed of papier-mâché on a
framework (Nagler 1964, 84). The dragon was moved around
the stage by stagehands hidden inside it, who were also able
to move the dragon’s head (Saslow 1996, 154). Although Ber-
nardo Buontalenti’s drawing of the dragon can be found at the
Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Florence, no drawing of the
mechanism for the dragon exists.
Fortunately there are drawings at the Nationalmuseum in
Stockholm and at the Archives nationale in Paris that include
sketches of theatrical monsters and transformations. Many of
these drawings show both the finished effect and the way the
effect was achieved. Unfortunately there is no indication of the
productions for which the devices were used.
The drawings at the Nationalmuseum are housed in the
Tessin-Hårleman collection. Architect Baron Nicodemus Tessin
Copyright 2011 United States Institute for Theatre Technology, Inc.
Architect Baron Nicodemus
Tessin toured Europe in the
late seventeenth century and
recorded details of his visits
to Parisian and Venetian opera
houses in his travel journal.
the Younger (1654–1728) was Superintendent of Buildings at
the Swedish court. He was very interested in theatre and at the
end of the seventeenth century he helped persuade young King
Charles to engage a company of French actors to perform at
court. To help mount the court productions he had a Swed-
ish diplomat in Paris, Daniel Cronström, obtain prints of sets
and costumes by French and Italian designers. Tessin toured
Europe in the late seventeenth century and recorded details of
his visits to Parisian and Venetian opera houses in his travel
journal (Brinson 1966, 119 ff.). Tessin’s son, Carl Gustaf Tessin
(1695–1770), was an ambassador in Vienna and Paris in the
mid-eighteenth century and rose to become the president of
the Chancellery (essentially prime minister). An avid collector
Man/Tree Transformation
Tessin-Hårleman Collection, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
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 himself, he catalogued and added to his father’s theatrical col-
3 lection. The collection was further enlarged by the addition of
drawings collected by Carl Cronstedt in the mid-eighteenth cen-
tury and by architect Carl Hårleman (1700–1753) who served
as court superintendent from 1741.
The drawings at the Parisian Archives nationale are in “Re-
ceuil de Decorations de Theatre” (Vol. 01.3238-42). Some of
the drawings in the two collections are very similar. A major dif-
ference in the drawings is that the Archives nationale drawings
have textual material on the drawings and the Tessin-Hårleman
Collection drawings do not. It is likely that the Tessin-Hårleman
drawings are copies of the originals now held at the Archive
nationale and were made for Tessin.
The low level of light from candles and oil lamps would
have aided the illusion of the transformations on stage. In ad-
dition, the transformations might have been accompanied by
thunder and flashes of lightning, both of which were described
by Serlio (Hewitt 1958, 35–36) and Sabbattini (Hewitt 1958,
170–172).
Snail / Man Transformation
Tessin-Hårleman Collection, Vol. K, #52,
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Snail / Man Transformation

Archives nationale, Paris
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Performer-operated Monster
Vol. 01.3241, 2-109, Archives nationale, Paris
A drawing from the Archives nationale in Paris shows a
method of transforming a dwarf monster into a young lady
(fig. 1). The secret lies in the design on the lining of the young
lady’s gown. When she appears as the monster, she holds her
skirt up as shown in the right-hand sketch. This reveals the face
of the monster, which she wears like a bustle. The lining of her
skirt is painted as hair so that when she bends over it appears
to be the monster’s hair framing the face as shown in the left-
hand sketch. Under her floor length skirt is a shorter skirt that
revealed her shoes decorated as the feet of the monster. When
she stood on stage bent over she appeared as the monster. By
standing up, turning around and dropping her skirt to the floor
she was transformed into a young lady.
Tessin-Hårleman Collection includes a drawing of a device
that would allow a tree to be transformed into a man or visa
versa (fig. 2). In this case a telescoping tree unit was attached
to a sliding unit 1 that would allow the tree to sink into the stage.
At the top of the tree unit two branches were attached to pivots
and could be controlled by cords to move with the performers
Copyright 2011 United States Institute for Theatre Technology, Inc.
5
arms. The drawing suggests that the tree was painted on netting
or gauze so the form of the performer could be seen behind it.
At the moment the transformation was to take place the per-
former behind the tree would move his arms in sync with the
tree arms and the tree would sink into the stage floor revealing
the performer.2
A similar device in drawings from both the Archives na-
tionale in Paris (fig. 3) and the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm
(fig. 4) was able to transform a snail into a man. The snail was
painted on a frame that was mounted on a sliding unit that al-
lowed it to descend through a slot in the stage floor to the trap
room. For the transformation to take place, a performer would
be raised using an elevator to stage level through a trap imme-
diately behind the snail frame. The frame, then, would descend
into the trap room as the performer appeared to be climbing
out of the shell.
Several designs show monsters that could move across
the stage using the shutter cuts in the stage floor. They were
mounted on trolleys that rode in tracks in the trap room.
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 6

The snail was part of the

costume and hid the legs
of the performer. False
legs were used to create
the illusion that the
performer was sitting on
the snail shell.

Performer on a Snail
Tessin-Hårleman Collection, Vol. K1, #50, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

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 7

Mermaid on Seahorse
Tessin-Hårleman Collection, Vol. K1, #47, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
8
Figure 5 illustrates one of these devices. The operator would
sit inside the monster and control the movements of the head,
arms and, perhaps, the tail. A lever attached to the operator’s
head extended into the monster’s head to control movement of
the monster’s head and neck. The operator’s arms were placed
in the monster’s arms to allow them to move. Although it is not
clearly shown, it is possible that the operator’s feet were used
to move the tail. The operator’s legs and feet would seem to be
a problem since they appear to have been too big to fit into the
typical shutter cut.
The movement of most of the preceding devices was re-
stricted to lateral movement across the stage by the use of the
shutter cuts in the stage floor. Several other creatures could
carry performers around the stage without such restrictions. Seahorse and Mermaid on Stage. Computer reconstruction.
The musician shown in figure 6 could move anywhere. The
snail was part of the costume and hid the legs of the performer. Figure 7 illustrates another performer who could move
False legs were used to create the illusion that the performer anywhere on stage while creating the illusion that she was rid-
was sitting on the snail shell. In actuality the snail shell was at- ing on an animal. In this case a mermaid is shown riding on a
tached to the performers waist and could slide across the stage seahorse. Again the animal was a rigid costume hiding the legs
floor. The sketches at the top of figure 6 show the same tech- of the performer. The tail of the mermaid was part of the sea-
nique used for a large bird and a crocodile. horse costume. The seahorse was attached to the performers

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 9

Centaur
Tessin-Hårleman Collection, Vol. K1, #49, National Museum, Stockholm

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 10
…the illusion of a monkey riding
on the shoulders of a dwarf was
created.The performer was able
to walk upright and move his
own arms and legs.

waist and the weight of the forward part of the seahorse body
was carried on a large wheel that was attached to a tongue that
was also suspended from the performers waist. The seahorse
probably moved between the waves of a sea scene as shown
in figure 8.3
The mythological creatures required in some of the pro-
ductions were created much like four-legged creatures in the
much later vaudeville productions. Figure 9 shows how a cen-
taur was created. A musician was costumed as the front half of
the creature and another person formed the back half of the
creature. A child or small person was able to appear to be rid-
ing the centaur.
Another variation of the animal-performer costume is
shown in figure 10, where the illusion of a monkey riding on
the shoulders of a dwarf was created. The performer was able
to walk upright and move his own arms and legs. He wore a
monkey head and had a costume piece around his waist that
included the monkey’s legs and the dwarf’s head.
The monster fountain (fig. 11) could have been used as
garden statuary that came to life. Since a performer was inside
the costume, he could have moved freely around the stage. It is
obvious in the drawing is that the performer operated the water
flowing from the monster’s mouth into the basin. The technique
appears to be very similar to that described by Sabbattini (He-
witt 1958, 145-146) in his Pratica to create the appearance of
water flowing in a fountain. The performer would push a loop
of blue fabric out of the monster’s mouth and pull it back inside
Monkey Riding on a Dwarf
the costume through an opening at the bottom of the basin.
Tessin-Hårleman Collection, Vol. K1, #30,
Thus, the performer could keep the water flowing.
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

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 11

Monster Fountain
Tessin-Hårleman Collection, Vol. K1, #53

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 Unfortunately most of the sketches are individual plates
and are not part of a collection from a particular production.
In most cases there is no indication of the production in which
they were used. Some of the techniques have survived in modern
productions. The vaudeville cow in the musical Gypsy is cre-
ated by two performers much like the centaur shown in figure
9. Some of the animals in Broadway’s The Lion King are created
with techniques similar to those used in the Baroque theatre. v

Frank Mohler is Professor Emeritus at Appalachian State

University. His research into spectacle produced on the
Renaissance and Baroque stages has been recognized with
numerous awards including two for articles published in
TD&T. He maintains the website, The Development of Scenic
Spectacle, at www1.appstate.edu/orgs/spectacle.

Notes
1. This device (âme et cassette in French) is shown as a
part of several machines in the seventeenth-century MS
3708 in the Biblioteca Palatina, Parma and in Diderot’s
eighteenth-century Encyclopedia.
2. Sabbattini described “how to transform a man into a
rock or a similar object” in his Pratica di Fabricar
Scene a Machine ne’ Teatri (Hewitt 1958, 128-130). It
consisted of a rock painted on a cloth that was raised or
lowered in front of a performer. Sabbattini’s techniques
were generally very simple and probably reflected late
sixteenth-century technology.
3. The waves and stage floor are from a computer model of
the Teatro San Salvatore in Venice based upon drawings
in MS 3708 at the Biblioteca Palatina in Parma.

Sources Cited
Brinson, Peter. 1966. Background to European Ballet.
Leyden: A. W. Sijthoff.
Hewitt, Bernard. 1958. The Renaissance Stage: Documents
of Serlio, Sabbattini and Furttenbach. Coral Gables:
University of Miami Press.
Nagler, A. M. 1964. Theatre Festivals of the Medici: 1539-
1637. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Saslow, James. M. 1996. The Medici Wedding of 1589. New
Haven: Yale University Press.
“Receuil de Decorations de Theatre” (Vol. 01.3238-42),
Archives national, Paris.
Tessin-Hårleman Collection, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.
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