Stage design in the 17th Century Italy

The representation of clouds was an important factor in spectacles founded on classic legend. These appear to have resembled a series of curved sky-borders, ranged one behind the other to suggest banks of clouds. These clouds became more and more elaborate as they were used in conjunction with the appearances, descents, and ascents of triumphal cars bearing illustrious deities.

Drop-curtains were rare, the change of scene being carried out in full view of the spectator, whose attention was to be diverted by means which can only be described as artless. For instance, Sabbatini [Nicola] suggests a staged disturbance at the back of the audience, or a sudden crash of drums and trumpets.

The lighting was obtained from candles or lamps hidden behind the scenery, or placed above the heads of the audience, and sometimes even on the stage itself in the manner of crude footlights. The intensity of the lighting was increased by placing bottles of water before the lights or setting burnished basins of brass or copper behind them. Coloured light was achieved by tinting the water in the bottles, an effect still to be observed in the windows of certain chemists' shops. As to effects, there were trap-doors for appearances and disapearances, while a person might be changed into a tree or a rock by the simple process of sliding up from below a piece of scenery so painted. There were devices for the simulation of lightning, while thunder was imitated by the rolling of a heavy cannon-ball over an uneven surface. Thunder played an important part in pieces in which deities abounded, since their appearance and departure were invariably marked by peals of thunder. Finally, the motion of seas was suggested by painted cloths caused to rise and fall by the turning of rollers place beneath them, or by the manipulations of ropes attached to the underside of the cloths.

Five centuries of ballet design by Cyril W. Beaumont. 1939. Page 8.