At the beginning of the Restoration, commercial entrepreneurs began to convert existing buildings into theatres, fitted with 'scenes' and lights. One example is the Hall Theatre which was fitted for theatrical performances and equipped with a lighting system which included chandeliers, candles and reflectors. Restoration theatre followed in the footsteps of continental scenic practice.
In his Treatise of the English Stage of 1658, Richard Flecknoe (1600-1678), maintains that English theatre of his day lags behind that of France and Italy in the area of 'spectacles'. Of lighting he writes: "In particular we do not yet know where to locate the lighting, such that we can achieve efficiency and intensity in lighting the stage".
Flecknoe was particularly mindful of lighting on the
stage
and on May 12, 1669 after a visit to the Lincoln's Inn Field Theatre, where he apparently sat in the second gallery, he complained that the candlelight in the performance nearly ruined his eyesight as the smoke rising from the cheap
tallow candles
was extremely irritating!
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Chandliers with smoking candles.
Drury Lane Theatre, 1674
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