Something more was required. The public
were becoming critical about their ghosts. Credit could not be given
to the spirits of the theatre if they exceeded a certain consistency.
There was a demand for something vaporous and unearthly, gliding,
transparent, mysterious. Scenic illusion was acquiring an artistic
quality. The old homely simple processes of the theatre were exploded.
The audience would only be deceived upon certain terms. Mr. Boaden,
adapting Ann Radcliffe's "Romance of the Forest" to the stage of
Covent Garden Theatre, records the anxiety he felt about the proper
presentment of its supernatural incidents. The contrivance he hit upon
has since become one of the commonplaces of theatrical illusion. It
was arranged that the spectre should be seen through a bluish-gray
gauze, so as to remove the too corporeal effect of a live actor, and
convert the moving substance into a gliding essence.
The plan, however, was not carried into effect without considerable
difficulty. Mr. Harris, the manager, ordered a night rehearsal of the
play, so that the author might judge of the success of the effects
introduced.
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