Schwabe-Hasait Seven-Colour System (1920s)
Schwabe & Co.
Schwabe Apparatus at St Martins Theatre, showing horizon lamps, cloud machine and panorama projectors. GEC 'Modern Lighting', 1923.
In 1923 at the London St Martin's theatre, the renowned theatrical producer Basil Dean demonstrated his new installation of Schwabe seven-colour cyclorama lighting with an encircling Max Hasait-designed cloth cyclorama. He was also supporting the importers, GEC, coining the name "Schwabe-Hasait" to describe and promote the combination. This name was a misnomer, the cyclorama and its lighting were independent and outside Britain were only known separately. Few systems were ultimately imported.
However, behind the Schwabe and Hasait developments was the early 20th century revolution in dramatic styles in Germany, driving scenographic and lighting development far ahead of the traditional British stage. Pioneers such as Fortuny, Brahm, Reinhardt, Appia and even Wagner were demanding a new realism and dramatic impact in stagecraft which German technologists provided. Dean recognised this and attempted to introduce elements of it to Britain. However, like other British visionaries, the ideas were mostly lost in the conservative commercial British theatre before World War II.
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Documents
LSI: Classic Gear - Schwabe-Hasait Seven Colour System (September 2020)
[External Website]
From Lighting & Sound International
David Bertenshaw: Schwabe-Hasait Cyclorama Lighting: A British failure but a window on a revolution in stagecraft (June 2023)
[External Website]
From David Bertenshaw Collection
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