“All the world’s a stage.”
― William Shakespeare
A full house, seen from the rear of the stage, at the Metropolitan Opera House, November 28, 1937
Hemp House: The Show Must Go On
If you have high dreams on the stage, the only way to get you there is of course, Hemp…
To make dreams into reality on the big stage a complex system of Hemp rope rigged through pulleys, blocks and tie downs some counter weighted with sand bags awaited backstage. Sometimes hundreds of ropes were used to complete the illusion for the audience onstage.
These theaters employing hemp rope systems are known as a ‘Hemp House’…
Lyric Theater 3/31/1940- Fly loft and pin rail rigged with hemp rope
Hemp rigging hidden backstage would be the thread holding everything together. The background sets, lights, props, the occasional flying object and even the curtains can thank hemp for setting the stage.
To make it possible to sail through wobbling waves, hemp made it happen. For the clouds to float above, hemp made it happen. The one common thread holding the whole production together every night, was indeed hemp.
A row of pulley hemp ropes backstage at the Theatre Royal in Bristol, later the Bristol Old Vic, circa 1940
Manning the massive network of ropes at correct timing would take a dedicated team of stagehands in a choreographed routine never seen by the audience.
This man moved set would make way to pulleys and wooden crank machinery but the hemp ropes would stay to this day. Many Theaters around the world still identify as Hemp Houses.
Next time your looking for a night out with the wife, gain some points and suggest the Ol’ Hemp House…
On the Fly Rail – Don Freeman, 1934
That moment when you realize Peter Pan didn’t use magic or childhood imaginations to fly to Neverland, but hemp… Believe…
