Vince Brannigan wrote:

Also for flying scenery (moderately useless trivia info): see
http://www.arts.ubc.ca/TheatreDesign...spc/flies1.pdf

Our fly loft at my High school was built in 1896. It is exactly as
described.

Vince

Arr-b'gaarh, it's Long John Silver! It goes back even further than
that, early Renaissance theater spectacles as designed by Leonardo
DaVinci had flying scenery and floating palaces.
There is reason to believe that a canopy covering the Roman Coleseum
was copied from ship-rigging - theater and rigging goes way back.

-keith