Is there a specific term for the rotating sets used in some theaters?

December 30, 2006 4:21 PM

I'm thinking of a rotating platform in the floor of the stage. The platform has many partitions to make rooms, with a different set in each room. When the setting of the play changes, the platform is rotated to reveal a different set. While the actors are using one setting during the play, the partitions facing backstage are re-arranged and prepared before they are used. Is there a term for this, or is it just referred to generically?
posted by Niomi to media & arts (7 comments total)

I've always called it/heard it called a 'revolve'. We used one when I was in high school...it worked surprisingly well.
posted by youcancallmeal at 4:23 PM on December 30, 2006

The revolving platform is called a turntable.
posted by bradlands at 5:05 PM on December 30, 2006

Yes, it's "turntable".
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 5:07 PM on December 30, 2006

Either a revolve or a turntable; same thing, different names. You can conceivably put three sets on a single unit, but two is more normal. It's a common trick when your stage space is limited and your flyspace is even more so. The actual mechanism by which it revolves is the tricky bit...
posted by schwap23 at 5:52 PM on December 30, 2006

If manually, not electrically, rotated its not super difficult to rig up. A flanged ball-bearing pivotplate, caster wheels around the edge. The whole stage needs to be raised around the turntable to compensate for the height of the wheels, and the floor must be even under the wheels.
posted by StickyCarpet at 7:03 PM on December 30, 2006

To clear up the terminology, a revolve (short for "revolving set") is almost always built up on a turntable. The revolve is the set that turns, the turntable is the stage hardware that (usually) lets the revolve turn.

You can build a revolve on tracks, but that takes much more effort and equipment and is likely to annoy the house if you do too much damage to the stage deck anchoring the tracks. Big companies can do it -- they'll have the time, the money, the gear, and the crew to make sure the tracks are level, set, and aligned. Most community shops simply don't have the crew needed or the capital to do massive tracking (and often have problems with even linear tracks, unless they have that "one guy" who groks tracking and knows how to make it work.)
posted by eriko at 7:32 AM on December 31, 2006

If you are going to build one, here are some things to keep in mind.

First, keep the floor impeccably clean. There are few things that strike terror into the heart of a stagehand than a moving set coming to a (literally) screeching halt as the castors hit a small piece of detritus, particularly if anyone is on it at the time.

Also, and this is important, use tapered castors. Most castors have a flat face that rides on the floor. Assuming the castors are placed at 15 feet from the center, and a wheel width of 1 inch, in one revolution, the outside edge of the castor will travel (2*pi*radius = 2*3.14*180") = 1130” and the inside edge will travel (2*3.14*179") = 1124”. So there will be a 6-inch difference between the distance the two edges of the face of the castor will travel with flat wheels. Either the castors will shred, the floor will shred, or both.

Tapered casters have a round face and thus only one contact point on the floor.

A good rough estimate is to have a castor about every four feet. Make sure to estimate the overall load of both the platforms and any elements that will be on the turntable. Get castors that are rated for that load and leave a good margin for safety.

Having stagehands and/or actors manually move the turntable is slow, but reliable. Powered turntables are much more complicated and potentially dangerous. Get professional help if that's the way you want to go.
posted by tbird at 1:39 AM on January 1, 2007