Revolving Stage

a revolving part of the main stage in a theater. The revolving stage helps facilitate rapid changes of scenery and creates a sense of uninterrupted action. The device was invented and first applied in Japan in 1758 by the theatrical figure Namiki Shozo for the Kabuki theater. In Europe it was first used in 1896 for a production of Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni (Munich, Residenztheater, engineer K. Lautenschlager, producer E. von Possart).

Revolving stages may be portable (assembled and mounted on the stage before a production) or stationary (built into the stage floor). The portable revolving stage, assembled on location and easily disassembled, is an essential feature of the modern dramatic theater and is sometimes also used in opera and ballet theaters.