Rake (theatre)
upward slope of a theater stage or audience seating
A rake or raked stage is a theatre stage that slopes upwards, away from the audience. Such a design was typical of English theatre in the Middle Ages and early Modern era, and improves the view and sound for spectators. It also helps with the illusion of perspective. When features of the scenery are made to align with a notional vanishing point beyond the rear of the stage, the rake supports the illusion. These elements of scenery are termed raking pieces.
Raked seating refers to seating which is positioned on an upwards slope away from the stage, in order to give those in the audience at the back a better view than if the seats were all on the same level.
Calculating incline
The slope of the rake is measured by the number of horizontal units it takes for one vertical unit measured in the direction of the slope, or by the equivalent percentage. A rake of one horizontal unit to one vertical unit (1 in 1, or a 100% slope) would give an angle of 45° from the horizontal. Rakes of 1 in 18 (5.56%) to 1 in 48 (2.08%) were more common.
Converting the rake ratio to an angle requires the application of some basic trigonometry.
The public source identifies “Rake (theatre)” as upward slope of a theater stage or audience seating. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Rake, theatre and upward.
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Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 1, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q7286560. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Rake (theatre)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.