Stage Curtains in Goa

The house curtain, or main tabs, hangs just behind the proscenium and is what the audience sees before the show. Above it, a short pelmet or valance, sometimes called the house border, hides the track. Behind the proscenium, pairs of legs stand at each side of the stage to mask the wings, and borders hang across the top to hide lights and the ceiling; the first border, set just upstage of the main curtain, is often called the teaser.

At the back, you'll usually have either a black back drape, which gives a neutral void, or a cyclorama — a tight, joint-free white or pale-grey cloth that takes coloured light to create a sky or a wash. Many stages add a mid-stage traveller, a pair of black curtains halfway back, so a scene can play downstage while the set changes behind it.

Most stages in Goa use a traveller: two halves that draw from the centre to the sides on a track. It needs wing space for the curtain to stack, and it works on almost any ceiling. A guillotine, or fly curtain, rises straight up as one piece; it needs a fly tower or clear height above the stage at least as tall as the curtain, which few halls have.

Between them sit the tableau (or tab) curtain, which lifts diagonally to the top corners in drapes, and the Austrian or festoon curtain, which gathers upwards in scallops. Both look ceremonial and suit a church hall or a formal auditorium, but need more rigging and maintenance than a traveller.

Stage velour is sold by weight, and heavier velours hang straighter, block more light and absorb more sound. For a main curtain, choose a heavy weight; for legs and borders, a medium-weight black is usually enough. Ask for inherently fire-retardant velour where possible, because treated fabrics can lose their finish with cleaning.

Main curtains are normally made with generous fullness so they fall in deep folds when closed. Legs and borders are often made flat or with light fullness: flat masking is easier to store and re-hang, while fullness looks softer. Black is the default for masking because it disappears under light; maroon, red, navy and royal blue are the traditional colours for main tabs.

A small parish stage with a single pair of tabs works perfectly well with a cord-operated traveller. Once the opening is wide, the curtain is heavy, or the stage is used every day, a motorised track pays off: the curtain opens at the same speed every time, from a switch on the prompt side or the control desk, and no one has to haul a heavy velour in the dark. Plan for a manual override in case of a power cut.