Flats, short for Scenery Flats, are flat pieces of theatrical scenery which are painted and positioned on stage so as to give the appearance of buildings or other background.
Flats can be soft or hard covered. Soft-covered flats (covered with canvas or muslin) have changed little from their origin in the Italian Renaissance. Hard-covered flats with a frame that is perpendicular to the paint surface are referred to as studio, TV, or Hollywood flats. Flats with a frame that places the width of the lumber parallel to the face are called New York or Broadway flats.
Usually flats are built in standard sizes of 8, 10, or 12 feet tall (2.4 m, 3.0 m or 3.7 m) so that walls or other scenery may easily be constructed, and so that flats may be stored and reused for subsequent productions.
Often affixed to battens flown in from the fly tower or loft for the scenes in which they are used, they may also be stored at the sides of the stage, called wings, and braced to the floor when in use for an entire performance.
Some casts have a tradition of signing the back of flats used on their production.
Famous quotes containing the word flats:
“I have a Vision of the Future, chum.
The workers’ flats in fields of soya beans
Tower up like silver pencils, score on score.”
—Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984)