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What is black light theatre and how did it develop?

The principle of black light theatre is an optical trick known as the black box trick, which takes advantage of the imperfection of the human eye: the eye cannot distinguish between black on black. In the theatre the trick is in fact very simple: the audience cannot see an actor dressed in black against a black background. Props operated by actors dressed in black are able to move independently before our very eyes. Inanimate objects become participants in the drama, attaining equal status with the live actors. However the basic black box trick itself is extremely ancient. It was first used in China, to entertain the emperors, before being adopted by the Japanese in the 18th century, where it was used by Japanese puppet theatres. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, George Melies used the black box trick to record his first films. During the 1950s, French avant-garde puppeteers played with props using actors dressed in black and one of these, George Lafaye, is generally referred to as the father of black light theatre. And finally, we should not forget that even giants of the stage, such as STANISLAVSKIJ in his famous "Blue Bird" performance also used this trick. In order to make the black box trick a strong enough base for a theatre performance, it had to become the central theme rather than its end. This means that instead of the effect of the trick being the result of the story, it becomes the starting point of the drama itself. This created a whole new stage language which has become famous worldwide thanks to Czech black light theatre companies. From the beginning of the 1980s, the TA FANTASTIKA theatre was already introducing intensive input into the acting and dramatic situations into black light theatre. Unique and patented technical tricks began to be used, such as actors flying in the air directly in front of the audience, a combination of wide screen projections, live actors on stage and huge puppets, as well as the use of artistic elements as an essential part of the visual performance, music and live singers. The fact of producing a perfect artistic symbiosis between the technical and theatrical elements to its performances sets TA FANTASTIKA apart from the other black light theatres.