The principle of a black light theatre is an optical illusion called black cabinet, which uses the imperfections of a human eye. An eye is not able to distinguish black on black. However, the trick itself is very simple in the theatre practice – an actor dressed in black against a black background scene is not visible for viewers. Objects and props controlled by actors dressed in black then get the ability to move. Inanimate things are bearers of a dramatic action in the extent that they are even equal partners to live actors.
It could be said that the cradle of the black theatre was, at least according to legends, the old China in the Ming Dynasty period during the reign of Wang-Pang. The legend also says: "Very sad was the emperor whose son died and he could barely cope with his death." In those days, however, on the court was a magician called Mang-ti. By using light and dark, contrast of black and white and the help of so-called black cabinet, he was able to put the emperor`s son back in his mind in the performances and ease the emperor`s grief for a while.
The journey of this art from China to Europe was neither short nor simple.