Chapter 7 - The Lively Art PDF

160 THEATRE SPACES 7 When we attend the theatre, our experience begins in advance. Sometimes we read or hear reports of the play online or in print; we anticipate seeing a particu- lar actress or actor or a specific type of pro...

160 THEATRE SPACES 7 When we attend the theatre, our experience begins in advance. Sometimes we read or hear reports of the play online or in print; we anticipate seeing a particu- lar actress or actor or a specific type of production; we buy tickets and make plans with friends to attend; and before the performance, we gather outside the theatre space with other members of the audience. CREATING THE ENVIRONMENT When we arrive inside a theatre building or other space for a performance, we immediately take in the environment in which the event will occur. The atmo- sphere inside the space for a production has a great deal to do with our mood in approaching a performance, not only creating expectations about the event but conditioning the experience once it gets under way. As spectators, we have one feeling if we come into a formal setting, such as a picture-frame stage surrounded by carved gilt figures, with crystal chandeliers and red plush seats in the audito- rium. We have quite a different feeling if we come into an old warehouse ­converted for a performance, with bare brick walls, and a stage in the middle of the floor surrounded by folding chairs. For many years people took the physical arrangement of theatres for granted. This was particularly true in the period when all houses were facsimiles of the Broadway theatre, with its proscenium, or picture-frame, stage. Since the 1950s, however, not only have people been exposed to other types of theatres; they have also become more aware of the importance of environment. Many experimental groups have deliberately made awareness of the environment a part of the experi- ence. And even in the commercial Broadway theatre there have been experiments with transforming the environment. An example of such a production is Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812. This musical, based on a section of Leo Tolstoy’s novel War and Peace, STAGE SPACES: AN OUTDOOR THRUST STAGE The Allen Pavilion at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is a 1,200-seat theatre with an Elizabethan thrust stage. With the audience on three sides, this is one of the oldest and most popular configurations for a theatre performance space. The production shown here is Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, directed by Kenneth Albers. (©T. Charles Erickson) 161  was first produced in a 99-seat off-Broadway house and then to accommodate even larger audiences in a tent in Manhattan’s Meatpacking district. (The use of a tent reflects how theatre spaces can be created anywhere.) In 2016, the play opened at the Imperial Theatre, a Broadway playhouse that can seat over 1,400 audience members. In order to transform this traditional proscenium arch theatre into an immer- sive space that feels like a nineteenth-century Russian supper club, set designer Mimi Lien added red velvet curtains surrounding the entire audience area. In addition, portraits line all the walls of the theatre; a wooden curving road goes through the middle of the orchestra bringing actors into the midst of audience members and brilliant chandeliers come down from the ceiling engulfing the audience. Staircases lead from the traditional orchestra level to the upper seating area for audience members; tables and chairs replace five rows of seats usually used for spectators (the only physical change in the theatre), with ramps and Proscenium (“pro-SEEN- the curving road being built on existing seats. In the center of the Imperial ee-um”) Arch or frame surrounding the stage Theatre there is a constructed oval that again thrusts the performance into the opening in a box or picture audience. stage. What was the goal of transforming this traditional Broadway theatre for ­Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812? Director Rachel Chavkin, when she Arena Stage entirely describes the reaction of an audience member, indicates that the goal is to immerse surrounded by the the audience, to integrate them into the world of the production to become part audience; also known as of the action, blurring the distinction between performance and spectator space. circle theatre or theatre-in- The director explained: “A woman walked in the theatre one day… and she was the-round. like, ‘Where’s the stage?’ The answer is: There isn’t one. Or it’s everywhere, which Thrust stage Stage space is the joy of it.”1 Designer Lien says the Imperial was transformed so that the that thrusts into the experience begins from the moment the audience enters: “Then you come inside, audience space; a stage and I really wanted that moment of stepping inside to be impactful,” she says. surrounded on three sides “This feeling of a warm, lush, opulent cocoon-like space was really important to by audience seating. us, and so we have hung onto that every step of the way.”2 The feeling we have about the atmosphere of a theatre building as we enter Black box A theatre the space has always been an important element in the experience. In the past, space that is open, flexible, and adaptable, usually spectators may not have been conscious of it, but they were affected by it never- without fixed seating. The theless. Today, with the many varieties of theatre experience available to us, the stage-audience first thing we should become aware of is the environment in which an event takes configuration can be place: whether it is large or small, indoors or outdoors, formal or informal, famil- rearranged to suit the iar or unfamiliar. individual requirements of a At times scenic designers are able to alter the architecture of a theatre space given production, making it to create a new arrangement or configuration, as we explained was done for both economical and Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812. If the auditorium space is too large particularly well suited to for a specific production, balconies might be blocked off, or the rear of the experimental work. orchestra might be closed in some manner. Also, the decor can be altered: bright Fourth wall Convention, colors, banners, and bright lighting could create a festive atmosphere in a space in a proscenium-arch that is ordinarily formal and subdued. The first thing for us, as audience mem- theatre, that the audience is bers, is to note the general characteristics of the space: Is it formal or informal? looking into a room through Is it large or small? Next, is the question of the configuration of stage and audi- an invisible fourth wall. ence seating. 1 Gioia, Michael, “How The Great Comet Transformed the Imperial Theatre Into an Immersive Russian Supper Club,” Playbill, December 1, 2016. 2“ Mimi Lien on the Set Design of ‘The Great Comet of 1812’” interview conducted and edited by Victoria Myers, The Interval, January 4, 2017. 162 Part 3 Creating Theatre: The Production THEATRE SPACES Front of the house Portion of a theatre A consideration of environment leads directly to an examination of the various reserved for the audience; forms and styles of theatre buildings, including the arrangements of audience sometimes called simply seating. Throughout theatre history, there have been five basic stage arrangements, the house. each with its own advantages and disadvantages, each suited to certain types of plays and certain types of productions, and each providing the audience with a Rake (1) To position scenery on a slant or at an somewhat different experience. The five are (1) the proscenium, or picture-frame, angle other than parallel or stage; (2) the arena, or circle, stage; (3) the thrust stage with three-quarters seat- perpendicular to the curtain ing;3 (4) created and found stage spaces; and (5) all-purpose or “black box” line. (2) An upward slope of theatre spaces, out of which a version of any one of the other four can be created. the stage floor away from the audience. Proscenium or Picture-Frame Stage: Orchestra A circular History and Characteristics playing space in ancient Perhaps the most familiar type of stage is the proscenium (pro-SEEN-ee-um), or Greek theatres; in modern picture-frame, stage. Broadway-style theatres, which for many years were models times, the ground-floor seating in a theatre for theatres throughout the country, have proscenium stages. auditorium. The term proscenium comes from proscenium arch, the frame that separates the stage from the auditorium and that was first introduced in Italy during the Box Small private Renaissance in the seventeenth century. Today this frame is not an arch but a compartment for a group of rectangle. As the term picture-frame stage suggests, it resembles a large frame spectators built into the through which the audience looks at the stage. Another term for this type of stage walls of traditional is fourth wall, from the idea of the proscenium opening as a transparent glass proscenium-arch and other wall through which the audience looks at the other three walls of a room. theatres. Because the action takes place largely behind the pro- scenium opening, or frame, the seats in the auditorium all face in the same direction, toward the stage, just as seats in a movie theatre face the screen. The auditorium itself—the house, or front of the house, as it is called—is slanted Right Left stage Stage stage downward from the back to the stage. (In theatre usage, the wing wing slant of an auditorium or stage floor is called a rake.) The stage is raised several feet above the auditorium floor, to aid Proscenium Orchestra pit visibility. There is usually a balcony (sometimes two balco- frame nies) protruding about halfway over the main floor. The main floor, incidentally, is called (in American usage) the ­orchestra. (In ancient Greek theatre, the orchestra was the circular acting area at the base of the hillside amphitheatre, but in modern usage it is the main floor of the theatre, where the audience sits.) In certain theatres, as well as concert halls Audience and opera houses that have the proscenium arrangement, there are horseshoe-shaped tiers, or boxes, which ring the auditorium for several floors above the orchestra. The popularity of the proscenium stage on Broadway and throughout the United States in the nineteenth cen- tury and the early twentieth century was partly due to its wide acceptance throughout Europe. Beginning in the PROSCENIUM THEATRE The audience faces in one direction, toward an enclosed stage encased by a picture-frame opening. 3 Material on the proscenium, arena, and thrust stages was suggested by Scene changes and performers’ entrances and exits are a booklet prepared by Dr. Mary Henderson for the educational division made behind the proscenium opening, out of sight of of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. the audience. Chapter 7 Theatre Spaces 163 THE PROSCENIUM THEATRE The traditional proscenium theatre resembles a movie theatre in terms of audience seating: All the seats face in one direction, toward the stage. The frame of the stage is like a picture frame, and behind the frame are all the elements of the visual production such as scenery, painted drops, pieces that move across the stage, platforms, steps, perhaps the interior of a room or several rooms. The theatre shown here, the Bolton Theatre at the Cleveland Play House, is an excellent example of a proscenium theatre. It was redesigned by the architect Philip Johnson and renovated in 1983. (©Photo by Paul Tepley/Courtesy of Cleveland Play House) A MODERN PROSCE- NIUM-STAGE THEATRE In this cutaway drawing Lighting we see the audience Fly seating at the left, all Loft facing in the one direction, toward the stage. Behind the orchestra pit in the center is the apron on the stage; and then the proscenium frame, behind which are the flats and other scenic elements. Overhead, scenery can be raised into the fly loft above the Audience Stage stage area. Wing Proscenium Frame 164 Part 3 Creating Theatre: The Production A BIBIENA SET FOR A FORMAL PROSCENIUM THEATRE The standard theatre throughout Europe and the United States from the eighteenth century to the early twentieth century was a formal proscenium space. The audience sat in a downstairs orchestra, in balconies, and in side boxes facing an ornate picture-frame stage. Impressive scenery and other visual effects were created and changed behind the curtain that covers the proscenium opening. In the eighteenth century, the Bibiena family from ltaly created scene designs on a grand scale for such theatres throughout Europe. They painted backdrops with vistas that seemed to disappear into the far distance. This scene is by Giuseppe di Bibiena (1696–1757). (©akg-images/Newscom) late seventeenth century, the proscenium theatre was adopted in every European country. For the next two centuries in Europe both the mechanics of stage machin- ery and the artistry of scene painting improved steadily allowing designers to create extraordinary stage pictures. An Italian, Giacomo Torelli (1608–1678), developed methods of moving scenery on and off stage felicitously, and throughout the eighteenth century, mem- bers of one family, the Bibiena family, dominated the art of scene painting. The Bibiena sets usually consisted of vast halls, palaces, or gardens with towering columns and arches that framed spacious corridors or hallways, which disappeared into an endless series of vistas as far as the eye could see. At times during this period, audiences, as well as scene designers and technicians, became so carried away with spectacle that the visual aspects were emphasized to the exclusion of everything else, including the script and the acting. Chapter 7 Theatre Spaces 165  Although there have been many changes in theatre production, and today we have a wide variety of production approaches, we are still attracted to ingenious displays of visual effects in proscenium theatres. This is especially true of large musicals such as The Phantom of the Opera, The Lion King, Wicked, Aladdin, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Because the machinery and the workings of scene changes can be concealed behind a proscenium opening, this type of stage offers a perfect arrangement for spectacle. There are other advantages to the proscenium stage. Realistic scenery—a liv- ing room, an office, a kitchen—looks good behind a proscenium frame; the scene designer can create the illusion of a genuine, complete room more easily with a proscenium stage than with any other. Also, the strong central focus provided by the frame rivets the attention of the audience. There are times, too, when we want the detachment, the distancing, that a proscenium provides. There are disadvantages as well, however. As we have seen, the proscenium stage creates a temptation to get carried away with visual pyrotechnics. In addition, STAGE AREAS Various parts of the stage are given specific Backstage designations. Near the audience is downstage: away from the audience is upstage. Right and left are Up Up Up from the performers’ right center left point of view, not the audience’s. Everything out of sight of the audience is offstage. Using this scheme, Offstage Right Left Offstage everyone working in the Center right center center left theatre can carefully pinpoint stage areas. Down Down Down right center left Apron Audience 166 Part 3 Creating Theatre: The Production For large-scale productions the proscenium theatre is ideal. The scenery and other elements can be hidden above, behind, and around the stage, and then moved into the main stage area, as if by magic. Costumes can be displayed at their finest. In addition, the scale of the scenic effects can be extensive and sometimes electrifying. The scene shown here is from the hip-hop influenced Aladdin by Joel Horwood in a production at the Lyric Hammersmith theatre in London. (©Elliott Franks/eyevine/Redux) a proscenium stage tends to be remote and formal. Some of us, as spectators, prefer the intimacy and informality—the experience of being close to the action— Stage right Right side of the stage from the point of found in the arena and thrust theatres. view of a performer facing the audience. Physical Layout: The Proscenium Arch To designate areas of the stage, usually in a proscenium theatre, scene designers, directors, performers, and technicians Stage left Left side of the use terminology peculiar to theatre. Stage right and stage left mean the right side stage from the point of view and the left side of the stage, respectively, as seen from the position of a performer of a performer facing the facing the audience. (In other words, when we, as spectators, in the auditorium audience. look at the stage, the area to their left is known as right stage and the area to Downstage Front of the their right as left stage.) stage, toward the audience. The area nearest to us, the audience, is known as downstage; farthest away from us is upstage. The designations downstage and upstage come from the eigh- Upstage At or toward the teenth and nineteenth centuries, when the stage was raked, that is, sloped down- back of the stage, away ward from front to back. As a result of this downward slope, the performer farthest from the front edge of the away from the audience was higher, or “up,” and could be seen better. Also, stage. performers downstage from, or below, an upstage performer would be forced to Rake (1) To position turn their backs on the audience when addressing her or him. This is the origin scenery on a slant or at an of the expression “to upstage” someone. Today, the term is used whenever one angle other than parallel or performer grabs the spotlight from everyone else or calls attention to himself or perpendicular to the curtain herself by any means whatever. At first, however, it meant simply that one per- line. (2) An upward slope of former was in a better position than the others because she or he was standing the stage floor away from further back on the raked stage and, therefore, was higher. the audience. Chapter 7 Theatre Spaces 167  Arena Stage: History and Audience Characteristics To some of us, proscenium theatres, decorated in gold and red plush, look more like temples of art than theatres. We prefer a more informal, intimate theatre environment. A movement in this direction Stage began in the United States just after World War II, when a number of theatre practitioners decided to break away from the formality of proscenium the- atres. This was part of an overall desire to bring many aspects of theatre closer to everyday life: act- ing styles, the subject matter of plays, the manner of presentation, and the shape of the theatre space. One form this reaction took was the arena stage—a return to one of the most ancient stage arrangements. From as far back as we have records, we know that tribal ceremonies and rituals, in all parts of the world, have been held in some form of circle space. For exam- ple, many scholars believe that the ancient Greek the- PLAN OF AN ARENA STAGE atre evolved from an arena form. In an arena theatre The audience sits on four sides or in a circle surrounding (also called circle theatre or theatre-in-the-round ) there the stage. Entrances and exits are made through the aisles or through tunnels underneath the aisles. A feeling of is a playing space in the center of a square or circle, intimacy is achieved because the audience is close to the with seats for spectators all around it. The arrangement action and encloses it. is similar to that in sports arenas featuring boxing or basketball. The stage may be a raised area a few feet off the main floor, with seats rising from the floor level; or it may be on the floor itself, with seats raised on levels around it. When seating is close to the stage, there is usually some kind of demarcation indicating the boundaries of the playing area. One advantage of the arena theatre is that it offers more intimacy than the ordi- nary proscenium. With the performers in the center, even in a larger theatre, we can be closer to them. If the same number of people attends an arena event and a prosce- nium event, at least half of those at the arena will be nearer the action: Someone who would have been in the twelfth row in a proscenium theatre will be in the sixth row in an arena theatre. Besides, with this proximity to the stage, the arena theatre has another advantage: There is no frame or barrier to separate the performers from us. Beyond these considerations, in the arena arrangement there is an unconscious communion, basic to human behavior, which comes when people form a circle— from the embrace of two of us to a circle for children’s games to a larger gather- ing where we form an enclosure around a fire or an altar. It is no coincidence that virtually all of the earliest forms of theatre were “in the round.” A practical advantage of the arena theatre is economy. All you need for this kind of theatre is a large room: You designate a playing space, arrange rows of seats around the sides, and hang lights on pipes above, and you have a theatre. Elaborate scenery is impossible because it would block the view of large parts of the audience. A few pieces of furniture, with perhaps a lamp or sign hung from the ceiling, are all you need to indicate where a scene takes place. Many low- budget groups have found that they can build a workable and even attractive theatre-in-the-round when a proscenium theatre would be out of the question. These two factors—intimacy and economy—no doubt explain why arena theatre is one of the oldest stage forms, as well as one still very much in use today. 168 Part 3 Creating Theatre: The Production  THE STAGE AND ­SEATING IN AN ARENA THEATRE The arena theatre Lights attempts to capture the immediacy of primitive theatre. It uses the barest essentials of stage scenery but the full resources of contemporary stage Audience lighting. Stage Audience ARENA STAGE With an arena stage, also referred to as a circle stage or theatre-in-the-round, the audience surrounds the stage area on all sides. In addition to aisles for audience members to enter, there are passages that the performers use to enter and leave the stage. One effect of the arena stage is to create a close rapport between actors and audience. Seen here is the renovated Fichandler Stage at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. (©Photo by Nic Lehoux/Courtesy of Bing Thom Architects) Chapter 7 Theatre Spaces 169  In spite of its long history, however, and its resurgence in recent years, the arena stage has often been eclipsed by other forms. One reason is that its design, while allowing for intimacy, also dictates a certain austerity. As we noted before, it is impossible to have elaborate scenery because that would block the view of many spectators. Also, the performers must make all their entrances and exits along aisles that run through the audience, and they can sometimes be seen before and after they are supposed to appear onstage. The arena’s lack of adaptability in this respect may explain why some of the circle theatres that opened twenty or thirty years ago have since closed. A number survive, however, and continue to do well. Among the best-known are the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., and Circle in the Square in New York City. In addition, throughout this country there are a number of tent theatres in arena form where musical revivals and concerts are given. Thrust Stage: History and Characteristics Falling between the proscenium and the arena is a third type of theatre: the thrust stage with three-quarters seating. In one form or another, this U-shape arrange- ment has been the most widely used of all stage spaces. In the basic arrangement for this type of theatre, we sit on three sides, or in a semicircle, enclosing a stage, which protrudes into the center. At the back of the playing area is some form of Stage house Stage floor stage house providing for the entrances and exits of the performers as well as for and the space around it to scene changes. The thrust stage combines some of the best features of the other the side walls, as well as two stage types: the sense of intimacy and the “wraparound” feeling of the arena, the space above it up to and the focused stage placed against a single background found in the proscenium. the grid. The thrust stage was developed by the classical Greeks for their tragedies and comedies. They adapted the circle used for tribal rituals and other ceremonies—the circle called the orchestra—by locating it at the base of a curving hillside. The slope of the hill formed a natural amphitheatre for the spectators. At the rear of the orchestra circle, opposite the hillside, was placed a stage house, which had formal doors through which characters made their entrances and exits and served as a background for the action. The stage house also provided a place for the actors to change their costumes. The largest Greek theatres seated 15,000 or more spectators. THRUST STAGE WITH THREE-QUARTERS SEATING Backstage The stage is surrounded on three sides by the audience. Sometimes seating is a semicircle. Entrances and exits are Stage made from the sides and backstage. Spectators surround the action, but scene changes and other stage effects are still possible. Audience 170 Part 3 Creating Theatre: The Production THE ORIGINAL THRUST STAGE: THE GREEK AMPHITHEATRE An original prototype of the thrust stage was the amphitheatre in ancient Greece. Shown here is the theatre at Epidaurus, Greece. The seating surrounds the playing area on three sides. Acting took place on the raised platform at the back, but also in the circular area that is thrust into the audience. Among many other remarkable traits of these theatres are the incredible view of the mountains in the distance and the amazing acoustics of the theatre. A person in the back, top row can hear an actor speaking without any artificial amplification. (©Jose Fuste Raga/Getty Images) While they were originally wooden structures in the classical Greek era, their design was duplicated in stone structures all over Greece in the following two centuries. Remnants of these stone theatres remain today throughout that part of the world, in such places as Epidaurus, Priene, Ephesus, Delphi, and Corinth, to name a few. The Romans, who took the Greek form and built it as a complete freestand- ing structure, had a theatre that was not strictly a thrust stage but a forerunner of the proscenium. Instead of using the natural amphitheatre of a hillside, they con- structed a stone building, joining the stage house to the seating area and making the orchestra a semicircle. In front of the stage house, decorated with arches and statues, they erected a long platform stage where most of the action occurred. Another example of the thrust stage is found in the medieval period, when short religious plays began to be presented in churches and cathedrals in England and parts of continental Europe. Around 1200 c.e., performances of these reli- gious plays were moved outdoors. One popular arrangement for these outdoor performances was the platform stage. A simple platform was set on trestles (it Platform stage Elevated was sometimes called a trestle stage), with a curtain at the back, which the per- stage with no proscenium. formers used for entrances and costume changes. The area underneath the stage Wagon stage Low was closed off and provided, among other things, a space from which devils and platform mounted on other characters could appear, sometimes in a cloud of smoke. In some places the wheels or casters by means platform was on wheels (a wagon stage) and was moved from place to place of which scenery is moved through a town. The audience stood on three sides of the platform, making it an on- and offstage. Chapter 7 Theatre Spaces 171 THE CLASSIC SPANISH STAGE A variation on the thrust stage used in Elizabethan England is the Spanish corral. A version of this stage, uncovered by accident in 1953, is shown here in Almagro, Spain, where a theatre festival is held each year. Not strictly speaking a thrust stage, it has all the other components of a Renaissance outdoor theatre, with the platform stage and audience seating in boxes or a balcony around three sides. (Courtesy of the Festival Internacional de Teatro Clásico de Almagro/Guillermo Casas, photographer) improvised thrust stage. This type of stage was widely used from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries in England and various parts of Europe. The next step following the wagon stage was a thrust stage that appeared in England in the sixteenth century, just before Shakespeare began writing for the theatre. A platform stage would be set up at one end of the open courtyard of an inn. The inns of this period were three or four stories high, and the rooms facing the inner courtyard served as boxes from which spectators could watch the per- formance. On the ground level, spectators stood on three sides of the stage. The fourth side of the courtyard, behind the platform, served as the stage house. An interesting coincidence is that an almost identical theatre took shape in Spain at Corral Theatre building of the same time. The inns in Spain were called corrales, and this name was given the Spanish golden age, to the theatres that developed there. usually located in the The formal English theatres of Shakespeare’s day, such as the Globe and the courtyard of a series of Fortune, were similar to the inn theatres: The audience stood in an open area adjoining buildings. around a platform stage, and three levels of spectators sat in closed galleries at the back and sides. A roof covered part of the stage; at the back of the stage, some form of raised area served for balcony scenes (as in Romeo and Juliet). At the rear of the stage, also, scenes could be concealed and then “discovered.” On each side at the rear was a door used for entrances and exits. These theatres were fascinating combinations of diverse elements: They were both indoors and outdoors; some spectators stood while others sat; and the audi- ence was composed of almost all levels of society. The physical environment must have been stimulating: Performers standing at the front of the thrust stage were in the center of a hemisphere of spectators, on three sides around them as well as above and below. These theatres held 2,000 to 3,000 spectators, but no one in the audience was more than 60 feet or so from the stage, and most people were much closer. Being in the midst of so many people, enclosed on all sides but with the open sky above, must have instilled a feeling of great communion among audiences and performers. Something of the same feeling can be recaptured when one visits the recently reconstructed Globe Theatre in London. 172 Part 3 Creating Theatre: The Production  Shortly after Shakespeare’s day, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, there were two significant theatrical developments in England, in Spain, and throughout Europe: (1) the theatre moved almost completely indoors; and (2) the stage began a slow but steady retreat behind the proscenium opening, partly because performances were indoors, but more because the style of theatres changed. For more than two centuries the thrust stage was in eclipse, not to reap- pear until about 1900, when a few theatres in England began using a version of the thrust stage to produce Shakespeare. The return of the thrust stage resulted from a growing realization that Elizabethan plays could be done best on a stage similar to the one for which they had been written. In the United States and Canada, though, it was not until the mid-twentieth century that the thrust stage came to the fore again. Since then a number of fine theatres of this type have been built, including the Guthrie in Minneapolis; the Shakespeare Theater in Stratford, Ontario; the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles; and the Long Wharf in New Haven. Musician’s gallery Stage Audience Audience Standing audience (yard) AN ELIZABETHAN PLAYHOUSE This drawing shows the kind of stage on which the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries were first presented. A platform stage juts into an open courtyard, with spectators standing on three sides. Three levels of enclosed seats rise above the courtyard. There are doors at the rear of the stage for entrances and exits and an upper level for balcony scenes. Chapter 7 Theatre Spaces 173  Lighting instruments Balcony Audience Stage THE STAGE AND SEATING AREA OF A THRUST-STAGE THEATRE This cutaway drawing of a thrust stage shows how the playing area juts into the audience, which surrounds the stage on three sides. This configuration affords intimacy, but at the back (shown here at the right) is an area that furnishes a natural backdrop for the action. We should also note that the basic stage of traditional Chinese and Japanese drama (including nō theatre in Japan) is a form of thrust stage: a raised, open platform stage frequently covered by a roof, with the audience sitting on two or three sides around the platform. Entrances and exits are made from doors or ramps at the rear of the stage. The obvious advantages of the thrust stage—the intimacy of three-quarters seating and the close audience-performer relationship, together with the fact that so many of the world’s great dramatic works were written for it—give it a sig- nificant place alongside the other major forms. Created and Found Spaces After World War II a number of avant-garde theatre artists, such as the Polish director Jerzy Grotowski (1933–1999), undertook to reform theatre at every level. Since the various elements of theatre are inextricably bound together, their search for a more basic kind of theatre included a close look at the physical arrangement of the playing area and its relationship to the audience. 174 Part 3 Creating Theatre: The Production  PLAYING YOUR PART: EXPERIENCING THEATRE 1. Rearrange your classroom seating into proscenium, arena, and thrust configurations. Read a speech aloud from a play or a paragraph from a novel to the class in each of these configurations. How is your presentation affected by the arrangement of the space? 2. Visit a gym or sports arena on your campus. What is the configuration of the space? How does it relate to a theatre environment? What type of popular entertainment might be staged there? 3. Find an outdoor space on your campus that might be used for theatre. What type of presentation would you stage there? Why? A MODERN THRUST STAGE The thrust stage, with a stage area extending into audience seating that surrounds it on three sides, is one of the oldest arrangements, having been used by the Greeks and by the Elizabethans in the time of Shakespeare. It has been revived successfully in the modern period and is widely used in Europe and the United States. A good example is the recently renovated Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. (©Craig Schwartz) The Performance Group, which, for example, led spectators one at a time into its adaptation of the Greek tragedy The Bacchae, Dionysus in 69, is typical in this regard. It presented its productions in a large garage converted into an open theatre space. At various places in the garage, scaffolding and ledges were built for audi- ence seating. The Performance Group, like other modern avant-garde companies, owed a great debt to a Frenchman, Antonin Artaud (1896–1948), one of the first Chapter 7 Theatre Spaces 175 SITE-SPECIFIC THEATRE: CREATED AND FOUND SPACE Shown here are two examples of site-specific theatre. In the first, a formal garden in the Aberglasney Gardens in Wales is the the site of a performance by young actors dressed in black and white using the garden space as their stage. The second example shows the Polish theatre company Biuro Podrozy in a production of Macbeth, using its trademark stilts on a street, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. (top: ©Keith Morris/Alamy Stock Photo; bottom: ©Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) 176 Part 3 Creating Theatre: The Production theatre people to examine in depth the questions raised by the avant-garde. An actor and director who wrote a series of articles and essays about theatre, Artaud was brilliant but inconsistent (he spent several periods of his life in mental institutions). Many of Artaud’s ideas, however, were to prove prophetic: Notions he put forward in the 1920s and 1930s, considered impossible or impractical at the time, have since become common practice among experimental theatre groups. Among his propos- als was one on the physical theatre: We abolish the stage and auditorium and replace them by a single site, without parti- tion or barrier of any kind, which will become the theater of the action. A direct communication will be reestablished between the spectator and the spectacle, between the actor and the spectator, from the fact that the spectator, placed in the middle of the action, is engulfed and physically affected by it. This envelopment results, in part, from the very configuration of the room itself. Thus, abandoning the architecture of present-day theaters, we shall take some hangar or barn which we shall have recon- structed according to processes which have culminated in the architecture of certain churches or holy places, and of certain temples in Tibet.4 Some of Artaud’s ideas were put into practice when the movement to explore new concepts became widespread. In the generation after Artaud, Jerzy Grotowski included the physical arrangements of stage space in his experiments. Not only Grotowski but others in the avant-garde movement developed theatre space in a variety of ways. Nontheatre Buildings Artaud mentioned a barn or hangar for performances. In recent years virtually all kinds of structures have been used: lofts, warehouses, fire stations, basements, churches, breweries, and gymnasiums. This practice should not be confused with the conversion of unusual spaces to full-scale the- atres, which has numerous precedents in the past; historically, indoor tennis courts, palace ballrooms, and monastery dining halls have been converted into theatres. We are, instead, describing here the use of nontheatre structures as they are, with their original architectural elements intact, and carving out special areas for acting and viewing—as with the garage used by the Performance Group. In our contemporary theatre, site-specific companies are theatre groups that create Site-specific productions for specific nontheatre locations. For example, the English company companies Theatre Punchdrunk staged Sleep No More, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, in groups that create three abandoned warehouses in Manhattan with the audiences moving through productions for specific various spaces, supposedly in a 1930s hotel, created in them. nontheatre locations. Adapted Spaces One frequent practice was using or creating a space to fit a play, rather than (as is normally the case) making the play fit the space. Grotowski, in particular, pursued the notion of finding a different, appropriate configuration for each production. In Grotowski’s production of the Doctor Faustus story, for example, the theatre was filled with two long tables at which spectators sat as if they were guests at a banquet hosted by Faustus. The action took place at the heads of the tables and even on the tabletops. For his production of The Constant Prince, a fence was built around the playing area, and the audience sat behind the fence, looking over it like spectators at a bullfight. In recent decades there have been similar attempts to deal with theatre spaces in many parts of Europe and the United States. 4 Artaud, Antonin, “The Theater and Its Double,” Grove, New York, 1958, pp. 96–97. Chapter 7 Theatre Spaces 177 AN ISLAND FOR SITE-SPECIFIC THEATRE In the Netherlands there is a festival, known as the Oerol Festival, in which for ten days in June an entire island, Terschelling, is used by a variety of theatre companies to present their pieces. Groups set up in all kinds of places on the island—taverns, barns, tents, and garages, and on beaches—to offer their productions. Shown here on a beach is a production entitled Salted, written and directed by Judith de Rijke and produced by Tryater of Holland, which brought together young artists from various regions to celebrate the linguistic diversity of Europe. (©Sake Elzinga) Street Theatre One development—which was actually a return to practices in medieval Europe—is theatre held outdoors in nontraditional settings. A good example is street theatre. Generally, street theatre is of three types: (1) plays from the standard repertoire presented in the streets; (2) neighborhood theatre, in which an original play deals with problems and aspirations of a specific population of a city, such as Puerto Ricans, African Americans, or Italians; and (3) guerrilla theatre, aggressive, politically oriented theatre produced by an activist group in the streets in an attempt to persuade us to become more politically involved, such as street presentations during the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2012. Whatever the form, the important point for our purposes is that these produc- tions take place not in theatre buildings but in places like streets, parks, hospitals, jails, and bus stations. In these productions, theatre is brought to those of us who might not other- wise see it. Also, audiences in such unusual settings are challenged to rethink what theatre is all about. On the other hand, there are inherent disadvantages to impromptu productions in the streets or other “found spaces”: The audience must be caught on the run, and there is rarely time for more than a sketch or vignette. Nor are there facilities for presenting a fully developed work—but often that is not the purpose of these undertakings in the first place. Multifocus theatre An Multifocus Environments An approach that sometimes accompanies these environment in which there unusual arrangements is multifocus theatre. In simple terms, this means not only is more than one playing that there is more than one playing area, such as the four corners of the room (as area. Artaud suggested in one article), but also that something is going on in several 178 Part 3 Creating Theatre: The Production of them simultaneously. This is somewhat like a three-ring circus, where we see an activity in each ring and must either concentrate on one or divide our attention among two or three. There are several theories behind the idea of multifocus theatre. One is that a multifocus event is more like everyday life; if you stand on a street corner, there is activity all around you—in the four directions of the streets, in the buildings above—not just in one spot. You select which area you will observe, or perhaps you watch several areas at one time. The argument is that in theatre, you should have the same choice. In multifocus productions no single space or activity is supposed to be more important than any other. We either take in several impres- sions at once and synthesize them in our own mind or select one item as most Audience Stage Audience Stage Audience Audience Stage Stage THE MULTIPURPOSE OR “BLACK BOX” THEATRE A popular type of modern theatre is the multipurpose space, sometimes called a “black box.” It consists of an open space with perhaps a pipe grid on the ceiling from which lighting and sound instruments can be suspended. A stage platform can be positioned at any place in the space, and movable chairs for spectators can be placed around the playing area. The diagrams suggest some of the possibilities of stage arrangements in a multipurpose theatre. Chapter 7 Theatre Spaces 179  IN FOCUS: POPULAR PERFORMANCE SPACES Many spaces used for live popular entertainments are members as well as to create an electrifying interactive reminiscent of theatre environments. Arenas used for entertainment. With these configurations, we, as specta- sports, circuses, and rock concerts are configured tors, are also able to watch and possibly influence each much like theatrical spaces discussed in this chapter. other’s reactions. ­Madison Square Garden in New York, Soldier Field in Such popular performance spaces are usually ­Chicago, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, and ­extremely large, much larger than environments created university sports arenas are all large spaces that pri- exclusively for theatre. For example, the Rose Bowl ac- marily house sporting events but are also used for rock commodates over 90,000 fans for football games. Even concerts and other popular spectacles. Madison Square a comparatively small collegiate athletic facility, West- Garden, for example, has housed circuses, elaborate ern Hall on the Western Illinois University campus, can rock concerts, and music award ceremonies. This accommodate approximately 5,000 spectators. means that an arena like the Garden is often equipped The relationship between spaces for popular enter- with the most innovative technology for lighting, stage, tainments and theatrical environments is complex. and sound effects. Throughout theatre history, the same spaces were used Spectacular performance spaces for magicians, cir- for popular arts and for theatrical performances. Mod- cuses, concerts, and stage extravaganzas are found in ern theatre artists have experimented with staging dra- all of the major hotels in Las Vegas. There is live enter- matic performances within spaces created for concerts tainment also presented in fairgrounds and amusement and circuses. parks across our country. For that matter, the performance qualities of sports, These spaces for popular performances are most of- the circus, and rock concerts underscore their shared ten configured in the round, with spectators surrounding heritage with the theatrical arts. It is not surprising, the events. Some are configured three-quarters round. then, that their spaces are also similar and often The reason is to maximize the number of audience multipurpose. arresting and concentrate on that. There is no such thing as the “best seat in the house”; all seats are equally good, because the activity in all parts of the theatre is equally important. Sometimes multifocus theatre is joined with multimedia ­theatre—presentations that offer some combination of acting, films, video, dance, music, slides, and light show. All-Purpose Theatre Spaces: The Black Box Because of the interest in a variety of spaces in modern theatre production, and the requirements of many different kinds of productions, a number of theatre complexes, including many college theatre departments and regional theatres, have built spaces that can be adapted to an almost infinite variety of configurations. Seats, lights, platforms, levels—every aspect of such a theatre is flexible and movable. In this kind of space the designers can create a proscenium, a thrust, an arena, or some combination of these, but the designers can also create corner stages, island stages, and multifocus arrangements with playing areas in several parts of the studio. This space is sometimes referred to as a black box because it is often an empty rectangular space into which various audience seating and stage arrange- ments can be introduced. 180 Part 3 Creating Theatre: The Production  PLAYING YOUR PART: THINKING ABOUT THEATRE 1. As discussed in this chapter, there are five major types of stage spaces: proscenium, arena, thrust, found space, and black box. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of each? On which type of stage space would you prefer to watch a performance? 2. Using information from this chapter, explain which type of stage space you would feel is best suited for the following productions: a large-scale musical, an intimate personal drama, a Shakespearean drama, and a play of political protest. 3. The size of theatre spaces can range from fewer than 100 spectators to more than 3,000. What do you consider an ideal-sized theatre for the following types of productions: a musical, a Shakespearean play, a modern family drama? Suggest the ideal number of audience seats for each and the shape and size of the ideal stage space for each. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS OF THEATRE ENVIRONMENTS Simply assigning a theatre to a category does not adequately describe the environ- ment; we must also take into account a number of other variables. Two theatres may be of the same type and still be quite different in size, atmosphere, and ­setting. The experience in a small off-off-Broadway-type thrust theatre will be far different from that in a thrust theatre several times larger, such as the Guthrie in Minneapolis. The experience in a 99-seat arena theatre at a university would be quite different than in the 886-seat arena playhouse used for musicals at the sub- urban Chicago Marriott Lincolnshire. Also, one theatre may be indoors and another of the same type outdoors. There are other factors that architects, producers, and designers must take into account, one of which is the human scale. No matter what the configuration, the performer is the basic scale by which everything is measured in theatre. Theatre architects as well as scenic and lighting designers must always keep this in mind, and we should be aware of it as well. When the theatre environment and the stage space violate this human scale in some way, problems are created for performers and us. There is also the question of appropriateness. By appropriateness we mean the relationship of a stage space to a play or production. A large-scale musical requires a full stage—usually a proscenium stage—and a large auditorium from which we can get the full effect of the spectacle. However, an intimate, small cast family drama with its intense personal confrontations might require a small play- ing area so that we are close enough to the action to make a connection with the characters onstage. Rather than being limited to one type of building and one type of stage, we are fortunate today in having a full range of environments in which to experi- ence theatre. Taken all in all, whether single-focus or multifocus, indoors or outdoors, the recent innovations in theatre milieus have added new alternatives, rich in possibilities, to the traditional settings for theatrical productions. They have also called attention to the importance of environment in our total theatre experience. Chapter 7 Theatre Spaces 181  Evaluating the Theatre Space While we do not often think about evaluating the use of theatre space for a pro- duction, it is an element that can impact audience engagement and the work of the theatre artists. When we attend a theatre production, there are key questions we should ask ourselves as we interact with the environment used for staging: 1. What type of theater was it? How large or small? How opulent or elaborate? How simple or modern? What type of stage did it have: proscenium, thrust, arena, or some other type? Was it a found space? How did the area for the actors relate to the audience seating? 2. What was the size and shape of the playing space? Were any modifications made to a pre-existing space? 3. What sort of atmosphere did the space suggest? How was that atmosphere created? 4. Did the space seem to meet the needs of the play (such as special performance requirements or technical requirements)? Did it affect the production, and if so, how? 5. Did the space seem appropriate for the type of play you were seeing (an intimate family drama, a spectacular musical, a classical tragedy, a work by Shakespeare, etc.)? SUMMARY 1. The atmosphere and environment of the theatre space play a large part in setting the tone of an event. 2. Experimental theatre groups in recent years have deliberately made spectators aware of the environment. 3. Throughout theatre history there have been five basic stage and auditorium arrange- ments: proscenium, arena, thrust, created or found space, and all-purpose or “black box” spaces. 4. The proscenium theatre features a picture-frame stage, in which the audience faces directly toward the stage and looks through the proscenium opening at the “picture.” The proscenium stage aids illusion: Placing a room of a house behind the prosce- nium, for example, allows the scene designer to create an extremely realistic set. This type of stage also allows elaborate scene shifts and visual displays because it generally has a large backstage area and a fly loft. It also creates a distancing effect, which works to the advantage of certain types of drama. At the same time, however, the proscenium frame sets up a barrier between the performers and the audience. 5. The arena or circle stage places the playing area in the center with the audience seated in a circle or square around it. This offers an economical way to produce theatre and an opportunity for great intimacy between performers and spectators, but it cannot offer full visual displays in terms of scenery and scene changes. 6. The thrust stage with three-quarters seating is a platform stage with seating on three sides. Entrances and exits are made at the rear, and there is an opportunity for a certain amount of scenery. This form combines some of the scenic features of the proscenium theatre with the intimacy of the arena stage. 182 Part 3 Creating Theatre: The Production  7. Created or found space takes several forms: use of nontheatre buildings, adaptation of a given space to fit individual productions, use of outdoor settings, street theatre, multifocus environments, and all-purpose spaces. 8. The theatre space referred to as a black box is an open, adaptable space that can be configured into a variety of stage-audience arrangements, providing for maximum flexibility and economy. 9. Size and location (indoors or outdoors, etc.), along with the shape and character of a theatre building, affect the environment. Design elements: Playing Your Part box (theatre seats): ©McGraw-Hill Education; In Focus box (spotlight): ©d_gas/Getty Images Chapter 7 Theatre Spaces 183