3 The Audience Views the Stage: Theatre Spaces © Casey A. Cass, Regents of the University of...

3The Audience Views the Stage: Theatre

Spaces

© Casey A. Cass, Regents of the University of Colorado

Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Creating the Environment

• Even before the curtain rises, the theatrical experience has begun.

• The atmosphere of the theatre building can set the audience’s mood as well as create expectations.

• Audience members should note:– Is the space formal or informal?– Is it large or small?– How is the stage configured?– How is the audience seated?


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Proscenium Stage

Photo by Paul Tepley, courtesy of The Cleveland PlayHouse


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Theatre Spaces

• Proscenium stage:– This is the most familiar type of theatre space. – The word proscenium comes from the proscenium arch

(the frame that outlines the stage and separates the stage space from the audience space).

– The auditorium, also referred to as the house, or the front of the house, where the audience is seated, is slanted or raked to allow all rows the ability to see the stage clearly.

– Many proscenium auditoriums include a balcony or two, and the main floor seating is known as the orchestra.

– The large stage area allows for elaborate scenery, shifted using a fly loft on a counterweight system.

John Poole

The auditorium, also referred to as the house, or the front of the house, where the audience is seated...


A Modern Proscenium-Stage Theatre

• The audience is seated at the left, all facing in the one direction, toward the stage.

• Behind the orchestra pit in the center is the apron on the stage.• Behind the

proscenium frame are the flats and other scenic elements.

• Overhead, scenery can be raised into the fly loft above the stage area.

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Theatre Spaces

• Arena stage:– This is also known as circle theater or theatre-in-the-

round. – The playing space is in the center of the room, with the

audience surrounding the stage on all four sides (much like a boxing ring).

– Often either the stage is raised or the audience is raised above the floor.

– The arena stage is intimate, allowing the audience to literally form a circle around the performers.

– It is economical; elaborate scenery is both unnecessary and impossible because all sides of the audience must be able to see the performance.


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Arena Stage


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The Stage and Seating in an Arena Theatre


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A Contemporary Arena Theatre

© Steve Keating for Callison Architecture/Courtesy of A Contemporary Theatre, Seattle


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Theatre Spaces

• Thrust stage:– This is the most widely used space in theatre. – With a thrust stage, the audience sits on three sides or

in a semicircle, surrounding the stage, which projects into the middle of the audience.

– The thrust stage makes the play seem more intimate, with the performers acting within arm’s reach of the audience.

– It was developed by the Greeks and used by the Romans, Elizabethans, Chinese, and Japanese, and during the Spanish golden age.

– In medieval times, the platform or trestle stage was a version of the thrust.


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Thrust Stage with Three-Quarters Seating


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An Original Thrust Stage

© Jose Fuste Raga/Corbis

Amphitheatre, Epidaurus, Greece – accoustically sound, 15,000


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A Modern Thrust Stage

© Craig Schwartz


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An Elizabethan Playhouse

Groundlings, audience of up to 3,000, only 60 feet away from stage.


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Stage & Seating Area of a Thrust-Stage Theatre


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Theatre Spaces

• Created and found spaces– Involved a close look at the physical arrangement of

the playing area and its relationship to the audience

• Jerzy Grotowski and the Performance Group– Presented its productions in a large garage converted

into an open theatre space– Influenced by Frenchman Antonin Artaud:

• “Thus, abandoning the architecture of present-day theaters, we shall take some hangar or barn which we shall have reconstructed according to processes which have culminated in the architecture of certain churches or holy places, and of certain temples in Tibet.”


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Theatre Spaces

• Challenging the notion of theatrical space– Non-theatre buildings

• Lofts, warehouses, fire stations, basements, churches, breweries, gymnasiums, etc.

• Use unusual structures as they are, with their original architectural elements intact

Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images


Theatre Spaces

• Adapted spaces– Using a space to fit

a play rather than making the play fit the space

– Macbeth at the EFF– Punchdrunk prodn in 3

warehouses.

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© Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images


Theatre Spaces

• Street theatre– Held outdoors in nontraditional settings– Consists of three types:

• Plays from the standard repertoire presented in the streets

• Neighborhood theatre—an original play deals with problems and aspirations of a specific population of a city

• Guerrilla theatre—aggressive, politically oriented theatre produced by an activist group in the streets in an attempt to persuade audiences to become more politically involved

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© Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images


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Theatre Spaces

• Multifocus environments– More than one playing area– Something is going on in several areas

simultaneously– More like everyday life– You select which area you will observe

(choice)– No single space or activity is more important

than others– Often joined with multimedia theatre


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All-Purpose Theatre Spaces

• The Black Box– Can be adapted

to almost anyconfiguration

– Seats, lights,platforms, levels—flexible and movable


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Special Requirements

• Variables that define environment:– Size, atmosphere, setting– Human scale– Appropriateness and aesthetic distance

• Environment is important in the total theatre experience.

3 The Audience Views the Stage: Theatre Spaces © Casey A. Cass, Regents of the University of...

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