Chapter 7
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The audience faces in one direction, as in a movie theatre
The action onstage is seen through a frame of some kind
Proscenium comes from proscenium arch—the frame that separates the stage from the auditorium and forms an outline for the stage
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Proscenium features: Fourth-wall convention Rake Orchestra Fly loft
Ideal for spectacles because the machinery and the workings of the scene changes can be concealed behind the proscenium opening
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Other advantages: Effective for realistic settings Strong central focus rivets attention of
audience Disadvantages:
Creates a temptation to get carried away with visual pyrotechnics
Tends to be remote and formal
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Most widely used of all theatre spaces The audience sits on three sides, or in a
semicircle, enclosing a stage that projects into the center
Types of stages Platform Wagon Corral
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Offers a sense of intimacy The rear wall of the stage provides a
focused background for the action
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Also called circle theatre or theatre-in-the-round
Has a playing space in the center of a square or circle, with seats for spectators surrounding it
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Advantages: Offers intimacy Allows for unconscious communication that is
created when people form a circle Any large room can be converted into this
arrangement
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An event such as a game in a sports arena has a number of similarities to a theatrical event
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A theatre set up in a space not ordinarily used for performance
All early theatres probably began this way
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Street theatre Brings performances
to places where people do not normally attend traditional theatre
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More than one playing area where something is going on simultaneously in each area Sort of like a three-ring circus More like everyday life No single space or activity is more important
than any other
Multimedia theatre
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Can be adapted to an almost infinite range of configurations
Sometimes referred to as black boxes Every aspect—seats, lights, platforms,
levels—is flexible and movable Aesthetic distance can be adjusted for each
production’s need
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