Download wilson13_ppt_ch03

The Audience Views
the Stage: Theatre
Spaces
3
© 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.
3-2
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?
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-3
Proscenium Stage
Photo by Paul Tepley, courtesy of The Cleveland PlayHouse
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-4
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.
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-5
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.
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-6
Theatre Spaces
• Arena stage:
– This is also known as circle theater or theatre-in-theround.
– 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.
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-7
Arena Stage
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-8
The Stage and Seating in an
Arena Theatre
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-9
A Contemporary Arena Theatre
© Steve Keating for Callison Architecture/Courtesy of A Contemporary Theatre, Seattle
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-10
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.
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-11
Thrust Stage with
Three-Quarters Seating
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-12
An Original Thrust Stage
© Jose Fuste Raga/Corbis
Amphitheatre, Epidaurus, Greece – accoustically sound, 15,000
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-13
A Modern Thrust Stage
© Craig Schwartz
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-14
An Elizabethan Playhouse
Groundlings, audience of up to 3,000, only 60 feet away from stage.
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-15
Stage & Seating Area of a
Thrust-Stage Theatre
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-16
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.”
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-17
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
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images
3-18
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.
© Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-19
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
© Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-20
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
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-21
All-Purpose Theatre Spaces
• The Black Box
– Can be adapted
to almost any
configuration
– Seats, lights,
platforms, levels—
flexible and
movable
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3-22
Special Requirements
• Variables that define environment:
– Size, atmosphere, setting
– Human scale
– Appropriateness and aesthetic distance
• Environment is important in the total
theatre experience.
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.