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- 2. DEVELOPMENT OF THEATRE ARCHITECTURE Ancient Greek amphitheaters Built on hillsides Theatron = auditorium, where the audience sits Orchestra = circular playing area Skene= stage house, used for entrances/ exits; dressing rooms, storage, etc. Parados= entrance/exit corridors Used wheeled platforms, 3-sided pivoting scenery with a different location painted on each side, cranes for suspending large objects, and painted panels depicting different locales
- 4. Roman Theatre Simple modifications of the basic Greek designs Compressed the 3 separate elements (auditorium, stage, stage house) of Greek Theatres into one building Back of the stage had permanent decorative structure Orchestra a half-circle instead of ¾ circle Developed elevators, moving platforms, trapdoors, and complex moving scenery for dancing trees, rocks and other devices Theatre was built on level ground
- 5. Medieval Theatre Church dramatized biblical scenes during services to better convey their lessons and doctrines When they became too complex they moved them outdoors Platform Stage built adjacent to the church and the audience stood in town square
- 6. Pageant Wagons platform stage on wheels pulled from town to town Platforms depicted locations appropriate to the biblical stories dramatized in the productions Used some stage machinery, trap doors, etc. Audience stood on three sides and walked from platform to platform to see each part of the story or the wagons moved along a route and the audience stayed in one place (like a parade).
- 7. Renaissance Theatre Cultural reawakening 1500-1650 all over Europe Strong interest in classical forms and structures Adopted basic shape of Greek and Roman theatres with interesting and clever adaptations Main difference - Indoor theatres entire structure enclosed in one building Orchestra (called the cavea) was an ellipse instead of semi-circle
- 8. Stock set Scenery designed to visually support a generalized location (garden, city street, palace, interior) rather than a specific one; commonly used from the Renaissance thru the early 20th century and still in use today in some theatres Elaborate permanent sets were built in forced perspective A visual distortion technique that increases the apparent depth of an object The opening through which the set was seen was called the proscenium arch
- 9. Raked stage behind the arches (the stage floor is higher at the back than at the front) The actors performed on a flat playing area in front of the raked stage (apron) First recorded stage lighting in 1545 placed candles and torches behind flasks with amber and blue colored water
- 10. Elizabethan Theatre Theatres built just outside London by 1600 including Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre (1599-1632) Round, open-air 3-story structures Large platform stage, raised 4-6 feet off the ground Surrounded by yard or pit where the lower class audience (aka groundlings) stand Galleries and private boxes for wealthier patrons and nobles
- 11. 2 story stage house structure at the back of the platform Tall columns on the two outer corners of the platform supporting a roof over the stage Doors for entrances/exits on either side and a curtained opening in the center that revealed a small inner room Trap doors in the stage floor Tiring (dressing) rooms and prop storage behind the stage house No scenery used, just furniture pieces and props
- 12. 1650-1900 Theatres were primarily rectangular Stage set at one end of building Raked stage framed by proscenium arch Apron - the flat extension of the stage floor projects from the proscenium arch towards the audience Majority of action takes place on the apron Orchestra becomes larger and is now used for audience seating Broadway theatres in New York City began to be built in this styles as early as 1750
- 13. The stage continued as a visual background for the play to take place in front of Painted in perspective on moveable drops, wings, and borders Raked stage added sense of depth
- 14. Drop - A large expanse of cloth, usually muslin or canvas, on which something (a landscape, sky, street, room) is painted Wings - tall cloth covered frames or narrow, unframed drops placed on either side of the stage, parallel with the sides of the proscenium arch, to prevent the audience from seeing backstage; were usually painted to match the scene on the upstage drop Also refers to the off-stage space adjacent to the stage in a proscenium theatre Borders - wide, short, framed or unframed cloth drops suspended to prevent the audience from seeing above the stage; normally match the decorative treatment of wings and drops
- 15. Counterweight Fly System developed for proscenium theatres A system of raising and lowering scenery (and eventually lights) using a set of pipes, cables, ropes, pulleys and weights Allows for vertical storage above the stage in the flyhouse Drops and scenery can be raised and lowered during performance
- 16. Twentieth Century More realistic/naturalistic and experimental types of drama As productions became more realistic, the shape of theatres changed to support this form Settings became environments for the plays rather than backgrounds Action of play moved from the apron to the stage, apron depth became narrower The Little Theatre movement in the US, 1920-30s Move away from Broadway for artists to hone their craft out of the critics’ eye “Found” Spaces promoted intimacy with the audience Existing barns, churches, feed stores, libraries, grocery stores No proscenium arches - led to thrust and arena stages
- 17. MODERN STAGES Proscenium – most common Thrust – many variations Arena – simplest form Black Box – most flexible Alternate spaces/outdoors – theatre can be done practically anywhere
- 18. Proscenium Stage Found in most educational institutions, many Regional Theatres and on Broadway An arch frames the acting area, putting the actors inside a sort of picture frame with the audience viewing the stage from only one direction The spectator’s section is called the “house” Full house and house manager The floor of the house is usually raked so that sightlines are not obstructed
- 19. The stage is divided into sections from the point of view of the actors facing the audience
- 20. Advantages Because the audience is only viewing from the front, it is fairly easy to block the action so that the actors’ faces can be seen Allows for plenty of scenery Lighting designers have more control over the light The front curtain can be lowered to hide scene changes Disadvantages Because the audience is separated from the actors by the proscenium arch and many are farther away from the stage, the actor-audience rapport can be diluted Require scenery and the expense it entails
- 21. Thrust Stage Also called a three quarter stage Stage thrusts out into the audience and the audience sits on three sides Advantages With the spectators wrapped around the stage, the actor- audience rapport is better Every seat in the house is closer to the stage Disadvantages A bit more difficult to direct the actors because sightlines can cause an actor to block another actor The action must move around the stage so that no part of the audience is ignored and only sees the backs of the actors’ heads Scenery is limited to the side of the stage with no audience
- 22. Arena Stage Also called theatre in the round Audience is on all four sides Space is usually square or rectangular, not round Actors make entrances and exits through the audience More spectators are closer to the action than in any other model Little to no scenery can be used to prevent blocking sightlines Can only have a limited number of actors onstage and have to keep them moving so they do not block sightlines and are not facing away from half or more of the audience
- 23. Black Box Stage A square or rectangular empty room painted black Seating can be arranged in any configuration The most useful forms of theatre architecture because the space conforms to the production instead of the production having to conform to the space
- 24. THEATRE DESIGNERS Scenic Props Costume Makeup and Hair Lighting Sound All begin to approach the design in the same way Learn the director’s concept and the time period Analyze the script First for meaning Then for practical needs Research
- 25. Scenic Designers must show their designs to the director for approval before they are constructed They often present their research on “mood boards”
- 28. Renderings – color drawings that convey the design Drawn to scale and in perspective
- 30. Scenic designers often also make a scale model of the set
- 32. They also must prepare scale plans for building the set These are used by the scene shop to build the set
- 33. Lighting and Sound designers generally talk through ideas with the director and display them during technical rehearsals Lighting designers must prepare a light plot showing where the instruments are to be hung and focused for the light hang crew
- 34. Set Design Videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLn5QP96EkVwGEZiTixv- 66sMfC4tqUaIP