Architecture, Actor and Audience (Theatre Concepts)

192 Pages·1993·7.96 MB·English

by  Iain Mackintosh

Architecture, Actor and Audience
This is the first book to chart the evolution of a philosophy of European
and American theatre architecture through the centuries. Iain Mackintosh
is a practitioner directly involved in designing new theatres, restoring old
ones and adapting found space, and has lectured and written widely on the
subject. He provides an invaluable overview of the subject, informed by a
practical understanding of the complex nature of our cultural relation to
our environment.
Iain Mackintosh is design director of Theatre Projects Consultants. He is
also a theatre historian, and was co-founder and producer of the drama
touring company Prospect.
Theatre Concepts
Edited by John Russell Brown
University of Michigan
Theatre Concepts is new series designed to encourage a precise
understanding of each aspect of theatre practice. Most books on the theatre
promote a particular personal or theoretical point of view. Theatre
Concepts are written by experienced practitioners in direct and accessible
language in order to open up debates and experience of theatre.
Acting
John Harrop
Architecture, Actor and Audience
Iain Mackintosh
Theatre Criticism
Irving Wardle
Architecture, Actor and
Audience
Iain Mackintosh
London and New York
First published 1993
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Toylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of
thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 1993 Iain Mackintosh
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Mackintosh, Iain
Architecture, Actor and Audience.—
(Theatre Concepts Series)
I. Title II. Series
725
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Mackintosh, Iain.
Architecture, actor and audience/Iain Mackintosh.
p. cm.—(Theatre concepts series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Theater architecture—Psychological aspects. 2. Theater
audiences. I. Title. II. Series.
NA6821.M25 1993
725′.822′019–dc20 92–18625
ISBN 0-203-35901-1 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-37157-7 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-03182-6 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-03183-4 (pbk)
Contents
List of illustrations vi
Introduction 1
Part I History
1 Continuity of character? 6
2 The innovation of scenic illusion 25
3 The purifiers of the modern movement 40
Part II Today
4 Critics and analysts 59
5 Film and television 69
6 Historic theatres and found space 76
7 Directors and designers 86
8 Architects, engineers and the multi-purpose 1 00
9 Committees, consultants and flexibility 1 13
10 Actors and audiences 1 24
11 Opera and dance 1 40
Part III Tomorrow
12 Unfolding a mystery 1 55
Select bibliography 1 70
Apologia and acknowledgements 1 72
Index 1 75
Illustrations
1 The Rose, May 1989, photograph by Andrew Fulgoni for the 11
archaeological unit of the Museum of London.
2 Reconstruction of the original Rose of 1587, by C.Walter Hodges. 12
3, 4 Drawings by Inigo Jones, possibly for a rebuilding of the Phoenix 14
in Drury Lane. Reproduced by kind permission of the Provost and
Fellows of Worcester College, Oxford.
5 Sketch of The Beggar’s Opera by Hogarth. In the collection of Her 17
Majesty the Queen, the Royal Library, Windsor Castle.
6 Painting of a scene from The Beggar’s Opera by Hogarth. By 17
permission of the Tate Gallery, London.
7 Drawing of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, as it was in 1777, by 32
Richard Leacroft. Reproduced by kind permission of Helen
Leacroft and Eyre Methuen, publisher of The Development of the
English Playhouse.
8 Drawing of the theatre of Henry Holland, opened in 1794, by 32
Richard Leacroft. Reproduced by kind permission of Helen
Leacroft.
9 Illustration of the ‘penny gaff’ or ‘blood tub’ by Gustave Doré. 38
10 Plans of Charles Garnier’s Paris Opera of 1875 and of Wagner’s 41
Festspielhaus, Bayreuth, of 1876. Drawings prepared by Theatre
Projects Consultants from those of Edwin O.Sachs.
11a ‘Theatre No. 6’, an unbuilt project by scenographer Norman Bel
Geddes dated 1929.
b Theatre proposed by Terence Gray in 1931.
c The Olivier Theatre at the National Theatre, opened in 1976. 49
Drawings all prepared by Theatre Projects Consultants.
12a Tyrone Guthrie’s first thrust stage at Edinburgh, 1948.
b The permanent theatre at Stratford, Ontario, 1957.
c The Festival Theatre, Chichester, 1962.
d The Crucible, Sheffield. Drawings all prepared by Theatre 55
Projects Consultants.
13 The Ohio Theater, Columbus, Ohio, 1928. Photograph by Hiroshi 72
Sugimoto.
14 The Majestic Theater, Brooklyn, 1904. Photograph by Peter Aaron/ 83
Esto.
15 Sections of the Majestic Theater, from Progressive Architecture, 83
April 1988, reprinted by permission of Penton Publishing.
vii
16 The Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, 1976, by an unknown 92
photographer.
17 Drawings of the Cottesloe Theatre, by Tim Foster and Miles King. 121
18 The Martha Cohen Theater, Calgary, Alberta, 1985. Reproduced 1 29
by permission of Alberta Theater Projects.
19 Ad quadratum geometry illustrates that the traditional opera house 1 42
is focused on the ‘vesica piscis’, the magical area. Drawing
prepared by Theatre Projects Consultants.
20 Concept design by Theatre Projects Consultants for the auditorium 1 44
of the new Glyndebourne Festival Opera, opening 1994.
21 The Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds. Drawing prepared by Levitt 1 60
Bernstein Associates.
22 The Tricycle Theatre, Kilburn, London, 1987. Drawing prepared 1 62
by Theatre Projects Consultants.
23 The Georgian Theatre, Richmond, Yorkshire. Photograph 1 62
reproduced by permission of Bowes and Brittain, Victoria Road,
Saltburn-by-the-Sea.
Introduction
Theatre architecture is more than the frame to a picture. Theatre people
understand this instinctively though rarely speak out except when opening
a new theatre. On these occasions the actor often inveighs against modern
theatres which, lacking the character of the old, fail to support his or her
art. The commercial producer may not often talk about theatre architecture
but nevertheless makes shrewd judgements when carefully choosing the
particular West End or Broadway theatre in which to present his or her
show. The audience is generally less aware of the contribution of theatre
architecture to the theatre experience. Many mistake decoration for
architecture. Others put the architecture, along with the ease of getting a
drink at the bar, of parking or of buying a ticket, as a necessary adjunct to
the evening, not central to the event.
Those who ought to be analytic of all the elements in the theatrical
experience, theatre critics, generally ignore the part played by theatre
architecture. Couple this with the fact that in few countries are students of
theatre and literature taught to assess the contribution of architecture to
art and to society, and you will understand how unbalanced has been most
people’s appreciation of the role of ‘place’ in theatre making and theatre
going.
This is hardly the case with religion. For most churchgoers the
architectural atmosphere is as essential to the experience as the words with
which the mystery is invoked. Only the most fervent believer of any faith
can hold communion with God in an aircraft hangar or a shed. Few brides
and grooms prefer the registry office to church, synagogue, temple or
mosque. You may talk to God anywhere yet all but the hermit require to
return to the holy place to rediscover the intensity of faith in the supportive
presence of the faithful.
Or, to move from the sacred to what some call the profane, just imagine
seduction without the low lights or the romantic sunset. The shift is
deliberate as a sense of ‘place’ is not a solemn idea. Sir Anthony Quayle,
one of Britain’s theatrical knights, was entrapped in a campaign for yet
another summer festival and defined a successful theatre as being half
2 INTRODUCTION
a church and half a brothel. His audience in conservative Californian
Visalia woke up to the dangers of theatre and decided an art gallery might
be safer.
The act of theatre is more complex than either holy communion or
physical congress. For a start more than two are involved. Theatre is a
three-dimensional and three-way event, actor or actors communicating, not
simply with you, the spectator, but with you and he, or she, over here and
that group over there. All interact one with the other. The event is also
unique, not just another performance of a particular production. The
production represents a set of artistic aims and attitudes while it is the
performance itself which is the unique event. Performances vary greatly
from night to night as both the performer and the dedicated theatregoer
will confirm.
This is because the audience’s role is an active, not a passive, one. In
cinema, which is a passive art form, you and your reactions are pre-
programmed by the director, crew, cast and writer. The air conditioning
must break down, the seats collapse or the man in the row in front snore
before you are made as aware of your surroundings as of the film. And
even if they do, your reaction and loss of interest has no effect on the
actors who, once recorded on film, cannot alter their performance. They
are not physically present in the cinema auditorium and hence are unaware
of your declining attention should you find your companion or your
popcorn more interesting than the film. The cinema goer’s communication
with that ghostly image on the screen is one way: all he or she can do is
listen or watch.
Theatre is different. Despite the production having been precisely
prepared by the director, both audience and actor find themselves in a
situation which is essentially anarchic. Anything might happen. If all goes
well the event will ‘take off’, as the saying goes.
The sense of danger, of community and of shared experience felt at a
successful theatrical occasion is what distinguishes live theatre from cinema.
And yet, paradoxically, for much of the twentieth century cinemas and
theatres have borne a superficial resemblance one to the other, the screen
having evolved as the canvas which was thought of as filling the picture
frame of the theatre proscenium. Indeed ever since the establishment of
moving pictures three-quarters of a century ago the failure by architects to
discern the difference between cinema and theatre, evidenced by their
rating sightlines to the stage picture (= film screen) above all other criteria,
has been a principal cause of so much dreary theatre architecture which
fails to provide the opportunity for the spark of performance to ignite the
conflagration of communication.
The central thesis of this book is that theatre architecture is one of the
most vital ingredients of the theatrical experience and one of the least
understood. The aim here is to explore the contribution of the sense