1 Pre-reading discussion THEATRE SPACES 1, What are theatre spaces? 2. What kinds of theatre stages do you know? Explain them and draw them on the board, 3. Which type is suitable for what performances? I Split into groups and take one type each to extract the following information: 1. What is this type of stage? Describe it. 2. Anything interesting about its history? 3, What are its advantages and disadvantages? II Note down the relevant information and prepare to report to the other groups. IH Read the shortened version of the texts. TV You are a theatre group preparing to stage a Shakespeare’s play, but you have to decide on the space where to put it on, Prepare to debate on what is best for you to do, A theatre event takes place in a theatre space — a place where the audince and performers come together. It can be indoors or outdoors, permanent or temporary, large or small. ‘Throughout theatre history four fundamental stage arrangements have been predominant. Each of these has its own advantages or disadvantages, each is suited to certain types of productions, and each provides the audience with a somewhat different experience. PROSCENIUM OR PICTURE-FRAME STAGE For many people this stage is the most familiar type of stage. The term proscenium comes from the proscenium arch, the frame that separates the stage from the auditorium and forms an outline for the stage. Today this frame is not usually in the shape of an arch but a rectangle. As the term picture-frame stage indicates, the proscenium arch looks like a large picture frame through which the audience looks at the stage. Another term for this type of stage is fourth wall, from the idea of the proscenium opening as an invisible or ‘transparent wall through which the audience looks at the other three walls of a room. The seats in the auditorium — or house, as it is often called — all face in the same direction, towards the stage, just as seats in the cinema all face the screen. The main floor where the audience sits is called the orchestra (in American English) or the stalls (in British English).From the late seventeenth century, the proscenium theatre was adopted in virtually every European country. The populatity of this type of stage spread throughout the US in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The stage area of all of these proscenium theatres was usually deep, allowing for elaborate scenery and scene shifts; there was a large space (fly loft) above the stage where scenery could be hidden when it was raised. This was ideal for spectacles with various complicated technical effects, since the machinery could be conccaled behind the frame. In the 17th and 18th centuries everybody was fascinated with these spectacles. Sometimes there was nothing onstage but visual display. In addition to providing an opportunity for spectacle, there are other advantages too. Realistic settings are particularly effective in a proscenium theatre. A scene designer can create the illusion of a genuine, complete room more easily than elsewhere. This type of stage also keeps the spectators’ attention more easily and offers the detachment or distancing that the audience often wants. There are also disadvantages. One can get carried away with visual pyrotechnics, which is not good. Also, this stage tends to be formal and distance the audience from the action, which some spectators do not like. THRUST STAGE The thrust stage has been the most widely used of all theatre spaces. In its basic arrangement, the audience sits on three sides, or in a semi-circle, surrounding a stage which projects into the centre, At the back of the playing area is some form of stage house enabling the performers’ entrances and exits, and scene changes. Unlike the proscenium stage, the thrust stage offers a sense of intimacy or gives the audience a feeling of surrounding the action. Also, the back wall of this stage — the fagade of the stage house — provides a focused background for the action in the playing area. The thrust stage was developed by the Greeks for their tragedies and comedies, to be adapted by the Romans. In the medieval period, a popular space for outdoor performances ‘was another form of the thrust stage, known as the platform stage. A simple platform was set on wooden supports, with a curtain at the back which the performers used for ‘entrances and exits and costume changes. The area underneath the stage was closed off and provided a space from which devils and other characters could appear. In some places the platform was mounted on wheels (a wagon stage) and moved from place to place through a town. The audience stood on three sides of the platform, making it an improvised thrust stage. In the sixteenth century, an interesting thrust stage appeared in England and Spain. They were platform stages built in the open inner courtyard of an inn (@ small hotel or a pub), surrounded on four sides by the inn itself, three or four stories high.Shortly after Shakespeare's day, two things occurred: theatre moved completely indoors, and the stage began slowly to withdraw behind the frame ~ the proscenium opening. For two centuries the thrust stage was in the shadow, to reappear in the 20" century, when a few theatres in England began using a version of the thrust stage to produce Shakespeare. ‘The obvious advantages of the thrust stage are: the intimacy if the seating, the close audience ~ performer relationship, and the fact that so many of the world’s great dramatic works were written for it. ARENA STAGE Arena stage is one of the oldest theatre spaces. It is also called circle theatre or theatre-in-the-round. It has a playing space in the centre of a square or circle, with seats for spectators surrounding it. The stage may be raised off the main floor, or may be on the floor itself, When the seating is close to the stage, there is usually some kind of demarcation indicating the boundaries of the play. One advantage is that it offers the most intimacy. If the same number of people attend a performance in an arena theatre and in a picture frame theatre, at least half of those in the arena theatre will be nearer the stage. Secondly, there is no barrier between the performers and audience. Thirdly, this arrangement allows for the unconscious communion which is created when people form a circle, since the configuration of a circle seems to come so naturally to human beings. There is also a practical, economic advantage to the arena stage: any large room can be converted into this arrangement. You simply mark a playing space, arrange rows of seats around the sides, hang lights — and you have a theatre, Elaborate scenery is not only unnecessary but also impossible. In spite of these advantages, the reduced possibilities of the arena stage in terms of its scenery, performers’ entrances and exits etc. have made this stage often not too popular. CREATED OR FOUND SPACES This term means that a theatre is set up in a space not ordinarily used for performance. All early theatres probably began in some type of created or found space. In the 20" century, there has been renewed interest in the concept of theatre performed in unusual places: strect comers, public parks, and the like. Nontheatre spaces are often of special interest to experimental, avant-garde or political theatre practitioners.THEATRE SPACES stage manager ‘nthe person responsible for lighting and other technical arrangements for a stage play; the person who coordinates all the rehearsals for the director and runs the actual show during its performances. auditorium 1 the part of a theatre or hall in which the audience sits, cast ‘1. the actors taking part in a play or film. casting ‘* assigning roles to performers in a production (this is usually done by the director) amphitheatre (US amphitheater) ‘1. (especially in Greek and Roman architecture) a round building consisting of tiers of seats surrounding a central space for dramatic or sporting events; large oval, circular or semicircular outdoor theatre with rising tiers of seats around an open playing area ~ also, an exceptionally large indoor aud proscenium /pr@(0)'si;nl@m/ #n. (pl. prosceniums or proscenia /-nl@/) > {also proscenium arch) an arch framing the opening between the stage and the auditorium. 2. the stage of an ancient theatre. 3. the part ofa stage in front of the curtain thrust stage - theatre space in which the audience sits on three sides of the stage platform stage ~ elevated stage with no proscenium raked stage + stage which slopes upward away from the audience toward the back of the set arena - stage entirely surrounded by the audience; also known as theatre-in-the-round. revolving stage - large circular turntable in a stage floor on which scenery is placed so that, as it moves, one set is brought into view while another one turns out of sight found space = space not originally intended for theatre which is converted for productions. Avant-garde artists often produce in found spaces