The mystery of old theatres

The main purpose of theatre architecture is to provide a channel for energy - laughter, awe, tragedy, movement, sound - energy flowing back and forth between the actor and audience.

 (Civic Theatre, Auckland CBD) 

Atmosphere

In a sensitively and more authentically restored old theatre, audiences will accept a higher density than they would in either an overgilded restoration or in a brand new theatre (more seats, more revenue). This density, together with the atmosphere created in a well restored theatre, can increase not only the box office takings but also the heightened sense of expectation in an audience, and so the likelihood of theatrical success.

• 'warm, alive, tattered magnificance' ' smells and feels like a theatre'
• theatre research (Richard Kuller, 1977) measurements of arousal in an audience:
• those who had been in a festive space (old theatre with lots of colour and patterns, a 'high information rate') laughed and cried quicker during a performance than those who had been in a darker, decoration-free space (a modern theatre).
• actors who have tried to warm up an audience in many new theatres confirm this

Unravelling the mystery of a good theatre

Study the past and those channels for energy which run under attractive architectural forms, and far from purposeless decoration.

• Geometry: a high proportion of succcessful theatres are set out according to the principles of 'sacred geometry' - a system of dynamic spatial harmony (see pp162-165 Actor Architecture Audience).

• The science of theatre building must come from studying what it is that brings about the most vivid relationship between people (Peter Brook).

Notes from Ian MacIntosh's Actor Architecture & Audience:

1. The architecture of the auditorium and the stage are one of the main considerations - good theatre architecture should support the actor and assist the audience
2. A theatre space of whatever form must have a quality of both rest and movement - it cannot be assessed without audience and actors.
3. Most research suggests that successful theatre spaces have been set out according to some geometric set of rules
4. Placing the highest importance on new technology can result in a building that dates quickly
5. Perfect sightlines result in 'the tame, conventional, often cold hall' (Peter Brook). Seats need not all face the playing area, which may itself alter its position. Nor is it necessary for all the audience to see and hear perfectly - the priority is to place people into 'the most vivid relationship one with another' (Brook).
6. A literate theatre person should be consulted to explain the metaphysical functionalism of a good theatre...(ie. in addition to all the physical requirements)
7. An endlessly adaptable theatre space is not really possible...without an architectural framework a 'free' space is not a theatre space but a hangar or film studio awaiting the construction within it....a collection of machinery: a fixed from theatre (thrust or proscenium) which provides some opportunities for altering offers one sort of flexibility using lighting etc.
8. Density of the audience as well as audience size is important. Less densely packed theatres dilute responses. Single tier auditoriums are less space efficient than a multi-tier auditorium and more difficult for actors to animnate. Likewise, a more comfortable audience is also generally less alert.
9. Seating capacity is a misleading way to compare sizes of theatres (see below)
10. Less comfortable audiences will proivde a more concentrated response but may put off some patrons. The answer is to provide different seating for different types of audience (highly priced comfortable seats, lower priced more densely packed seats) to attract the greatest possible spread of age, wealth and education into the theatre.
11. A theatre architect who manipulates audience density, comfort and sightlines will find it easier to design a dynamic space animaged by the energy of both the actors and the audience. A fan shaped auditorium where all are comfortably equal to view the show is less likely to provide feedback and animate the theatre.

Audience size

Older theatres held far more people - for example, the original Rose theatre (below) held about 2,000 people in a space which today would not hold more than about 400-500.

 Reasons:

• 20th century bodies are taller and wider than the average Elizabethan
• not many people today would tolerate standing for an entire show as they did in the central yard of the Rose
• seated audiences today demand more comfort and leg room
• fire and safety regulations mean aisles and staircases are added which further limit capacity

So the difference in seating capactiy between a modern theatre and:

• an Elizabethan theatre of the same area = 1:3 or 1:4
• an 18th century theatre of the same area = 1:2 or 1:3
• a turn of the century West End or Broadway theatre of the same are = 1:1.5 or 1:2.5 depending on whether standing capacity is taken into account

The Rose Theatre (1587) - an Elizabethan theatre built in 1587 by Philip Henslowe and a grocer named John Cholmley.