Theatre spaces 1920-2020 : finding the fun in functionalism. / txt
Iain Mackintosh.
- 242p. ill. ; photo. ; col. ; plans ; 26 cm. book
"Society for Theatre Research."
Includes bibliographical references and index.
CONTENTS: List of illustrations vii -- Foreword by Sir Richard Eyre xi -- An introduction and a summary 1 -- Act I Pre-1920: Setting the scene and some early pioneers 3 -- 1 Theatre is ephemeral while buildings endure. Some necessary background 5 -- 2 Richard Wagner, Adolphe Appia and the spreading of the fan 17 -- Act II 1920-1976: The march of modernism 25 -- 3 The Festival Cambridge, Stratford-upon-Avon and early days of the National 27 -- 4 Guthrie's thrust stages 40 -- 5 Germany's building boom and Anglo-American Shakespeare 53 -- 6 The Olivier, the Lyttelton and the Barbican theatres 59 -- Act III 1976-2020: The pass informs the present 81 -- 7 The Cottesloe and other courtyards 83 -- 8 Worthy scaffolds: Brook's empty space and spaces found by others 102 -- 9 Regenerating the old offers an antidote to modernism. Part One: English theatres of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries 117 -- 10 Regenerating the old offers an antidote to modernism. Part Two: A couple of twentieth-century Scottish theatres reborn — one in Edinburgh and the other in Florida 134 -- 11 New opera houses from Glyndebourne to Dallas. Elsewhere some starchitects upstage the performers 144 -- 12 Learning from the Netherlands, Berlin, Brazil, Australia and from Indian and Chinese cultures 163 -- 13 2010-2020: Some new builds, two renovations — one at Stratford-upon-Avon and one in London — and diversions on in-the-round and the open air 179 -- Act IV 2021: The future 207 -- 14 Unforeseen consequences of seventeenth-century plagues, of the arrival of the talkies and the more recent dangers of the pandemic and of 'virtual theatre'. Some central themes restated 209 -- Bibliographies 221 -- Acknowledgements 228 -- Theatre index 231 -- Person index 235 -- ILLUSTRATIONS Cover: Since 1952 the Royal Court Theatre London has been the home of new drama. In 2000 architect Steve Tompkins stripped out many layers of paint and plasterwork from successive versions of the original 1888 auditorium to reveal purposeful structural steel thus giving the whole a contemporary character. Photo Stephen Cummiskey -- 1.1 Plan of the Old Vic overlaid on that of the Olivier Theatre 6 -- 1.2 'Cheek by jowl', 1894 engraving of poorer pit patrons immediately behind expensive front stalls 13 -- 2.1 Bayreuth interior as built in 1896 before level inserted over boxes and below gallery 18 -- 2.2 Two isometrics by Richard Leacroft: Hellerau over Le Vieux-Colombier 22 -- 3.1 Two isometrics by Richard Leacroft: Wilkins' Barnwell Theatre Cambridge of 1814 over Gray's Festival Theatre of 1926 28 -- 3.2 Cambridge Festival Theatre auditorium 1926 over map of Norwich company circuit 29 -- 3.3 Cambridge Festival Theatre section over plan 1926 31 -- 3.4 Cambridge Festival Theatre: Oresteia 1926 over The Provok'd Wife 1927 33 -- 3.5 Drawings by Richard Leacoft of Kunstler Theater Munich 1908 over Stratford-on-Avon 1932 37 4.1 The Thrie Estaitis at the Assembly Hall Edinburgh 1948 drawn by Richard Leacroft 41 -- 4.2 Festival Theatre Stratford Ontario 1957 over Guthrie Theatre Minneapolis, The Three Sisters 1963 43 -- 4.3 Same-scale comparisons of six thrust stages. Capacities: Assembly Hall 1,350; Stratford Ontario 2,250; Chichester 1,350; Minneapolis 1,400; Crucible 1,000; Olivier 1,150 45 -- 4.4 Opening production of Amadeus, Chichester Festival Theatre after 2014 renovation by Haworth Tompkins 47 -- 4.5 Life of Galileo at Young Vic 2017 50 -- 5.1 Antony 6- Cleopatra at Shakespeare's Globe 1999 55 -- 5.2 Two plans of Shakespeare's Globe yard level: as built in 1997 over proposal of 2015 56 6.1 Two Lasdun sketches for the Olivier: Scheme A over Scheme B 66 -- 6.2 Lasdun's model for the Olivier with setting envisaged by Jocelyn Herbert over photo of Olivier set up for Small Island 2020 67 6.3 Epidaurus sketch by Onno Greiner 1959 70 -- 6.4 Eden Court Theatre Inverness 1976 taken in 2009 73 -- 6.5 Two Barbican sketches — Richard Southern 1959 and Elizabeth Bury 1968 75 -- 6.6 Full auditorium at the Barbican Theatre 77 -- 7.1 Four sketches of Cottesloe layouts: Half Life 1977, The Beggar's Opera 1982, Fuente Ovejuna 1992 and The Voysey Inheritance 1989 84 -- 7.2 In The Mysteries at the Cottesloe, God on top of a fork-lift creates a world lit only by candles. 85 -- 7.3 Opening performance at the Wilde Theatre Bracknell 1984 91 -- 7.4 The flexible Martha Cohen Theatre Calgary 1985: Angels in America over Candide 92 -- 7.5 Westminster School Connecticut Theatre 1988 93 -- 7.6 Edward Alleyn Hall Dulwich College 1983: Tim Foster's axonometric over-audience photo 94 -- 7.7 Iain Mackintosh sacred geometry overlay on plan originally supposed by Inigo Jones himself 95 -- 7.8 Pair of supposed Inigo Jones drawings once known as 7b and 7c and now as H&T 10 and H&T 11. Worcester College, Oxford 96 -- 7.9 Sam Wanamaker Playhouse 2014 adjacent to Shakespeare's Globe 1997 97 -- 7.10 Hall Two Sage Gateshead: 2004: TPC proposal over in-the-round performance 99 -- 8.1 Audiences in the Tricycle Theatre Kilburn 1980 and Georgian Theatre Royal Richmond Yorkshire 1766 restored 1963 104 -- 8.2 The Bacchae at the Teatro Oficina Sao Paulo Brazil in 1996 106 -- 8.3 Royal Court Theatre 1888 renovated 2000: long section of extension to Sloane Square over auditorium 108 -- 8.4 Tina Packer Playhouse Lenox Massachusetts 2001. Architects' drawings over auditorium 109 -- 8.5 Theatre des Bouffes du Nord Paris 1878 acquired by Peter Brook 1974. Photo by Jean-Guy Lecat, a key member of Brook's team 111 -- 8.6 Theatre des Bouffes du Nord, long section, as adapted for Peter Brook and drawn by Jean-Guy Lecat 113 -- 8.7 Majestic Theatre New York 1904 as adapted for Peter Brook 1987 by Jean-Guy Lecat and Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates architects 114 -- 9.1 First night Lawrence Batley Theatre Huddersfield 1994 within already gutted chapel 118 -- 9.2 Bristol Old Vic auditorium renovated 2012 by Andrzej Blonski architect over studio by Haworth Tompkins Architects 2018 123 -- 9.3 Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds: a 1906 full house over auditorium renovated in 2007 125 -- 9.4 Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds 1819, William Wilkins' geometry explained by Axel Burrough of Levitt Bernstein 127 -- 9.5 Newcastle Theatre Royal 1837 over interior by Frank Matcham 1897 129 -- 9.6 Nottingham Theatre Royal: 1837 auditorium renovated 1978 by architects RHWL 131 -- 10.1 Opening in 1990 of Dunfermline Opera House, now the Mertz Theatre in Sarasota Florida, over same when derelict in Dunfermline, Scotland 135 -- 10.2 Lyric Theatre Hammersmith 1895 as translated to new site 1979 136 -- 10.3 Festival Theatre Edinburgh built as Empire Theatre 1928 renovated 1994 141 -- 10.4 New facade of Festival Theatre Edinburgh 1994 142 -- 11.1 Glyndebourne: TPC's concept design July 1990 146 -- 11.2 gain's mumbo jumbo' received by architect Michael Hopkins from TPC April 1990 147 -- 11.3 Glyndebourne auditoriums: new opened in 1994 over old theatre demolished in 1992 149 -- 11.4 Longborough Festival Opera 1998 152 -- 11.5 New Garsington Opera 2011. Architects Robin Snell and Partners advised by Iain Mackintosh. Interior over exterior 153 -- 11.6 New Garsington. Robin Snell's sketch for positioning the opera house 155 -- 11.7 Grange Park Opera: design and illustration by Tim Ronalds over photo as built by others 156 -- 11.8 Dallas Opera House 2010. Architects Foster + Partners advised by TPC 159 -- 11.9 Oslo Opera House 2008. Architects Snohetta advised by TPC 161 -- 12.1 Onno Greiner's De Tamboer at Hoogeveen 1990 163 -- 12.2 De Maagd Theatre within deconsecrated church, Bergen op zoom 1990 over Greiner drawing of renovation at Enschede Schouwburg 1988. Both advised by TPC 165 -- 12.3 Interiors of Ouro Preto theatre 1770 over Manaus Opera House 1897 169 -- 12.4 Theatro Jose de Alencar Fortaleza 1910 171 -- 12.5 Two temple kuttampalams in Kerala India at Haripad 1769 and at Thrissur 1880. Drawn and photographed by Gopika Jayasaree 174 -- 12.6 Zhengyici Beijing, photo over plan of typical classical theatre drawn by Jack Chen 175 -- 12.7 Oil painting by an unknown mid-19th-century Chinese artist of a waterside open-air performance 177 -- 13.1 Liverpool Everyman 2011. Architects Howarth Tompkins. Exterior over performance on thrust stage 180 -- 13.2 Liverpool Everyman section over stalls level thrust without stage riser plan. Architects Haworth Tompkins 181 -- 13.3 Theatre at Chateau d'Hardelot, Pas-de-Calais. Architect Andrew Todd 183 -- 13.4 Stratford-on-Avon Plan 'B' Theatre Projects Consultants 14 December 2001 185 -- 13.5 Royal Shakespeare Theatre 2010. New stage and auditorium over stage cutaway. Architects Rab Bennetts Associates advised by Charcoalblue 187 -- 13.6 RST Swan Theatre 1986 within 1879/1932 shell. Architect Michael Reardon. Over open-air theatre of 2010 with Swan shell in background 189 -- 13.7 Three Shakespearean theatres compared: Stratford Ontario 1957; Wanamaker's Globe 1997; RST revised 2010. Drawn by Gavin Green 190 -- 13.8 The Yard, Chicago 2017 - concept drawing by Gavin Green over Macbeth curtain calls in opening season 2018 192 -- 13.9 The Bridge 2017 Architect Haworth Tompkins, Three full tiers over long section over promenade performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream 194 -- 13.10 Theatre Royal Drury Lane 2021. Renovation architect Haworth Tompkins. Photos of auditorium showing clumsy pre-2019 over the smoother 2021 revision 196 -- 13.11 Theatre Royal Drury Lane: comparison of entrance level from 2021 over pre-2019 197 -- 13.12 Same-scale comparisons: Theatre Royal Drury Lane holding 1,979, The Bridge holding 915, Olivier holding 1,150 198 -- 13.13 Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre 1976. Architects Levitt Bernstein. Structure supported off pillars over curtain call for Lord Arthur Savile's Crime 1982 200 -- 13.14 Orange Tree February 1991. Architects TPC. First preview of opening production of All in the Wrong by Arthur Murphy 202 -- 13.15 Three productions at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre 2010-2015 204 -- 14.1 King's Theatre Edinburgh 1906: male and female caryatids over three-quarter view of auditorium after renovation of 1985 and before that of 2024 216 --
"In this hands-on account of the creation of new theatre spaces spanning a century, Iain Mackintosh offers a compelling history that is part memoir, part impassioned call to rethink the design of our theatre spaces and the future of live theatre. As the originator of theatre designs as diverse as the Cottesloe in 1977, Glyndebourne in 1994 and the Orange Tree Theatre in 1991, he discovered why the shows worked in some theatres and did not in others. It is this unique blend of expertise and experience that informs this riveting account of the creation of many of the best-known theatre spaces in Britain, besides many international examples"--