We begin in the year 600 B.C. in Greece: the Greeks built their theatres on the slope of a hill. This secures sufficient elevation for the back row of seats without the enormous substructures, which the Romans used. If the surface was rocky, semicircles were hewn out, tier above tier. If the ground was soft an excavation was made to the hillside and lined with rows of stone benches. The steps were often faced with marble, forming a circular pit enclosed by a lofty portico and balustrade terrace, and was assigned to the spectators, as in the theatre of Dionysus at Athens. The auditorium w

For our next adventure, we shall travel north to the city of lights: Paris (France). As we travel around, we discover that it is the late spring of 1893, Antoine Lugné-Poë and some friends, including Veuillard, are discussing their future plans. Veuillard, so the story goes, happened to open a book at random; his eye falls on the word oeuvre, and he suggested that the theatre Lugné-Poë wanted to bring into existence should be called the Théâtre de l'Oeuvre and so it was. Before beginning his new venture, Lugné-Poë thought back upon past mistakes as well as onto previous successes. The Cercle des Escholiers, for example, (which he had helped found during his lycée (high school) days), had grown in stature and reputation. Although he had broken with his friends in 1887, he again renewed ties with this artistic group shortly thereafter. Indeed, they had invited him to direct and perform in some of their productions: a pantomime, Colombine's Suggestions, by François de Nion. Lugné-Poë received particularly commendable criticisms for Thalasso's play. The critic Croze commented on his excellent diction, his meaningful gestures and his sensitive concern for effects, all of which were instrumental in his exceptional portrayal. Lugné-Poë was well aware of the amateurish nature of the Cercle des Escholiers' productions. He not only realized that this group of performers would never achieve any professional rank, but he also understood the fact that he would have to look elsewhere for inspiration and for regular work. Nor had he any illusions. After finally winning first prize at the Conservatoire freeing himself from further military obligations, he knew jobs were hard to come by. Therefore, he accepted as many acting roles as he could: large, small, in and outside of Paris, in regular and fly-by-night theatres. No amount of negative or destructive responses succeeded in dissuading Antoine from putting his theatrical ideas into practice. Nor did his concepts concerning the performing arts ever cease evolving during the course of his directorship of the Théâtre Libre. Experience was also his master; tours and foreign influences were instrumental in sharpening and broadening his vision. Italian influences on the French theatre architecture became evident in 1641, when Cardinal Richelieu established the Palais Cardinal, which was renamed the Palais-Royal after his death. The Palais royal was the first proscenium-arch theatre in France; it also had Italianate scene-shifting machinery. The theatre building was a rectangular with a stage at one end and galleries on three sides around it. It accommodated almost 1,500 people: 300 standing in a “pit” in front of the stage, about 700 sitting in a raised amphitheatre behind the pit, about 330 sitting in galleries, 70 standing at the very back, and 50 wealthy nobles sitting on the sides of the stage itself. Having the audience on stage was customary in French theatre but made it rather difficult for the actors (and see figure 7). So we push our way through the crowd only to find that the ground is suddenly moving, we’re on a boat and we’re heading to New York!

China; the city of tea and puppets. The earliest permanent stages in China were those belonging to temples, which were made of stone and brick with elaborate roofs. They were simple platforms with no curtain or proscenium, built high above the ground and surrounded on three sides by the spectators (similar to a thrust stage). The performances were paid for by the wealthy men of the neighbourhood and the populace stood or sat in the open courtyard of the temple to see the performance. “It was the temple stage which served as a prototype for that of the permanent playhouse of later centuries as well as the private stage used in Imperial palaces and noblemen's houses.” The tradition of private performances has only died out within very recent times. Before then, well to do people regularly invited actors to

Some topics in this essay:
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