Theatre Spaces 1920-2020: Finding the Fun in Functionalism

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In this lavishly illustrated 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, the Orange Tree Theatre in 1991, the Martha Cohen Theatre in 1985 and the Tina Packer Playhouse in 2001, he discovered why the same show worked in some theatres but not in others. It is this unique blend of experience that informs this account of many of the best-known theatre spaces in Britain, besides many international examples including the Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis and the Oslo Opera House. Running throughout is a consideration of factors which have shaped design thinking during this time and which demand attention today. After the long theatre closures driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, Mackintosh argues that now is the time to discover the routes travelled over the last century. Published in partnership with the Society of Theatre Research, the book features a foreword by Sir Richard Eyre, Director of the National Theatre, 1987–1997. Cover Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS FOREWORD by Sir Richard Eyre An introduction and a summary ACT ONE Pre-1920: Setting the scene and some early pioneers 1 Theatre is ephemeral while buildings endure. Some necessary background The arts of live theatre are ephemeral while those of architecture endure Some necessary backgrounds to my argument First – do we start in 1920 or 1876? Second – the National Theatre as a reference point and as a cue for anecdote Third – the different sorts of theatres contrasted: big and small, new and old Fourth – the audience listens, looks and reacts. The part played by ‘spectacle’ Fifth – this author’s viewpoint: from Prospect to Theatre Projects Consultants Sixth – clarifying capacities of older theatres and the opening dates of the new ones Seventh – unremarkable exteriors with memorable interiors and vice versa Finally, the elephants in the room 2 Richard Wagner, Adolphe Appia and the spreading of the fan Drawn to Bayreuth by the baroque, Wagner then chose to build a modern opera house The fan as chronicled by the functionalist engineer George C. Izenour Craig, Appia, Copeau and the Vieux-Colombier Electricity throws a brighter light on theatres old and new Norman Bel Geddes and Walter Gropius, neither of whom ever built a theatre ACT TWO 1920–1976: The march of modernism 3 The Festival Cambridge, Stratford-upon-Avon and early days of the National My interest in the Festival Theatre aroused Terence Gray acquires and remodels what had been the Barnwell Theatre Gray invites his hero, Gordon Craig, to the Festival in 1927 The Memorial Theatre Stratford-upon-Avon of 1932 Incremental changes to the 1932 Memorial Theatre Murmurings of a National Theatre from 1937 to 1950 4 Guthrie’s thrust stages From Elsinore in 1936 to Edinburgh in 1948 From Edinburgh to Stratford Ontario and then on to Minneapolis Chichester and the Vivian Beaumont without Guthrie Success of the Sheffield Crucible of 1971 with Guthrie very much involved The Young Vic of 1970 The end of thrust stage drama at the Assembly Hall for the Edinburgh Festival A thrust that did not happen until sixty years later 5 Germany’s building boom and Anglo-American Shakespeare West Germany sets the pace for the building of new theatres American influences on English playhouses for Shakespeare 1948–1997 The fan shape is adopted by many new British theatres from 1969 to 1979 The Old Vic and Stratford theatres changed but the Olivier and Lyttelton never 6 The Olivier, the Lyttelton and the Barbican theatres The National Theatre of 1976 approached through the rebootings of 1998 and 2016 Changes to the theatre spaces unwelcome to Lasdun, a believer in the Gesamtkunstwerk Unique scenic opportunities of the Olivier stage Scenic possibilities lead to excessive width which leads to bad acoustics The building committee, its composition and its relationship with the architect Squaring the circle: fitting a scenic stage into a single room The brutalist character of the concrete National The influence of Ancient Greece on the design of the Olivier Not much discussion on the Lyttelton Pastiche and the proscenium theatre What to do now? The design of the Barbican from 1958 to its opening in 1982 Enter John Bury My own vote is for the Barbican as a theatre space rather than the Olivier or Lyttelton ACT THREE 1976–2020: The past informs the present 7 The Cottesloe and other courtyards Where the Cottesloe happened approached as ‘found space’ The 1973 genesis of the Cottesloe design The Cottesloe design evolves rapidly A modular courtyard for an unknown future Priorities change for the Cottesloe/Dorfman and for the Polonsky Theatre, NYC More courtyards: Bracknell, Calgary and Salford Tim Foster, theatre architect, who specialised in school theatres The Inigo Jones pedigree of the Vanbrugh at RADA and of the Wanamaker Playhouse Hall Two at The Sage Gateshead One of the best of all courtyards: The Swan Courtyards holding less than 400 lead to the request for ‘the same only bigger’ 8 Worthy scaffolds: Brook’s empty space and spaces found by others An early scaffolding theatre Eddie Gilbert and the remodelling of the St Lawrence Centre, Toronto Arguments for using inexpensive scaffolding in found space: The Tricycle Two worthy scaffolds in found spaces: São Paulo and Hackney A diversion on the first theatre project by Haworth Tompkins A scaffolding theatre for Shakespeare and Co. in Massachusetts Peter Brook’s Bouffes du Nord in Paris and the Majestic in Brooklyn A ballroom and a shipyard adapted for single shows presented by Bryden and Dudley 9 Regenerating the old offers an antidote to modernism: English theatres of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries The Almeida Islington and the Lawrence Batley, Huddersfield 1976 and the start of a movement to save historic theatres The rejuvenating of five great theatres Three Georgian playhouses: Bristol, Richmond Yorkshire and Bury St Edmunds Two ninteenth-century provincial theatres with porticos: the Theatres Royal of Newcastle and Nottingham 10 Regenerating the old offers an antidote to modernism: A couple of twentieth-century Scottish theatres reborn – one in Edinburgh and the other in Florida From Dunfermline to Florida The former Empire becomes The Festival and ‘one of the best theatres in the world’ 11 New opera houses from Glyndebourne to Dallas. Elsewhere some starchitects upstage the performers Glyndebourne ‘likely to remain a landmark for many years to come’ – Michael Barron Four smaller festivals: Longborough, New Garsington, West Horsley and Nevill Holt New opera houses in Amsterdam, Oslo and Dallas Enter the starchitects: their successes and failures 12 Learning from the Netherlands, Berlin, Brazil, Australia and from Indian and Chinese cultures The Netherlands Two historic theatres in East Berlin From Prague to Brazil Learning lessons in Australia Re-examining Indian and Chinese indigenous theatre cultures 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 The first two decades of this century The Everyman Liverpool A theatre in a wood: Chateau D’ Hardelot in the Pas-de-Calais Stratford-upon-Avon: the third Memorial Theatre of 2011 High-tech in Chicago and its antecedents The Bridge Theatre on the River Thames The Theatre Royal Drury Lane remodelled – once again In-the-round and open air: unique theatres that still surprise A second and much smaller galleried theatre-in-the round: the Orange Tree The finest and biggest open-air theatre in Britain ACT FOUR 2021: The future 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 Learning from the past Unforeseen consequence of the plagues and of the Puritans Unforeseen consequences of the arrival of the talkies Simultaneous transmission to cinemas and to homes of live theatre performance The expansion of NTLive Simulcasts from the Metropolitan Opera Performers wary of the inherent eavesdropping nature of ‘virtual theatre’ A different approach to the future of ‘virtual theatre’ for small spaces? Is the survival of art cinemas an allied issue? Is a further decline in touring going to be an unforeseen consequence of the virus? Panto and headliner comedian Ken Dodd suggests that the place can also be the thing Courses for horses Future forecasts summarised BIBLIOGRAPHIES ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS THEATRE INDEX PERSON INDEX