Main entry:

Leacroft, Richard.

Title & Author:

Theatre and Playhouse : An Illustrated Survey of Theatre Building from Ancient Greece to the Present Day / Richard and Helen Leacroft ; with isometric reconstructions by Richard Leacroft.

Publication:

London ; New York : Methuen, 1984.

Description:

x, 246 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm.

Series:

Methuen paperback

Notes:
Includes index.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 236-242) and index.
[Table of Contents] -- Preface -- 1. EARLY GREECE: RECTANGULAR AND TIMBER THEATRES -- Primitive man and Dionysiac festivals -- Minoan palaces -- Earliest theatres -- Thespis and the first actor -- Ikaria -- Timber benches -- Thorikos -- Rectangular orchestras -- Theatre of Dionysus, Athens: earliest evidence -- The skene and painted scenery -- Phlyakes stages -- Temporary structures and post-holes -- Corinth and Oropos -- Vase paintings and paraskenia -- Earliest theatre at Eretria -- 2. CIRCLES, SIGHT-LINES, AND RAISED STAGES -- Acoustics and geometry -- Athens under Lycurgus -- New Comedy -- Eretria and the proskenion -- Epidaurus -- Problems of sight-lines -- Fan-shaped cavea -- 3. STAGE AND SCENERY -- Timber and stone proskenia -- Oropus and episkenion, pinakes, and thyromata -- The Iogeion -- Hellenistic Priene -- Viruvius' Greek theatre -- Perspective and scenic items -- 4. THE ROMAN THEATRE -- Graeco-Roman theatres -- Paved orchestras -- Terence, Plautus, and Menander -- Pompey's theatre -- The Theatre of Marcellus -- Mass concrete and the frons scaenae -- Aspendos, the Colosseum, and amphitheatres -- 5. CHURCHES, PLACES, AND PAGEANTS -- Circular rounds -- The Quem Quaeritis trope -- Resurrection and Jeu d'Adam -- Brunelleschi and the Mystery of Elche -- The Martyrdom of S. Apollonia -- Mansions and 'places' -- The Cornish Ordinalia -- Valenciennes -- The Mysteries of Villingen and Lucerne -- Scaffolds and pageants -- Ballet Comique de la Reyne -- Medieval manor houses -- Penshurst -- 6. CLASSICAL REBIRTH AND THE PERSPECTIVE SCENE -- Roman Academies -- Revivals of Terence and Plautus -- Vitruvius and Sebastiano Serlio -- Mansions and the perspective scene -- Palladio and the Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza -- Scamozzi and Sabbioneta -- Nicola Sabbattini -- The Commedia dell'Arte -- 7. FRENCH TENNIS COURTS, PARTERRES, AND AMPHITHEATRES -- The Confrèrie de la Passion and the Hôtel de Bourgogne -- Parterres, loges, and amphitheatres -- Tennis-court theatres -- Mahelot and the Comédiens du Roi -- The Théâtre du Marais -- 8. BULLS, BEARS, AND ACTORS: THE ELIZABETHAN STAGE -- James Burbage and The Theatre -- Bull-and bear-baiting yards -- De Witt and the Swan -- 'My lord's room' -- The Globe, the Fortune, and the Hope -- The second Globe -- Doors, windows, and discovery spaces -- Indoor theatres and the Blackfriars -- 9. CHANGEABLE SCENES AND COURT MASQUES -- Scene changes -- Wings and shutters -- Aleotti and the Teatro Farnese -- Machines and wing carriages -- Inigo Jones and grooves -- Florimène -- An unknown theatre -- The Cockpit-in-Court -- The revived frons scaenae and the doors of entry -- 10. PUBLIC THEATRES AND OPERA HOUSES -- Italian opera houses -- SS. Giovanni e Paolo -- Scenic devices -- Torelli and Vigarani in Paris -- Deep vista stages -- Salles des Machines -- D'Orbay's Comédie Française -- 11. THE RESTORATION PLAYHOUSE AND THE FAN-SHAPED AUDITORIUM -- Restoration playhouses -- Davenant and Killigrew -- Tennis-court theatres -- Lincoln's Inn Fields -- First Theatre Royal, Drury Lane -- Wren's Drury Lane -- Alterations by Garrick and Adam -- Fan-shaped auditoria -- Shepherd's Covent Garden -- 12. SCENIC SPECTACLE AND CIVIC PRIDE -- Scenes and theatres of the Bibiena family -- Teatro Scientifico, Mantua -- Margravine's Opera House, Bayreuth -- The Manoel Theatre, Malta -- La Scala, Milan -- Private boxes and the Old Price Riots -- Queen's Theatre and Holland's Covent Garden -- Drottningholm and scenic machines -- 13. SAFETY AND ACOUSTICS -- Eighteenth-century problems of safety and acoustics -- Soufflot's theatre at Lyons -- Victor Louis' Grand Theatre, Bordeaux -- Saunders's Treatise on Theatres -- Ledoux's theatre at Besançon -- Holland's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane -- Spectacle and declamation -- 14. THE PROVINCIAL THEATRE -- Circuit theatres -- The Georgian Theatre, Richmond, Yorks -- Loughborough, Wisbech and North Walsham -- From rectangular to U-shaped auditoria -- Development of the Theatre Royal, Ipswich -- The Theatre Royal, Bristol -- 15. SOUND, VISION, ECONOMICS, AND THE PICTURE FRAME -- Wyatt's Drury Lane -- The Theatre Royal, Bury St. Edmunds -- The circular auditorium and picture frames -- Rising costs and 'Orchestral Stalls' -- Social problems of theatre design -- The Theatre Royal, Leicester -- 16. MACHINES AND FLY TOWERS -- The English wooden stage at Leicester -- Machinery at Bath. Fly towers and fire curtains -- Counterweight flying systems -- Paris Opera House -- Scene stores -- Dresden Opera House and Vienna Court Theatre -- 17. A RETURN TO THE FAN-SHAPED AUDITORIUM -- Bayreuth Opera House -- Continental seating -- People's Theatre, Worms -- Community spirit -- Forestages -- 18. REALISM AND STAGE MECHANICS -- Iron and mechanical power -- The Asphaleia stage -- Buda-Pest Opera House -- The Auditorium Building, Chicago -- Limitations of machinery -- Drury Lane bridges -- Scenic realism and box settings -- Revolving stages in Munich -- Brandt's Reform Stage -- 19. LIGHTING AND SKY DOMES -- Oil, gas, and electric lighting -- Adolph Appia and Mario Fortuny -- Skycloths and cycloramas -- The Schauspielhaus, Dresden -- Mobile stages -- Direct and diffused light -- Plastic setting and revolving stages -- Mobile platforms -- Ziegfeld Theatre, New York -- Limitations of mechanical devices -- Front scenes and forestages -- 20. ADAPTABLE AUDITORIA -- Multi-purpose buildings -- Mobile pit floors, walls and ceiling units -- Covent Garden and Leicester Opera House -- Adaptable audience capacities -- The Chicago Auditorium -- 21. SHAKESPEARIAN REVIVALS AND THE INTIMATE THEATRE -- Early Shakespearian reconstructions: Dusseldorf, Munich, William Poel, Max Krüger, and Nugent Monck -- The Shakespearian Festival Theatre, Ashland, Oregon -- The Arts Theatre, Munich, and the Relief Stage -- Gordon Craig -- The amateur movement and 'little theatres' -- The Little Theatre, New York -- The Little Theatre, London -- 22. ACTOR AND AUDIENCE IN A SINGLE SPACE -- Reinhardt's Grosses Schauspielhaus -- Spiritual unity of actors and audience -- Norman Bel Geddes and 'Theatre No. 6' -- Terence Gray and the Festival Theatre, Cambridge -- Settings of mood rather than realism -- 23. THE PICTURE-FRAME THEATRE OF THE 'THIRTIES -- Frank Matcham's Palace of Varieties, Leicester -- Reconstruction of the 1930 Adelphi Theatre -- The Oxford Playhouse -- Forestages and the London Theatre Studio -- The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre -- Fan-shaped auditoria, balconies, and forestages -- 24. THE NON-EXISTENT PROSCENIUM OPENING -- The Belgrade, Coventry -- Reintroduction of side and rear boxes -- The Forum, Billingham -- Eden Court and the Barbican -- Design changes reflected in the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre -- 25. THE OPEN STAGE -- Adolph Appia and the Festival Auditorium, Hellerau -- Copeau and the Vieux Colombier -- Permanent architectural settings -- Reinhardt's Redoutensaal, Vienna -- The Mermaid, Blackfriars -- Fire regulations and the open stage -- Front-of-house lighting -- La Junta High School Theatre -- 26. THREE-SIDED THRUST STAGES -- Guthrie's Thrie Estaitis -- The Festival Theatre, Stratford, Ontario -- Limitations of production patterns -- Sight-line problems -- The Festival Theatre, Chichester -- Tyrone Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis -- 27. THE PICTORIAL THRUST STAGE -- Civic Theatre, Malmo -- Flexible auditoria -- Problems of scenic machinery -- Sarah Lawrence College, New York -- 28. THEATRES IN THE ROUND -- Okhlopkov's Realistic Theatre and Mother -- The Penthouse Theatre, Seattle -- The Playhouse and Alley Theatre, Houston -- S. Erasmo, Milan -- Circular, octagonal, and rectangular stages -- Casa Manana, Fort Worth -- Victoria Theatre, Stoke on Trent -- Royal Exchange, Manchester -- Norman Bel Geddes and 'Theatre No. 14' -- Problems of 'in-the-round' production -- 29. FLEXIBLE THEATRES -- Royce Hall, California -- The Ring Theatre, Miami -- Corn Exchange, Leicester -- Studio One, Baylor University, Waco, Texas -- The Loeb Drama Center, Harvard University -- Computers and winches -- National Theatre, Mannheim -- The Questors, Ealing -- The Bolton Octagon -- The Waco Civic Theatre -- 30. EXPERIMENTAL DRAMA STUDIOS -- St. Mary's, Twickenham -- First Studio and Vandyck Studio, Bristol University -- Norman Bel Geddes's 'large empty room' -- George Izenour's Yale project -- Manual and mechanical adaptations -- The Loeb Drama Center -- Midland, Texas -- 31. COURTYARD THEATRES -- Reconstruction of the Fortune Theatre, University of Western Australia, Perth -- Christ's Hospital Arts Centre, Horsham -- The Georgian and tennis-court prototypes -- The Cottesloe, National Theatre -- 32. THE OPEN PICTURE STAGE -- The Kalita Humphreys Theater, Dallas -- Integration of stage and auditorium -- Restrictions imposed by positive architectural forms -- The Haymarket, Leicester -- Fire curtains and audience participation -- The Olivier, National Theatre -- Sight-liens and wide stages -- Flying systems -- 33. THE SINGLE-CHAMBER THEATRE -- The amateur theatre in the United States -- Midland, Texas -- Multi-purpose uses of single-chamber theatres -- Projected backgrounds as an integrated architectural feature -- Western Springs, Illinois -- Intimate relationship of audience and three-dimensional actors in a scenic setting -- Conclusions -- Notes to the Illustrations -- Bibliography -- Index.
Also issued online.
Library has paper edition.

Summary:

"Richard Leacroft's earlier book, The Development of the English Playhouse, has become recognised as the most authoritative and informative book in its field - particularly noted for its unique isometric 'cut-away' drawings affording a highly accurate three-dimensional impression of both the inside and the outside of the theatre at the same time. Now Leacroft, working with his wife Helen, herself a writer and historian, presents a survey of the development of theatre building from its very beginnings in Ancient Greece and Rome, through the Middle Ages, the theatres of Molière and Shakespeare, the coming of changeable scenery, its growth into scenic spectacle all over Europe, the experimental theatre shapes of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, right up to the highly mechanised theatres of today. The text is accompanied by over 300 photographs and drawings, many of them again by Leacroft himself. The result is a unique one-volume account of the development of those buildings which have housed one of the most ancient and still most lively of performing arts - the theatre." -- Back Cover.

ISBN:

0413529304
9780413529305
0413529401 (pbk.)
9780413529404 (pbk.)

Subject:

Theater architecture.
Architecture des théâtres.
Theaters Construction History.
Theatres Architectural design, to 1982

Added entries:

Leacroft, Helen.
Methuen paperback.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 120101
Call No.: ID:85-B20272
Status: Available