ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the 1872 incident as the overthrow of the baroque auditorium in order to establish a modernist paradigm of event-space: the now-familiar model of an austere fan-shaped auditorium. It returns to Wagner's Festival Theatre and his alternative ideas for a venue that stood in sharp contrast to the rigid and disciplinary form he established. The usually distracted spectators of the late 19th century were transformed into hushed listeners in the "temple" to Wagner's art. Wagner's ongoing predicament between controlling both audience's concentration and stage image while creating an open, responsive and inclusive community represents a quandary that theatre-makers continue to struggle with. Masquerading as democratic, Wagner's architecture demands "submissiveness": In actual fact, though, the "altruism" of Wagner's "democratic," darkened auditorium is a disguise. Like Wagner's theatre they utilized an architectural scenography to adapt the model of the classical outdoor stage for the cognoscenti.
