ABSTRACT
The auditorium is the most important part of any theatre. The design of this space holds the key to the scale, form and layout of the whole building. As the engine room that drives the theatre machine – it has to be right. This section explores the factors that need to be considered. It looks at the crucial relationship between performers and audience and how this is interpreted to serve different styles of production and different art forms. It also looks at the practical issues of getting the audience to their seats, ensuring that they can see and hear what is being presented, and that they are both comfortable and safe. As modern performance practice has evolved so has theatre design. A wider range of formats has emerged, each suited to different art forms and differing presentational styles. In many ways a review of auditorium design during the course of the latter half of the twentieth century can be seen as a quest to break free from the restrictions imposed by the proscenium
format – the division between the world of the actor and that of the audience. This led to exploration of shared ‘open space’ and a preoccupation with the degree to which the audience encircled the stage. At the same time, changes in society encouraged theatre designers to create more egalitarian and democratic layouts. These developments were also allied to ideas such as ‘the point of command’ (the focal point of interaction between a performer and the audience) and the creation of spaces that could deal simultaneously with epic and intimate theatre. Technological advances also have an influence, offering directors opportunities for experimentation and theatre designers scope to extend the uses to which a single space can be put.
