Staging: All the world s a stage H070 H470 Topic Topic Title Title
Staging All the world s a stage
Amphitheatre
Amphitheatre Also known as Arena. Large performance space. Audience in Semi-Circle with tiered seating. Ancient Greek form of staging that started in the 5thCentury BC then became Roman also. FACT: The biggest Amphitheatre is in Athens and seats 15,000 which is the same as a Championship football ground!
Advantages and Disadvantages Great for outdoors. Great for musicals/rock concerts. Great for large casts and epic performances. Great for large scenery, some lighting, sound and special effects. Great for a football crowd feel! Hard to create a bond between the audience because of the distance. Outdoor staging you have to rely on weather. Acoustics can cause difficulties. Lighting complications.
Thrust Theatre
Thrust Theatre A stage with audience on 3 sides. Derived from the era Shakespeare during Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. Where social & economic division started in theatre Galleries were where wealthy people sat showing there high status.
Advantages and Disadvantages Great for large scale productions. The Globe theatre More intimate as actors are closer to the audience and surrounded by them. Large items of set are able to be used upstage without interfering with sightlines Most plays work well in this staging. Props/furniture cause sightline problems, blocking needs to be precise spiking is essential during the tech. Props plot is also essential. Actors have to relate to 3 sides to get interaction. Lighting plot needs to be more complex. Entrances/Exits/Wings need to be thought out because of sightlines The stage floor is a vital part of the set design because of the audience seating. Scene changes have to be done in front of the audience.
Proscenium Arch
Proscenium Arch In the late 17th Century until early 20th Century it became the standard form of staging for most theatres in Britain. In the west end and older regional theatre the theatres retain their dividing line. Arch is built to accommodate the curtain. Picture Frame effect for audience with single view like television viewing. Audience or the stage is always raked. Old days the curtain was always dropped for scene changes but rarely in modern theatre.
Advantages and Disadvantages Audiences are comfortable as this is the most familiar staging. Sense of us and them creates realism. Realistic sets easy to create the 4th wall is removed the illusion of reality is created. Blocking is easier with entrances and exits. Technical effects are easier to achieve. Most types and scales of performance can be successful. Difficult for an audience to become heavily involved. Realism can be hard to create as they have a fourth wall. Blocking needs to ensure it isn t too linear in performance and no one has there back to the audience. Furniture needs to be placed with the audience in mind good plot and spike during tech rehearsal. Sightlines. Blocking needs to be natural but ensuring that the audience can see all that is going on. Example of the family dinner table.
In the round
In the round Means The audience surrounds the stage. Doesn t necessarily need to be round but audience need to be all the way around the performing area to be in the round. The stage is at floor level with raked audience all the way around similar to amphitheatre but all four sides not semi-circular. Few theatres with main houses that are designed for in the round performances but some can adapt. Most studio theatres are designed to be able to adapt to an in the round performance.
Advantages and Disadvantages Audience actor bond is strong and intimate because the actors are close to the audience. Impossible to have a realistic set in the round enhances imagination watching. Audience has to create a sense of environment themselves. Naturalistic performance as you ll have your back to someone at some stage. Scene changes can happen as part of the performance by cast or stage management in costume. Similar to thrust issues but even more so! Unless you can raise the audience you will struggle with sightline problems. Realism can t be used with this set. Harder restrictions for designers of set, lighting & sound. Restrictions on placing furniture and focus of lights. Blocking has to be highly accurate because of performing to 4 sides. Actors can be subtle having audience all around.
Traverse Stage
Traverse Stage Also so known as Theatre in the Corridor It s a corridor between two blocks of audience. It s a very uncommon type of stage form. Few theatres are built to accommodate this exclusively. Traverse theatre Edinburgh, although its retained it s name it how has a new building and stages in other forms.
Advantages and Disadvantages Audience uses imagination due to set restrictions like in the round. Use doors/walls to create a corridor feel with interfering with sightlines. Simple form to create in a studio theatre. Good staging for small audiences. Scene changes have to be carried out in full view of the audience. Good for enabling use of movement causing swift changes of location in a fast paced play. Suitable only for a relatively small audience although there are exceptions. Audience ideally needs to be raked in tiers like a catwalk which can be hard to create. Using each extreme end of the stage can create problems for audience sightlines and can cause a Wimbledon effect for the audience which is wearing. During scene changes, blocking usually means one set of actors has to exit one end & the new cast/new scene comes on from the other end to start.
Promenade Theatre
Promenade Theatre Audience and performers occupy the same space. Audience follow the performers from one area to the next. Usually no seating It s a rare form of theatre that has developed in the last 20 years. Usually performed in large spaces although fringe theatres use this effectively.
Advantages and Disadvantages Staged simply and cheaply usually. Exciting form of staging that has a real sense of community. Audience usually incorporated into the performance. Lighting is used to point where action is moving to. Difficult to rehearse with so much audience participation. Audience may be hard to control may have to have an invited audience to rehearsals. Lighting is complex because of glare into the audience. Sound design is difficult placing of speakers needs a lot of thought. H&S nightmare trailing cables, trips hazards etc. Shorter members of the audience have to be thought of as they are disadvantaged. Disabled audience members have to be considered.
Non Conventional Theatre
Non Conventional Theatre Have you heard of any of these or have you maybe seen some of these? Created in the late 20th/21st Century. Interest has grown since the Edinburgh fringe festival. Locations that can be used: Car Park, Public Toilet, Restaurant etc.
Advantages and Disadvantages Unusual and exciting. Unique theatre no two performances will be the same. Very site specific. Very imaginative. Public might not appreciate it s a performance in public. Technical challenges if you need to use them. Limited Audiences. Costume changes, entrance and exit problems. Look around the school can you identify areas where non-conventional theatre can take place?
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