Theatre Design & Technology - Dec 1965 - 5

II H1I 11",

7~~~~~'f II II II II .lill.lit
*

Figure 2: (above) Theatre Design Based on Mathemotical
Principles. From P. Potte, ESSAI SUR L'ARCHITECTURE (Poris, 1782). (courtesy the Bostan Public
Library)
(below) Space Theatre, Designed by Hugh Hardy. The
variation

heights

shown supposes
at any number of

"platforms

positions

ot different
within holl."

(courtes"! ARCHITECTURAL RECORD)

trolled dimmer boards and astounding spreads of
canvas or plaster cycloramas: all were wild pursuits
of mechanical perfection, enabling staggering productions to be mounted, and a II perfectly realistic.
Mountains of scenery and acres of wagons proliferated to fi II the gap left by the abandonment of
presentational staging, unti I theatre projects of the
late '20's envisioned mechanical stages in rings
(completely surrounding the audience), upon which a
cinematic progression of scenes could be shown,
ad Infinitum, until audiences were stupifi ed. The
size and style of these theatres was the envy of
technical personnel elsewhere, but had little influence upon theatre architecture in this country because of the vast sums involved both in construction
and in production. In the years following the '20's,
only one theatre designed in the United States came
near imitating the type common in Germany: that of
the State University of Iowa (Figure 4.). The complete
complex was never builti but, until recently, Iowa's
100 plus feet of clear offstage space was the largest
of its kind on this side of the Atlantic
The amusing lesson from all this technical magnificence was that plays written in Germany during the
period have been produced successfully elsewhere
without such elaboration. The lesson was lost, however, for the unique opportunity afforded the Germans
by the destruction of their theatres during the second
Great War was never seized. All but a few of the new
German provincial playhouses are even more elaborate versions of the ones that precede them, with
revolves even bigger and hydraulic systems even
more complex. This infatuation with machinery resembles the universal love of the Nineteenth Century, when plays were so bad. Is German taste really
so debased, or is this simply one more attempt to
flesh outa very thin concept of theatre?
Love of mechanical manipulation and sleight of hand
cannot be laid entirely at the door of the Germans.
The Soviets included in their culture-palaces of the
'20's and '30's all the latest technical practices.
Even the English, who should know better, have
pointed to German theatres as worthy of emulation.
We in the Un ited States have been prevented on Iy
by lack of funds from following their exomple. Recent
participation of municipal and state governments,
however, has changed the picture. State funds are
now beginning to pour into "educational" enterprises so vast that students no longer have the
abilityor time torun them. Staffs also do not increase
in any proporti on to the en larged bu i Id ings iSO, wh i Ie
theatres are now being provided, it is almost impossible to mount productions comparable to those
common abroad - which is perhaps just as well.

Figure 3: Theatre Project far a People's Theatre of 4,000
Seats, ca. 1886, by Alahanse Gosset. From DARMST ADTER GESPRACH 1955,/(courtesy Verlag Neue
Darmstadter Verlagsanstolt}

DECEMBER 1965

The mechanical stage is envisioned as being borne
on the wave of the future, so planners are encouraged
to take proper advantage of our truly amazing developments in electro-mechanics. Surely, theatre in
the space-age may finally be justifiable if suitably
embellished with great organ-like consoles of buttons, the operation of which must necessarily be

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