Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1980 - 31

~~~~~~~~~~~J_are_d_sa_'~m_an~Book
Theatre Profiles 4, David J. Skal, editor. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1979, ISBN 0-930452-07-0, xii, 276 pp., $12.95
paper.

One of the greatest services the Theatre Communications Group
has thus far rendered for the professional nonprofit theatre in this
country is its recently published Theatre Profiles 4. Its billing as '".4.
Resource Book of Nonprofit Professional Theatres in the United
States" seems to understate the work's scope and force. From its
dedication to Jules Irving to its last entry, a brief and careful description of TCG and its services, the work reflects the energy and careful
nurturing and growth of nonprofit theatres (and their audiences) nationwide. John Houseman's Introduction keynotes the essence of the
kind of theatre Profiles attempts to describe: a theatre which has
grown from 22 companies in 1960 to more than 160 in 85 cities and
towns; from limited and more-or-Iess coterie audiences (with notable
exceptions) to hundreds of thousands of viewers of over 39,000 performances this past year; from performance institutions to theatres
whose missions extend to special audiences, children, the handicapped, and seniors; whose creative areas recognize a widening
scope and variety of performance problems which place greater demands on actors' background and training; and a theatre which cares
for the creation and performance of new plays.
Theatre Profiles 4 chronicles this rich and variegated theatre in
simple, elegant terms. It says for our "national" professional theatre:
'"I am what I am, and I am alive!" Each of the 165 descriptions of the
theatre companies' ideals and activities speaks eloquently of the nature of the most important theatre in America today, that which is "not
just performance facilities or pieces of real estate operated for commercial advantage [but rather] institutions that have devised ways of
reaching out to their own special audiences by preparing and delivering an astounding number of programs and services for their communities." It is difficult not to underscore enough the impact of this
compendium about a unique institution: the wonderful multiplicity of
kinds of theatres in the U.S.
Essentially, Theatre Profiles 4 includes artistic, statistical and financial data on 165 theatres that have created a new American
theatre-a national theatre. The information appears nowhere else. It
is presented tastefully and clearly, with absolutely no pretense, which
makes the work so disarming. Included is a listing of artistic and administrative directors, pertinent addresses and phone numbers, a
statement of artistic intent, a listing of productions of the past two
seasons, performance schedules, ratios of earned and unearned income, the paid percentage of capacity seating, number of subscribers, contacts for booking and touring, facilities descriptions,
other pertinent information.
An expanded section of appendices includes a compilation of directors, dramatists, and designers; a chronology of nonprofit
theatres; comparative tables of off-stage programs and community
services; a regional index; and a full index of names and titles.
This gem of a book is topped off with almost 400 production photos
which display the nature and variety of production of the representative companies. John Houseman's statement about the work is apt:
"A valuable documentation of one of the most remarkable and encouraging cultural phenomena of our time."
Robert Zyromski

Lake Erie College

Stage Lighting, revised edition, by Richard Pilbrow. New York:
Drama Book Specialists (Publishers), 1979. ISBN 0-89676-005-7,
179 pp., illus., $17.50 cloth.

There may be a few readers of TD& Twho are not familiar with Richard Pilbrow's classic introduction to the art of lighting design. The
book may be briefly described as an analysis and description of the
process of creating living light for the living theatre. It is not a technical treatise, and this is reflected in the ratio of 133 pages devoted to
design versus twenty-nine pages to mechanics. You will search this
book in vain for mention of initial lumens, color temperature, or anamorphic lenses. You will find pages devoted to Richard Pilbrow's descriptions of his approaches to some of the many artistic problems he
has faced in his distinguished career as a lighting designer.
The new edition is substantially unchanged from the original,
which, after eight years of enormous technical advance, is still one of

Reviews

the principal books on lighting design for the theatre. The revised edition has been expanded with twenty-four new pages of text and color
photographs. The section on repertory lighting, with contributions by
William Bundy, has been enlarged, and includes a brief description of
the lighting facilities at the new National Theatre in London. There is a
new section on "multi-screen" projection, with elegant color illustrations. Chapter 10, "Tomorrow", has been completely rewritten in light
of eight years of continuous technical advance. It should be required
reading for all equipment manufacturers!
If you are seriously interested in lighting, directing, or teaching
theatre, and didn't get a copy of the original, then take advantage of
its return to the repertory in a slightly restaged version. It will certainly
last another eight years of technical advancement.
David Mardon

Halifax, Canada

Design for Ballet by Mary Clarke and Clement Crisp. New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1978, ISBN 0-8015-2020-7, 288 pp., illus., $45.00
cloth.
Design for Ballet is a lavishly illustrated survey of five hundred
years of ballet design. Beginning with a consideration of the elaborate
court spectacles of the fourteenth century, out of which ballet
evolved, Clarke and Crisp deal with the major designers and stylistic
movements that have manifested themselves in ballet design.
The book follows a historical chronology and is divided into six
chapters: Renaissance Spectacle; From Court to Theatre; Rococo;
Neoclassical; Romantic; The Diaghilev Era; After Diaghilev; and Designing Today. Over half of the book is devoted to ballet design in the
twentieth century: from the Ballets Russes through the mid-1970's.
This is by far the most cogent portion of the text where the authors
outline the impact of the Ballets Russes on the development of national dance companies around the world.
Unfortunately the text is of little value to the scholar or serious student of dance design and may be confusing to the general reader. Because of the size of the topic, the text suffers from excessive generalizations. The authors seem to be overwhelmed by the amount of
material they have to deal with and have failed to find a satisfactory
tone or focus for the text.
Quoted sources are casually handled by internal citations but the
citations are frequently incomplete or annoyingly not provided. Inconsistencies are also present in the transliteration of Russian names.
Nicholas Roerich, who designed the first production of The Rite of
Spring, appears as Nikolay Rerikh although familiar spellings of other
Russian designers such as Benois and Bakst are preserved. More seriously, the bibliography is very slim considering the breadth of the
subject matter and a majority of the sources are either secondary or
tertiary works.
The authors offer little original analysis and all too often parrot conventional interpretations of designers' work in the most superficial
manner. In discussing Andre Derain's designs for the 1921 Diaghilev
production of La Boutique Fantasque Clarke and Crisp write, "Andre
Derain's fauve style was tamed in the service of this enchanting ballet." This is patently false. Derain had abandoned his fauve style long
before he was commissioned to design La Boutique Fantasque. The
limited palatte of colors and primitive style Derain employed in his designs directly mirrored post-war developments in his art and were typical of the "new classicism" that prevailed in the arts after World War
I. Clarke and Crisp display little knowledge of art history and their design analysis consistently suffers because of it.
The shortcomings of the text are made up for, to a certain extent,
by the illustrations. The book contains 237 black and white illustrations and 32 in color, many of which have not been reproduced before. The illustrations include set renderings, models, costume
sketches and production photographs, many of them full-stage shots.
This is an excellent representative sampling of international dance design culled from other publications, museums and private collections.
The quality of graphic reproduction is superior and the format is large.
The captions accompanying the illustrations are concise and the authors make an effort to coordinate the discussion in the text with the
placement of illustrations in the book.
Like many expensively produced design books, Design for Ballet
fails to match the brilliance of its graphic material with an appropriately strong text. At the same time, the book is valuable as the most
comprehensive presentation of ballet design assembled to date.
Robert C. Hansen

Bowling Green State University

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1980