Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Design Review: Volume 2, Issue 5 (February-March 1950)

Book Review

page 110

Book Review

Theatres and Auditoriums: Harold Burris-Meyer and Edward C. Cole. Progressive Architecture Library. Supplied by Technical Books Ltd, Wellington.

This book impresses tremendously; its scope is vast, and its presentation excellent, but undoubtedly its chief merit lies in the stress its authors have placed on an analytical approach to problems of the theatre. Those who seek ready-made solutions or a stock formula to apply to theatre design or theatrical production will be disappointed — the book does not say “this is how to build a modern theatre” or “this is how a play should be produced.” Rather, it surveys the contemporary scene, analyses the problems, and provides critical and constructive comment together with a wealth of purely technical information. The rest is left to the designer or the producer.

The qualifications which the authors bring to their task are also impressive. They are both “theatre consultants” with many years practical and teaching experience in the field of music, dramatic production, acoustics and audio engineering, theatre planning and management. They are not architects and are clearly content to analyse the functions and suggest basic requirements as to form, size, and equipment in the hope that theatres and auditoriums may be more intelligently planned. They make no attempt to assume the architect's rôle of imparting a satisfactory aesthetic content to theatre building, but one might be rash enough to say that if their analyses are studied and applied by a capable designer a satisfactory aesthetic must result.

A large pan of such a book must necessarily be used principally for reference, and the diagrams, data tables and illustrations are set out clearly with this in view. Possibly the book is over-tabulated and one occasionally sees the frightening hand of the super-specialist. For instance, a table headed “Intermission Routine” informs us that the average time in the lavatory line at the opera is 1 minute and rather pointlessly adds that the optimum time is o minutes.

The views of the authors on influences in the theatre which will make changing demands on theatre buildings are of interest. They mention the “liberation of the performance from the proscenium arch,” but warn against over emphasizing architecturally a unity of performance and audience in view of what they consider is a basic duality — the action of the performers and the reaction of the audience. They also refer, to the trend towards abstractionalism in scenery and the attempt to reduce scenery to the elements of pure design, and are careful to point out that there has been ample opportunity in the course of the theatre's twenty-five hundred years for scenery to be eliminated entirely and the fact that it has not been probably indicates that it is important to the theatre. Reactionary trends which are currently noticeable also receive mention — notably the revolt from strong realism which calls for a return of “poetry and romance,” and the acceptance of the idea that to be most effective theatre must be frankly artificial.

The authors are emphatic that none of these trends alone will dominate the future theatre, and maintain that theatre as an art form is broad enough to encompass and nurture them all. They insist, however, that theatre as an architectural form must be capable of housing them all, and therein, one feels, lies a great challenge to the contemporary architect.

A.L.G.
page 111 page break