THEATRE ARCHITECTURE

Theatre Architecture



Theatre Architecture

Introduction

Looking at the performance space conceptually as being part of a performance cultural park made it easier to understand and bring into being. Although the location was later moved from near the county cultural centre to near the park in downtown Yilan City, the finished structure still feels like part of a cultural park. The proposed proscenium stage, however, evoked more controversy. A compromise was reached, and the stage ended up being a cross between an open thrust stage and a proscenium stage. (Earl 2007:116-7)

Chapter 1: Performance Spaces in Theatre and Architecture

Proscenium stages came into vogue in the 17th century in continental Europe. With this kind of stage, the audience views a performance as through a picture frame, which allows sets, lighting and other theatrical properties to be used to greater effect. Proscenium stages represented the dominant form of theatre construction in the West from the 17th to the 19th centuries, and with the spread of Western theatre proscenium stages began to be found around the world. They began to be widely used even in Asian nations, where theatrical traditions are very different from the West. Eventually, this type of theatre construction dropped roots and became part of the local "tradition." (Ward 2007:74-95)

The first important theatres in Taiwan were built during the early Japanese era, and here too the proscenium stage was the dominant form. For decades, Taiwanese performing arts groups, regardless of type or size, have become accustomed to the proscenium stage-so that some cannot even function on other kinds of stages. (McDonald 2003:16-26)

Open stage, open to interaction

There is no absolute standard for stage design, and no two stages are exactly the same. What's most important is that plans for a performance space consider the locale's cultural ecology and have a feel for its artistic pulse. During the planning of the Yilan Performing Arts Centre, the Executive Yuan announced its intention to construct a national highway between Taipei and Yilan. The road would cut through Mt. Xue and reduce travel time between the two cities to one hour, less than half the time required on the Taipei-Yilan Highway or the coastal highway. The road brought Yilan into the greater Taipei metropolitan area and altered Yilan's cultural ecology.

As in many other counties and cities in Taiwan, the performing arts in Yilan are built around traditional social networks, and the most common performance groups are dramatic troupes of one form or another (including opera). Whether performing luantan operas, gezai (Hoklo Taiwanese) operas or plays, and whether performing indoor or outdoor, the stage sets, costumes and music of these troupes are all quite traditional, and the relationships between the performers and the audience and among members of the audience have always been intimate and harmonious. In comparison to Taipei, Yilan had long been viewed as a remote agricultural county, undeveloped in terms of commerce and industry and with very little culture to speak of. During the political, social and cultural upheavals of the 1980s, the county appeared ...