open air theaters
Greek theater buildings were called theatron (place of seeing). Theaters were large open-air structures built into the sides of hills. They consisted of three main elements: the orchestra, the skene and the audience.
The centerpiece of the theater was the orchestra, or "dance place", a large circular or rectangular area. Choral performances, religious rites and, possibly, acting were held in the orchestra. In the center of the orchestra there was an altar; in Athens, the altar was dedicated to Dionysus.
Behind the "orchestra" was a large rectangular building called a "skene" (meaning "tent" or "hut"). It was used as a "backstage" area where actors could change costumes and masks, but it also served to represent the location of the plays, which were usually located in front of a palace or a house. Typically, there were two or three doors in the skene that opened onto the orchestra, and from which the actors could enter and exit. At first, the skene was literally a tent or hut, which was set up for the religious festival and dismantled when it was over. The skene was later converted into a permanent stone structure. These structures were sometimes painted to serve as a backdrop. A nearby temple, especially on the right side of the scene, is almost always part of the Greek theater complex, which could justify, as a transposition, the recurrence of the pediment with the subsequent solidified stone scene.[3].
In front of the skene there may have been a raised performance area called the proskenion, predecessor of the modern proscenium stage. It is possible that the actors (as opposed to the chorus) performed entirely on the proskenion, but this is not certain.
The audience emerged from the orchestra circle. The public sat on rows of benches built into the side of a hill. Therefore, Greek theaters could only be built on hills that had suitable shapes. A typical theater was very large, seating about 15,000 spectators.
Greek theaters were not surrounded by walls; The audience could see each other and the surrounding landscape as well as the actors and the chorus.
The Romanoss copied the Greek style of construction, but did not tend to worry as much about the location, being willing to build walls and terraces rather than seeking a natural location.
The auditorium (literally "place of hearing" in Latin) was the area where people gathered, and was sometimes built on a small hill or slope on which stacked seats could easily be made, following the tradition of Greek theaters. The central part of the auditorium was hollowed into a hill or slope, while the outer radial seating required structural support and solid retaining walls. Of course, this was not always the case, as the Romans tended to build their theaters regardless of the availability of hillsides. All theaters built in the city of Rome were completely man-made, without the use of earthworks. The auditorium did not have a roof, but awnings (sail) could be placed above to protect from rain or sunlight.[4].
Some Roman theatres, built of wood, were demolished once the festival for which they were built was over. This practice was due to a moratorium on permanent theatrical structures that lasted until 55 BC. C., when the Theater of Pompey was built with the addition of a temple to avoid the law. Some Roman theaters show signs of never having been completed in the first place.[5].
Within Rome, few theaters have survived the centuries following their construction, providing little evidence about specific theatres. The Arausio"), the theater in modern-day Orange (Vaucluse), France, is a good example of a classical Roman theatre, with an indented scaenae frons, reminiscent of the designs of Western Roman theatres, although the more ornamental structure is missing. The Arausio") still stands today and, with its striking structural acoustics and having rebuilt its seats, can be considered a marvel of Roman architecture.[4].
During the Elizabethan era in England, theaters were built with wooden frames, filled with wattle and mud, and roofed with thatch. Most theaters were completely open air. They consisted of several floors of covered galleries that surrounded a patio open to the elements. A large part of the audience was located in the patio, directly in front of the stage. This provision is said to derive from the practice of holding plays in the courtyard of an inn. Archaeological excavations at The Rose (theatre) in London's Bankside, built in 1587, have shown that it had an outside diameter of 22 metres. The nearby Globe Theater (1599) was larger, at 30 metres. Other evidence of the round shape is a line in Shakespeare's Henry V calling the building "this wooden O", and several illustrations woodcuts of the city of London.
Around this time, the "green room", a place for actors to wait until required on stage, became common terminology in English theatres.
Today, the Globe has been rebuilt as a fully functioning and producing theater near its original site (largely through the efforts of film director Sam Wanamaker) to give modern audiences a taste of the environment for which Shakespeare and other playwrights of the era wrote.
Indoor theaters
During the Renaissance, the first modern closed theaters were built in Italy. Its structure was similar to that of ancient theaters, with a cavea and an architectural set that represented a city street. The oldest surviving examples of this style are the Teatro Olimpico of Vicenza (1580) and the Teatro all'antica") of Sabbioneta (1590).
By the turn of the century theaters had moved indoors and began to resemble the arrangement we see most often today, with a stage separated from the audience by a proscenium arch. This coincided with a growing interest in scenic elements painted in perspective, such as those created by Inigo Jones, Nicola Sabbatini and the Galli da Bibiena family). The perspective of these elements could only be seen correctly from the center of the back of the auditorium, in the so-called "duke's chair".
The first closed theaters were court theaters, open only to sovereigns and the nobility. The first opera house open to the public was the Teatro San Cassiano (1637) in Venice. Italian opera houses were the model for later theaters throughout Europe.
Richard Wagner placed great importance on "setting" elements, such as a dark theater, sound effects and seating arrangements (lowering the orchestra pit), which focused the audience's attention on the stage, completely immersing them in the imaginary world of the musical drama. These concepts were revolutionary at the time, but have since become taken for granted in the modern operatic environment, as well as in many other types of theatrical endeavors.
Contemporary theaters are often non-traditional, such as highly adaptable spaces, or theaters in which the audience and performers are not separated. An important example of this is modular theater, especially the Walt Disney Modular Theater. This large theater has the floor and walls divided into small movable sections, with the floor sections on adjustable hydraulic pylons, so that the space can be adjusted to any configuration for each individual play. As new styles of theatrical performance have evolved, so has the desire to improve or recreate performance venues. This applies equally to artistic and presentation techniques, such as stage lighting.
Specific designs of contemporary live theaters include proscenium, thrust"), black box theater"), theater in the round"), amphitheater and arena. In Indian classical dance"), the Natya Shastra defines three types of stage. In Australia and New Zealand, a small, simple theatre, particularly one contained within a larger venue, is called a theatrette.[6] The word originated in 1920s London, to designate a small-scale music venue.[7].
Theatrical performances may also take place in venues adapted for other purposes, such as train carriages. In recent years the Edinburgh Fringe has seen performances in a Hover Car and in a taxi.