Central and Flexible Staging: A New Theater in the Making [Reprint 2020 ed.] 9780520345966

Citation preview

Central and Flexible Staging

Central and Flexible Staging A New Theater in the Making by Waiden P. Boyle drawings by John H. Jones

B E R K E L E Y AND L O S A N G E L E S

•

UNIVERSITY

PRESS

OF

CALIFORNIA

1956

University of California Press

• Berkeley and Los Angeles

Cambridge University Press

• London, England

Copyright, 1956, by The Regents of the University of California Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 56-5301 Designed by John B. Goetz

This book by Walden Boyle carries me back to another one, Continental Stagecraft, in which I shared the authorship with Robert Edmond Jones. I'm afraid we never put the case against the peepshow stage, the fourth-wall theater, as well as Brooks Atkinson did at the time when Margo Jones's polemic Theatrein-the-Round appeared: "How did we ever get saddled in New York [he might have said in the whole Occidental world] with the rigid proscenium stage which assumes that everyone is going to write like Ibsen and Pinero, and that Romeo and Juliet cannot be staged without $60,000 worth of scenery and twenty-four sweating stagehands?" Oppressed, perhaps, by a feeling that we were dangerous radicals, we came out with no such blast as Atkinson's with its description of Broadway stages as "merely holes in the wall of an auditorium." Of what we saw in Europe and in our mind's eye, Jones and I liked best the curtainless stage of Copeau and the arena playhouse that, in our imagination, we made out of the one-ring Cirque Medrano, also in Paris. In that same year of 1922, T. Earl Pardoe, according to Margo Jones, created a theater-in-theround at Brigham Young University, and she traces the idea further back to a production by Azubah Latham in a gymnasium of Teachers College, New York, in 1914. Norman Bel Geddes drafted the plans for an arena theater in 1930, and Glenn Hughes brought one into active being for the University of Washington two years later. By the time Miss Jones had created her own version at Dallas in 1947, central staging had become a reality in perhaps fifty or sixty cities.

Today the idea of the theater-in-the-round has become so familiar that Boyle feels little need to attack the playhouse with a proscenium arch. Rather, he explains how small community groups can make a less expensive stage for themselves, and goes on to develop and document something that Atkinson pointed to in his review of Margo Jones's book. Much as that critic seemed to prefer the theater-in-the-round to the stage in the hole, Atkinson was rightly critical of the new form: "Wouldn't it be more practical if it ceased being arena staging and reverted to the classical forms in which the audience was seated on three sides."

FOREWORD

Vi

The arena theater has many virtues, as Boyle explains, but it has a weakness, too. It can become quite as stiff and limiting as the peephole playhouse. W e are in danger of leaping from one frozen form to another. Between them lies a better concept—the flexible theater. The flexible theater came into being in 1924 when Gilmor Brown and Ralph Freud turned a room in a California house into the prototype of the present Playbox in Pasadena. Okhlopkov gave Moscow a flexible theater in 1932. In 1942, when Freud was building up the drama curriculum of the University of California, Los Angeles, and found himself saddled with a 2,000-seat auditorium, he created out of a classroom a theater that could provide central staging and yet could be made over into half a dozen different forms. These ranged from end-staging, with or without a curtain, to the horseshoe-type that Atkinson suggested. And, as Freud's colleague at U C L A , Boyle had a great

deal to do with exploring and developing the possibilities of this kind of theater. Central and Flexible Staging may do three things for producing groups that cannot find or cannot afford a conventional theater. It shows how they can make their own playhouse quite economically; it shows, through a carefully developed and thorough text, well illustrated, how they can use such a playhouse; and thirdly—and perhaps this is even more important—it places the proper emphasis on the virtues of the flexible theater as against central staging. This very necessary book makes it clear that the permanent arena narrows the choice of dramatic material, renders the production of many fine plays ineffective or impossible, and finds its best fare—ironically enough—in the peephole dramas of Ibsen and the narrower realists. I hope that the people who may now be turning toward the creation of theaters-in-the-round will read this book before they freeze their new playhouses into a form as rigid as the structures that for three centuries have divided the actors from their audiences. Kenneth Macgowan

I

Views and Backgrounds

1

The Adaptation of a Space

17

III

Choice of Plays

31

IV

Floor Plans

43

V

Properties

58

Scenery and Set Pieces

67

Lighting

74

Costumes and Make-up

85

Acting

90

Direction and Planned Blocking

94

II

VI VII VIII IX X

Notes to Text Figures

115

Contents

I believe that good theater can be practiced everywhere, anywhere, at any time, at any place. This belief is borne out by the ever-increasing number of theater groups that are turning to central staging—usually defined as an acting space surrounded by spectators—or, and of more importance, some flexible variant of central staging, such as horseshoe staging—the audience on three sides—or " L " staging, in which the seats are arranged on two connecting sides of the playing area. And, because of changes in their ideas about play production, these groups are attaining their own theaters at relatively small cost. Many small community groups interested in play production feel themselves thwarted by the lack of what they consider a suitable playhouse. These groups undoubtedly think in terms of a conventional theater structure, with its elevated stage, formal proscenium, and related auditorium. Their concern, in other words, is about the physical adjuncts of theater rather than about theater itself. It is certainly true that most communities lack an unused theater building that can be taken over by a small group except at a prohibitive rental. Even the local high-school auditorium is usually unavailable because of the school's own activities there. I contend that these groups are thwarted because, more often than not, they are too well educated in one rather limiting form of theatrical staging—that of the picture-frame, peephole stage. This convention has been the accepted standard for more than a century, with the result that a great deal that would

Chapter I

Views and Backgrounds

VIEWS

AND

BACKGROUNDS

2

not fit the rigid mold has been denied actors, producers, dramatists, and the audience. Except in a few rows of expensive seats in a typical commercial theater, the playgoer must sit far back in the auditorium and attempt to fix his attention upon the action on a small, faraway stage (fig. 1 ) . He must watch actors who seem no more than two or three inches high, and he must try to hear all they are saying. All this is a considerable strain on both eyes and ears, and consequently many important lines and gestures are wasted on the majority of the audience in a conventional theater. The audience has not been given its rightful place in the theater, and it is only natural therefore that the demand for theater-across-the-footlights is waning. This kind of theater will, of course, never vanish, but it can never again be truly popular unless some step is taken to restore the proper actorspectator relationship—one in which the actor conveys the dramatic situation so vitally that the spectator may also play the drama (fig. 2 ) . The advocates of commercial theater seem to have overlooked another fact: a tremendous change has been occurring in the audience itself. Motion pictures, radio, and television have greatly changed the concentration and attention span of the average person. Formerly, he had been content to see tiny actors on a remote stage, and to strain his sight and hearing in an effort to establish a reasonable though remote actor-spectator relationship. Now he has either Gargantuan, overblown, more-than-lifesize figures parading before him

Fig. 1. At the Large Conventional Playhouse

Fig. 2. At the Central or Flexible Theater

Fig. 3. At the Motion-Picture Theater

VIEWS

AND

BACKGROUNDS

4

on the motion-picture screen or smaller figures on television, entertaining him in the comfort of his home. In both instances, mechanically amplified sound has removed the hindrance to hearing (fig. 3 ) . Now he can both see and hear without effort, and can truly "play the p l a y " without being uncomfortable. In spite of the advantages of these other media, the living theater under ideal conditions can offer a truer dramatic experience because of flesh-and-blood actors. For all these reasons I think that central and flexible staging should be carefully reexamined. I say "reexamined," because this method of theatrical presentation is not at all new. It has been disregarded and neglected for such a long time that it is often considered an innovation of the modern theater. Central or flexible staging is actually one of the oldest theatrical styles. In the early theater the play, the actors, and the audience were the primary concerns. Scenic and mechanical devices were used, of course, but only to enhance the drama, not to dominate it. The emphasis was first and foremost on the importance of the actor's conveying the drama directly to the playgoer with as little interference as possible. The primitive dancing circle is probably the earliest obvious example of central staging. An area for the performance was simply cleared in the midst of the assembled spectators. The early Greek theater (fig. 4 ) , which developed from the dancing circle, staged its plays in a nearly complete circle, and the entire area was used for the performances. The stations and wagon stages of

the medieval theater were flexible but limited in scope (fig. 5 ) . The Elizabethan popular theater used a form of "horseshoe" staging (fig. 6 ) , which gradually was changed through the eighteenth-century English theater into the formalized, conventional structure we know today. Among modern experimentalists and theorists who have attempted to restore the correctly focused actor-spectator relationship are Max Reinhardt, Adolphe Appia, Jacques Copeau, Vsevold Meierhold, and Nicolai Okhlopkov. Over a period of seventy-five years these men experimented with various forms of nonproscenium theatrical staging. They are directly responsible for the contemporary interest in central and flexible staging. One of the greatest of these experimentalists was Max Reinhardt ( 1 8 7 3 1943). Oliver Sayler has collected and edited a comprehensive series of articles under the title Max Reinhardt and His Theatre ( 1 9 2 4 ) . This book reveals the tremendous scope of Reinhardt's creativeness and versatility, from the little plays with casts of less than a half-dozen to the spectacle of his "Arena Theatre of the Five Thousand," the Grosses Schauspielhaus. VIEWS

AND

Although Reinhardt produced great spectacles as well as more intimate works in proscenium-bound theaters, he created some of his most interesting work in the converted Redoutensaal in Vienna, where the only stage properties were little more than a few carefully placed pieces of furniture. These productions were plays and operas in space, similar to many offered today

BACKGROUNDS

with central staging. Even more pertinent, however, to any discussion of m o d -

5

wmmmm ^mmm&mwM

ojliiwis

Fig. 4. The Greek Theater

Fig. 5. The Medieval Wagon Stage

IBL

mMÊk

WÈm

mâïv Fig. 6. The Elizabethan Theater

« K H I ¡Sits! ipgligp Fig. 7. The Théâtre du Vieux Colombier of Jacques Copeau

VIEWS AND BACKGROUNDS

8

ern central and flexible staging were Reinhardt's productions at the Grosses Schauspielhaus (fig. 8 ) . Rudolph Borchardt, discussing these productions in the Sayler collection, says that he became aware that the stage has attained once again its most primitive and basic character because it had been reduced to its essentials. Since each member of the audience must see all the action from wherever he may be seated, the stage "sacrifices its usual two-dimensional picture, which, as such, is visible only to him who faces it. It sacrifices the scenery and the fly galleries, and breaks up the old box arrangement altogether. It is no more a flat surface, but has the dimensions of things that live. The former conventional attributes, which made it so easy to give a certain style to the stage, exist no more. The stage has gone back to its beginnings." Here, the word "beginnings" carries no implication of crude primitivism. Rather, Borchardt felt that the stage had returned to its real essence: the close interrelationship of drama, actor, and audience. Adolphe Appia (1862-1928) was another of the great theorists and innovators of modern times. In the latter part of the nineteenth century and for the first twenty-five years of the twentieth century, his work exerted a tremendous influence on the contemporary theater. No other man, with the possible exception of Edward Gordon Craig, has so inspired others to liberate themselves from the less imaginative practices of staging. He revolutionized stage lighting, achieved greater plasticity in his use of scenery, and struggled valiantly against the arbitrary frame of the proscenium.

Appia's article "Living Art or Still Life?" in Theatre Annual for 1943 is required reading for all who are truly interested in the modern theater. Here, he says: "The very arbitrary conventions of our theatres and stages, which are designed in relation to each other, always are imposed upon us. Upon reflection, however, we must note that everything in the development of modern life tends toward a change in theatre—even our very idea of it. . . . " According to Appia, it was a mistake to use the same theater for what he called "current repertory" and for experimental productions. He wished to abandon the rigid, conventional playhouse for simple buildings in which there should be no fixed stage or auditorium—"only a bare and empty room at our disposal." There would be ample space for property and scenery storage. Whenever a production was ready to be presented, "temporary tiers" could be installed for the audience. With such a theater, he was convinced, we could have a living art. Jacques Copeau (1879—1949) established the Théâtre du Vieux Colombier in Paris in 1913 on the same principles as those of Appia (fig. 7 ) . Kenneth Macgowan, in The Theater of Tomorrow (1921), has expressed the view that there is no director or theorist of the theater who has done as much as Jacques Copeau to reanimate the actor and to demonstrate the various potentialities of his art. Copeau did not plan to make great changes in the physical theater, but the limitations of his hall, with its "poverty-stricken" stage, little by little dictated changes in the setting until Copeau found himself working in what is regarded as the first genuinely new theater in Europe.

v i e w s

a n d

BACKGROUNDS

VIEWS

AND

BACKGROUNDS

1 0

Copeau considered the art of the performer above- all else. He exploited the dimensions of human movement and of human speech. To give more plasticity to the actors, Copeau and his artist-architect cleared out the wings, the curtain, and the frame of the proscenium. A balcony was added at the back of the stage, reached by a flight of stairs. The balcony was converted into either background or superstructure whenever needed. The entire arrangement was worked into the rest of the house through color and design. It was a natural and definite structure, but it was fluid enough to permit reshapings which made it possible to stage Les Frères Karamazov and Twelfth Night in the same building. In 1924 Copeau established his troupe in Bourgoyne, where the actors would not be influenced or contaminated by any theatrical factors. The studioplayhouse was described by Jean Mercier, one of the youthful members of the group, as " a sort of great hall where vineyard keepers, after an unusual harvest, stored the surplus barrels filled with wine. No line was drawn between stage and auditorium, but a great space which was transformed, as we needed to, in the process of our work." 1 In 1929 the Compagnie des Quinze moved to Sèvres, near Paris. A studio similar to the one at Bourgoyne was built accordj n g t 0 t }j e dictates of practical experience. For four years Les Quinze had been used to working in a scenic area without the frame of the proscenium or the ' J e a n Mercier, "Adolphe Appia: The Re-birth of Dramatic Art," Theater Arts Monthly 1932), p. 623.

(August,

front curtain. Even less space than that used for the stage was reserved for the audience. Vsevold Meierhold, a contemporary and co-worker of Stanislavski and a famous director and theatrical innovator in his own right, worked in theory and practice toward ideals of actor-space relationship similar to those of Copeau. He was active in many forms of theater and devised many original staging methods, but his greatest preoccupation seems to have been the problem of stage space. In Moscow Rehearsals ( 1 9 3 6 ) , Norris Houghton demonstrates the parallel between Meierhold's ideals and those of us working in America today with central and flexible staging: "Dissatisfied, like many other artists at about the same time, with the picture-frame, box stage, he sought ways of bringing action out of it and of fusing it more with the auditorium and the spectators. His work with the spatial stage has continued through the period of constructivism which was in one way an attempt to solve this, and is finally embodied in his plans for the Meierhold Theatre which is about to be built according to his specifications. Here there will be no architectural barriers between spectators and actors. There will be no proscenium arch and no wingspace. The stage will be set in the middle of the space and the audience banked around it." Another Russian director who experimented with central and flexible staging as we know it today was Nicolai Okhlopkov, director of the Moscow Realistic Theatre. Much younger than Meierhold, Okhlopkov had been influenced

VIEWS

AND

BACKGROUNDS

1 1

VIEWS a n d BACKGROUNDS

_ _ J- ^

by certain aspects of the older man's theater work and by the ideas of Appia. Okhlopkov was thought to have fulfilled Appia's ideal that "the new theatre should be a large bare empty room without stage or auditorium. A platform with steps leading to it, of the size and shape required by the action of the play, should be placed therein where necessary, and the spectators should be seated according to the position of the stage." 8 The similarity between Appia's dream of an ideal and Okhlopkov's actual theater is well shown in Norris Houghton's description of the latter: "The rest of the hall is completely empty and there is no proscenium arch. The stage is composed of movable 'parallel' platforms which may be set up in any arrangement in any part of the hall. The seats are also in movable sections which may be set up around the stage according to its position. In 'The Iron Flood' they were grouped along one side and end of the hillside which was the stage. Sometimes the form may be circus-like, with the audience sitting in a circle around the stage; sometimes the stage may be at the end of the room like a dais in front of which the spectators sit facing it as in a lecture hall; at other times, the stage may be lozenge-shaped, the audience sitting in the four empty corners of the room; again, they may sit on three sides of the stage as it extends out from the fourth wall. In one production Okhlopkov placed much of the action on bridges set up over the heads of the audience. 2 As quoted in Norris Houghton's Moscow Rehearsals (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., Inc., 1936) from L'Oeuvre tTArt and Art Vivant ou Nature Morte.

I - ; « vsaSSfea

Mm'

Fig. 8. The Grosses Schauspielhaus

Fig. 9. The Moscow Realistic Theatre Okhlopkov's arrangement for The

Mother.

views

and

BACKGROUNDS

14

In 'Mother' by Gorki the stage was a circular one set in the center of the house; then from this center there were four runways extending out at right angles to one another, like spokes from a hub. The runways connected with other runways that ran along the four walls of the auditorium. Actors made all their entrances and exits to the center stage along these runways" (fig. 9).° The contemporary American theater designer and director Robert Edmond Jones has this to say: "What we need in the theatre is a space for actors to act in, a space reserved for them where they may practice their immemorial art of holding the mirror up to nature. They will be able to move with ease to and from this space, they will be able to make their appropriate exits and entrances. We shall find a way to bathe these actors in expressive and dramatic light. And that is all.'" We should be reassured by the fact that our immediate predecessors in the theater have given so much attention to the practice of a nonproscenium theater. Even more encouraging should be the knowledge that throughout the United States today many small groups are modestly but successfully providing this kind of living theater—in Playboxes, Penthouse Theaters, Blue Rooms, Greenrooms, Rings, Arenas, Theaters-in-the-Round—to communities that have rarely known the stage in any form in the past. More and more devotees of the theater—not merely the professionals, but also those who find ' Ibid., pp. 149-150. 'Robert Edmond Jones, The Dramatic Imagination pp. 143-144.

(New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1941),

here the perfect recreation—are discovering that central and flexible staging can open up vast new possibilities impracticable with any other theater method. Even the Broadway theater is becoming aware of these inherent possibilities. I hope that those who have already begun central and flexible staging will find something of value in this manual—something in the accumulated ideas and experience represented herein that will encourage further innovation and invention. Even more strongly, I hope that those who are interested in group theater but have been discouraged by the limitations and problems of conventional proscenium staging will find something here that will encourage them to try central and flexible staging.

THE PASADENA PLAYBOX

Begun in 1924 by Gilmor Brown, the Playbox is perhaps the earliest theater in America, planned purposely for flexible staging, which is still producing.

Fig. 10.

A view down the length of the room, with audience chairs arranged for the flexible use of both central and end playing areas.

Fig. 11.

A view of opposite end of room, with audience chairs arranged on a diagonal.

No experimental group that wants to break away from the conventional methods of production to turn to central and flexible staging, in order to create more imaginative and more satisfying theater, should ever expect to find an already existing structure and space entirely ready-made for its purpose. Many such groups began in surroundings that were plainly inadequate, but they were temporarily satisfied that they had at least found a space in which to work. They later adapted and improved these surroundings as they gained experience, or moved to more suitable areas when the opportunity arose. Under the guidance of Glenn Hughes, the theater group at the University of Washington, for example, gave its first performances in the drawing room of a hotel penthouse, later moved to a ballroom in the same building, and still later converted a lodge room for its purposes; eventually the university planned and built the campus Penthouse Theatre exclusively for central staging (fig. 12). At the University of California, Los Angeles, a classroom— Royce Hall 170—was taken over and adapted for the same purpose. The University of Miami converted a room in a tower of one of the campus buildings into the Ring Theatre, which later moved into a building designed especially for experimental theater (fig. 17). Margo Jones created a theater-in-the-round at Dallas from a fairground building (fig. 13). The Circle Players of Hollywood started in an abandoned funeral home, then transferred to a small music studio, and finally rebuilt

Chapter II

The

i AdftptfltlOIl

of a Space

1 7

Fig. 12. The Penthouse Theatre University of Washington

Fig. 13. The Theatre-in-the-Round Dallas, Texas

Fig. 14. The Arena Theatre Tufts College

Fig. 15. The Alley Theatre Houston, Texas

Fig. 16. The Stadium Theatre Ohio State University Built under the cement bleachers of the football stadium, it is an excellent example of the utilization of a space on campus.

Fig. 17. The New Ring Theatre University of Miami A horseshoe arrangement for the production of Shakespeare. Because of its built-in revolving stage, the new Ring can stage plays in many flexible arrangements.

Fig. 18. The Arena Stage Washington, D.C.

Fig. 19. Théâtre en Rond de Paris

an old store into a permanent theater. In New York the Circle Theatre presented its first productions in a gymnasium, the People's Drama used a garage, and the Arena Theatre established itself in the ballroom of the midtown Edison Hotel. In Europe, people of the theater have also transformed spaces into theaters. The schools of England have for some time adapted flat-floor areas for centrally staged plays. Bristol University redesigned a room for this purpose. Two years ago Ann Jellicoe, influenced by the growth of similar activities in the United States, converted an old horseloft in Westminster into an arena theater for her Cockpit Theatre Club. Miss Jellicoe has produced seven plays—the last was Rosmersholm by Henrik Ibsen—with all-professional casts. Quite recently, and after an extensive theater tour of the United States, André Villiers rebuilt the interior of a building in the Montmartre district of Paris and is now successfully producing plays with professional actors in his Théâtre en Rond de Paris (fig. 1 9 ) .

THE OF

ADAPTATION A SPACE

Other possible locations for a beginning group are stables, automobile salesrooms, markets, barns, and schoolrooms. It is seldom practicable—or e v e n desirable—for a fledgling community theater company to construct a new building for its purpose. The group must prove its merit and tenacity of purpose and must gain valuable experience before its ultimate goal is decided. In the meantime, the members of the company should explore the possibilities in already-existing structures in the community.

The exterior appearance of a building or room has little or no bearing on its suitability for theater purposes. There are, however, certain minimum requirements for the interior. The area should be without pillars or posts, for obvious reasons of visibility. The ceiling should be of moderate height, so as to provide adequate space for lighting apparatus (light sources must be kept out of the line of vision of the audience). The ideal is a square area, with each dimension at least thirty feet. If the space is rectangular, its minimum width should be thirty feet. A long, narrow interior often takes on the appearance of a tunnel, and tends to defeat the purpose of true central staging. For a modest beginning, all the seats for the audience may be at floor level. No more than three rows of seats should be installed under this plan, otherwise the spectators in the rear will have difficulty in seeing. Staggering of seats from row to row may also be necessary to ensure unobstructed vision (figs. 20 and 2 1 ) . Folding chairs are most practicable for the small beginning group, because they are usually available on a rental basis. When more funds are available, one of the first improvements to be considered should be that of the seating arrangement for the audience. The comfort of the spectators within the theater should be given the most careful attention before expecting community support of the enterprise. The ideal seating arrangement is one in which all seats are elevated above the acting area. This is important and cannot be overstressed, since it has proved extremely advantageous for the audience, the actor, the director, the

THE

ADAPTATION OF

A

SPACE

2 3

Fig. 20. A Uniform Seating Arrangement

Fig. 21. A Staggered Seating Arrangement

Fig. 22. Light Spill: First Row Elevated

Fig. 23. Light Spill: First Row on Acting Level

lighting, and the staging. Elevated supports for the seats should be constructed in sections small enough to be easily handled, so that various heights and combinations can be achieved according to the requirements of various productions. Generally, these seat supports should be about three feet deep and from four to eight feet long. The average seat or chair is about two feet wide; thus the total length of each seat-support section should be a multiple of two feet. When a space allows only three rows in depth, the platforms should be constructed in three heights. If possible, there should be a distinct rise in height for each row of seats, with the first row from nine to twelve inches above the floor, and each of the other two rows from nine to twelve inches above the row in front. This arrangement allows maximum visibility from every seat. If the budget is limited, the first row of seats can be placed at floor level, thereby eliminating about one-third of the expense. This economy should be avoided whenever possible, however, because the patrons in the front row of seats at floor level are not sufficiently removed from the acting area. They are also likely to receive some of the "spill" from the lights used to illuminate the action itself (figs. 22 and 23). When financially feasible, corner sections should be constructed that will allow the rows of seats to turn gracefully at the corners rather than ending abruptly at right angles to the acting area. An aisle can then be provided between two such corner pieces, or two of these sections can be placed together to provide additional seating space. When not otherwise in use, some

Fig. 24. Straight Seating Elements Built Separately

Fig. 25. Straight Seating Elements Assembled

Fig. 26. Corner Seating Elements Built Separately

Fig. 27. Corner Seating Elements Assembled

Fig. 28.

Fig. 31 The Parallel Collapsing for Storing

FOUR OF THE MANY ARRANGEMENTS OF CORNER PIECES

Fig. 32. Corner Pieces Divided by Aisles Fig. 33. Corner Pieces Joined to Close Three of the Four Corners Fig. 34. Corner Pieces Separated by Straight Elements Fig. 35. Corner Pieces, Sometimes Reversed, Used to Assemble a Conventional End-staging Seating Arrangement

of these angle sections can be aligned to make another straight row (figs.

24-35).

Whatever size and height are decided upon for the seating elements, the units themselves should be uniform, so they can be readily interchanged. This uniformity will not only mean greater flexibility of use but will also assist the designer and director in planning seating and acting areas.

Central and flexible staging offers the opportunity to include a wide variety of plays in the repertory. Many beginning groups turn naturally to comedy as a means of trying their ability, but it would be a serious error to confine all activity to lighter plays. At the University of California, Los Angeles, in Royce Hall 170, the productions have ranged from such lighter fare as The Play's the Thing, Two Blind Mice, and The Circle, through Alison s House, The White Steed, Suspect, and Man and Superman, thence to The Cherry Orchard, The Lower Depths, The Great God Brown, and The Miser, and have even included such larger endeavors as The Frogs, Volpone, "The Homecoming" from Mourning Becomes Electra, and The Wanhope Building. Many small theater groups are inclined to be overtimid in approaching certain plays for adaptation to central staging. When the well-known Circle Players in Hollywood chose Thornton Wilder's spectacular play The Skin of Our Teeth as their first production, many members of the company thought the choice an impossible one for central staging. When the play opened, however, it was an instant success. Many who saw this production felt that for the first time the spectacle as such was restricted to its proper place in relation to the ideas and humanity inherent in the play itself. Conventional performances of The Skin of Our Teeth have tended to overemphasize elaborate sets and costumes and the personalities of the actors, with the result that the drama has come off second best. Here was proof that a small group, with a minimum

Chapter III

Choice #

()f

__ _ 1 IRVS

3 1

of trappings and "names," but sincere in their approach to central staging, could establish a rapport between dramatist and audience that the conventional theater had neglected in its strivings for other, less essential values. Plays that require only one set are often a wise choice for the initial offerings of an inexperienced theater group. On the other hand, they should not feel themselves limited to such plays. The one-set drama provides valuable experience before graduating to productions that are scenically more demanding, but such a play should be an incentive to go on rather than an end in itself. Experience will reveal that very few plays present insoluble problems, regardless of the number of changes of sets required. When a play is being considered for possible production, the basic scenic essentials for that play should be carefully listed. A minimum number of small props and suggested scenery will usually suffice. Once the scenic convention, or style, of a production has been established in the minds of the audience, they will readily accept that convention, and will even supply from their group imagination elements that are physically absent from the playing area. Of course, it goes without saying that the scenic convention must be intelligently developed before it is offered to the audience. The play that depends heavily upon atmosphere or spectacle is the one general type that is not easily adaptable to central staging. In this category are such plays as Liliom, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Peer Gynt, and Noel Coward's Cavalcade. This type of play can be produced only by establishing

Fig. 36. Candida by George Bernard Shaw Completely central staging. Note costumes, properties, and low, paneled wall around playing area. (This figure and the following [figs. 37, 38, and 39] are examples of styles of staging in Royce Hall 170. All four pictures show the same end of the theater.)

a severe and perhaps too limiting convention within which to operate. Consequently, some of the inherent values of the drama may be sacrificed. In the next section I have included floor plans to be used in staging various plays. These plans and the following lists of plays in various categories may be of assistance in making choices to fit varying needs and limitations. The first category of plays listed below require only one interior setting, and present no great production difficulties for pure central staging. PLAY

CHOICE OF

34

PLAYS

AUTHOR

Barretts of Wimpole Street Rudolf Besier No Exit Jean-Paul Sartre William Archibald The Innocents Somerset Maugham The Circle Bernard Shaw Candida Portrait in Black Goff and Roberts Noel Coward Present Laughter Goodbye, My Fancy Fay Kanin Hecht and MacArthur The Front Page Patrick Hamilton Angel Street Dangerous Corner J. B. Priestley Thurber and Nugent The Male Animal Lillian Hellman The Little Foxes Noel Coward Hay Fever Emlyn Williams Night Must Fall

CAST

12 2 2 5 3 5 5 8 17 3 3 8 6 4 4

males, males, males, males, males, males, males, males, males, males, males, males, males, males, males,

5 2 4 4 2 3 6 12 5 2 4 5 4 4 5

females females females females females females females females females females females females females females females

Fig. 37. Two Blind Mice by Sam and Bella Spewack Horseshoe staging, using one scenic wall on long side of room.

The next category of plays, listed below, can be done in pure central style, but demand some changes of set or flexible adjustment. The Adding Machine Elmer Rice 14 males, 9 females (This play, expressionistic in style, requires five interior and two exterior sets, which can be easily put into place one after another.) William Saroyan 18 males, 9 females The Time of Your Life (Two interior sets, including wall space for bar, pinball machine, and piano, are needed for this play. The brief scene in Kitty's room can be easily accommodated in the center of the bar set, and can be contained by limited area lighting.) Happy Birthday Anita Loos 11 males, 10 females (Only one interior set is required, but wall space must be reserved for bar, juke box, and pinball machine.) CHOICE OF

36

PLAYS

The Late Christopher Bean Sidney Howard 5 males, 4 females (Again, only one interior set is necessary, with wall space for the hanging of an important picture. A fireplace, with space above for the picture, could be used to great advantage.) The Silver Whistle Robert E. McEnroe 10 males, 5 females (The action calls for only one exterior set: a church courtyard, with a section of brick wall on which the players can sit.)

Fig. 38. The Lower Depths by Maxim Gorki " L " staging, with audience seated down the camera-end of the room, and down the left wall.

The Play's the Thing Ferenc Molnar 8 males, 1 female (Only one interior set is required, but a part of the wall space should be reserved as a scenic backing for the important play within the play.) Born Yesterday Fay Kanin 12 males, 4 females (Only one interior set is needed, but provision should be made to show a small stairway and landing through one of the entrance doors.) Two Blind Mice Sam Spewack 14 males, 5 females (All the action takes place in one interior set—an office—but wall space must be provided for the introduction of a blackboard in one scene.) Man and Superman Bernard Shaw 15 males, 5 females (This four-act play requires four separate sets—one interior and three exteriors—but the changes can be easily accomplished during the intermissions between the acts.) The Silver Cord Sidney Howard 2 males, 4 females (Two interior sets are necessary here, but again the change can be made during the intermission.) The Sea Gull Anton Chekhov 8 males, 6 females (Although the text of this play calls for two separate exteriors followed by

Fig. 39.

The Hasty

Heart

by John Patrick Horseshoe staging, using one scenic wall at end of room.

two separate interiors, one composite exterior for the first two acts and one composite interior for the last two acts are all that is really necessary. The change of set can then be made during the intermission between the second and third acts. The exterior set should include one entranceway that is widened and elevated to accommodate the one-character playlet in the action.) Uncle Vanya

Anton Chekhov

5 males, 4 females

(As in The Sea Gull, two different interiors and two different exteriors are called for in the text. Again, one composite interior and one composite exterior will suffice; but the action of this play will not suffer from being played in one composite interior set throughout.) A third category of plays are those ideally suited to being introduced in a horseshoe arrangement, in which the audience is seated on three sides of the theater and the fourth side is used for scenic effects.

CHOICE OF

4 0

PLAYS

Richard II

Shakespeare

23 males, 4 females

Macbeth Hamlet

Shakespeare Shakespeare

21 males, 7 females 22 males, 2 females

^

(These three plays of Shakespeare could be staged in a modified Elizabethan manner by using a multiple setting consisting of levels, with a forestage, portals, and an inner room at the open end of the horseshoe.)

Tartuffe The Imaginary Invalid The Miser

Molière Molière Molière

7 males, 5 females 8 males, 4 females 11 males, 4 females

(Molière's plays can be effectively given in a single composite setting, using one wall of the horseshoe for levels and main entrance. ) The Lower Depths

Maxim Gorky

17 males, 4 females

(This play requires one interior and one exterior set. Some realistic,elements should be used in staging. One wall of scenery and some levels could suggest the cellar setting required, and the third act could be played in the same setting. ) Private Lives

Noel Coward

3 males, 2 females

(One exterior and one interior are needed here. The exterior balcony could be elevated at the open end of the horseshoe, and the interior scene could be staged in the center of the acting area. ) Blithe Spirit

Noel Coward

CHOICE

2 males, 5 females

(Only one interior set is needed here; but at least one wall, and perhaps part of a second, should be reserved for the supernatural happenings in the text— French doors that open mysteriously and objects that move about, all without visible human aid.)

OF

PLAYS

4 1

Street Scene Elmer Rice 16 males, 11 females (The one exterior set—a section of a tenement building—should be placed along one of the longer walls of the theater. Like The Lower Depths, this play requires naturalistic touches in the setting; the New York locale should also be established.) The Night of January 16th Ayn Rand 11 males, 10 females (The entire action is played in one setting—a courtroom. As explained elsewhere in this book, courtroom scenes are most effectively staged by having the judge's bench and the witness chair at the open end of the horseshoe.)

Each room that is to be used for theatrical purposes presents its own problems; therefore, the remarks in this section can at best only attempt to be generally helpful in solving some of the inherent difficulties. Once a location has been found suitable for play production, the area to be used for acting and the area for the audience should be determined for each play. On this point, no rigid decision should be made that will prevent changing the arrangements from production to production. Imaginative and creative staging may require, for example, that what has been the acting area for one play shall become the seating area for another production. Considerable flexibility also in the use of wall space is especially desirable. Such plays as The Time of Your Life (fig. 4 0 ) and The Play's the Thing, as mentioned in the preceding chapter, require pertinent and essential properties for which space must be provided. Local fire and sanitation ordinances should be investigated. These regulations vary from place to place, but, of course, they must always be complied with in every locality. Some of these restrictions may be reflected in the floor plan of the theater, thus early investigation is advisable. A square room that will allow the construction of three or more elevated rows of seats against each wall, so that the audience can be equally distributed, has been found to be ideal for central staging. Most rooms, however, are rectangular, and the available space must be adapted to the best advantage. (In all the drawings accompanying this chapter, a rectangular room is used

Chapter IV

Floor Plans

43

Fig. 4 0 . The Time of Your

Life

by W i l l i a m S a r o y a n The use of some wall spaces. (See Fig. 14 for another arrangement.)

Fig. 4 1 . The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov Act I : The use of seating arrangements, set balance, and freeways.

for the plans; no attempt has been made to indicate the walls of the room, but only to outline the seating and playing areas.) The available space in some rooms may make it necessary to have the last row of seats for the audience against the wall. In other rooms enough space may be left behind the seating area to allow the actors to use these passages for getting from one entrance of the acting area to another without being seen by the audience. The breaks in the seating arrangements which serve as aisles may be dependent upon the number and locations of possible exits for the audience. The floor plan that often accompanies the acting editions of plays is, of course, of little value unless the production is to be staged within the ordinary limits of the proscenium arch. For example, whether the scene is an exterior or an interior, more seating provisions for the actors must be made in central and flexible staging than in the conventional theater. Then too, the kinds of sets and properties are quite different. These matters will be more fully discussed in a later section. When the director is making the floor plan for a production in central staging, he must be certain that the furnishings and properties will dress the stage in good balance within the acting area. This does not require the use of twin pieces of furniture, but the arrangements should provide ample opportunities for the cast to move the entire length of the acting space with suitably motivated actions throughout. Scenic elements must be placed in such a way that

FLOOR

PLANS

4 5

T H E U S E OF E N T R A N C E S Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw

Fig. 42. Act I: The library. Set: Library furniture.

nor

Fig. 43. Act II: The garden. Set: Garden benches, grass plot, and sundial.

us*d

to hall scene 2

to

granado

Fig. 44. Act III, 1: The mountains. Act III, 2: Hell (or near i t ) . Set: Rustic bench, log seats, low rock, and fallen tree.

Fig. 45. Act IV: Spain. Set: Wicker furniture and Moorish corner seats.

no passages or exits to be used in a given scene will be blocked. The players must be given free paths from entrance to entrance; even a large piece, such as a table, placed dead center must have free passages around it (fig. 41). The director should also analyze the script ta ascertain the number of entrances necessary for the action of the play. These entrances are usually of extreme importance in orienting the audience to the geography of the scene. Thus, one entrance may represent the front door or a passageway leading to it; another may indicate the entrance to the kitchen; another, a door leading to the garden. As long as there is no change of scene, these entrances will be properly identified in the minds of the audience. When the locale of the action changes from act to act, or even within the act, the audience must be reacquainted with each entrance, which must be consistently used within each individual scene. Usually the director will find it most convenient to use four entrances that he can identify as distinct geographical elements within each scene. If the play is one in which the scene changes during the course of the action, it may not be necessary to use all the available entrances in every scene. Then a forceful change may be accomplished in a new scene by using an entrance not previously used (figs. 4 2 - 4 5 ) . In making floor plans, it may be found convenient to designate the various entrances as A, B, C, D, or 1, 2, 3, 4; then the members of the cast can mark these designations in their scripts during the first blocking rehearsals.

Fig. 46. Hay Fever by Noel Coward A possible rearrangement of seating elements and entrances.

Fig. 47. The Dover Road by A. A. Milne A triangular arrangement.

Fig. 4 8 . The Trial of Mary Dugan by B a y a r d Veiller Horseshoe staging for a courtroom. Also the seating arrangement for modified Elizabethan staging.

Fig. 4 9 . The Great God Brown by E u g e n e O'Neill Space staging. Also the seating arrangement for regular end staging.

Floor plans using four entrances usually indicate that the acting area should be circular, oblong, square, or rectangular, depending upon the flexibility of seating arrangements, with the entrances in the corners or evenly distributed around the perimeter (fig. 4 6 ) . When the entrances are evenly distributed, the director has a better opportunity to move an actor logically across the stage or to have a new character enter from the opposite end, thereby balancing the stage picture. This four-entrance system is usually considered true central staging. If only three entrances are to be used and the cast is not large enough to be unwieldly, the director may want to plan a triangular staging, with the entrances at the three corners of the playing area (fig. 4 7 ) . This arrangement has one important advantage in that it allows additional seating area i o r the audience, always a vital consideration. Two entrances may often be sufficient for a particular play. Then the action can be staged through the center of the area, from end to end, with some scenic elements at each open end. This plan is usually not satisfactory in a rectangular room, because some spectators must strain to see the action at the extreme end, and because the action may tend to extend too far in only two directions. The two-entrance arrangement can be used to better advantage by installing the seating area in two banks opposite each other and by staging the action across the width of the room; then the length of the room can be used for extra rows of seats for the audience.

FLOOR PLANS OF SOME SEATING AND ACTING ARRANGEMENTS Royce Hall 170, University of California, Los Angeles KEY : Acting elevations Curtains

V I / W U W

Scenery

Fig. 50. The Seagull by Anton Chekhov Completely central.

Fig. 51. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare Seating on two opposite sides.

Fig. 52. Ah! Wilderness by Eugene O'Neill Seating on three sides. Curtains draw to reveal the barroom and later the beach scene.

Fig. 53. The Wanhope Building by John Finch Five acting levels and three sets of curtains.

Fig. 54. Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward " L " staging.

Fig. 55. The Late Christopher Bean by Sidney Howard An amphitheater.

Any of the above-mentioned arrangements can be adapted for central staging by beginning the floor plan with four entrances and then closing those that are not needed. Valuable seating space can then be added, depending upon the number of entrances not used. Horseshoe staging can occasionally solve problems presented by certain scenic elements. For example, a courtroom scene can hardly be staged in any other manner. The judge's high bench can be erected at the open end of the horseshoe, with the witness stand either on a line with or slightly forward of the bench, so as to ensure maximum visibility for the audience and to permit other characters to stand in front of the bench on the same plane as the witness. Paneling may be indicated on the rear wall to continue the illusion of the courtroom. Additional entrances may be provided at the end of the room opposite the judge's bench and witness stand; one in the middle may suggest the main entrance to the courtroom (fig. 48). Horseshoe staging can also be used effectively and validly by adapting the center and end playing areas to a modified Elizabethan setting, as mentioned for Shakespeare's Richard II. A series of levels should be mounted on the wall at the closed end of the horseshoe; scenic units should depict plaster, beams, and thatched roof; and a forestage should extend into the central playing area ( % 93). Occasionally, to add variety to the season's fare, the group may want to try one play in conventional end staging, either with a small proscenium at

one end, having a typical setting behind the opening, or with a space-stage, which is a series of levels and acting areas that can be used for a stylized production. The floor of the stage behind the proscenium may be raised, but this is usually not necessary. When the floor of the acting area is on the same level as that of the audience, it is important that the first row of seats is not too close to the acting area. Instead, this first row should be well back to ensure good visibility for all the spectators and also to limit the light spill into the seating area. A space stage may be used at the end of a room in place of a proscenium (fig. 4 9 ) . Certain areas and levels may be designated as specific locales of the play's action; as with entrances in central staging, these areas and levels must be redesignated for each change of scene. Regardless of the form in which the group decides to present its productions, it should be remembered that many scenic devices indicated in the script are not absolutely essential to the action and can be eliminated in central and flexible staging. Windows are a good example. If a window seat is placed on one side of the acting area in central staging, the suggested window itself will be completely satisfactory to the audience on one condition: that the actors always carefully relate themselves to the window seat whenever they are supposed to be looking through the nonexistent window. Audiences enjoy having their imaginations challenged, and they will readily accept make-believe as long as the players are consistent about it. A literal approach to theater is not a prime requisite for the director, the actor, or the spectator.

FLOOR

PLANS

5 5

"L"

STAGING

Royce Hall 170, University of California, Los Angeles Figs. 56 and 57 show the same end of room. Fig. 5 6 . Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward Cutaway scenery backed by black curtains.

Fig. 57. Roadside b y L y n n R i g g s Courtroom scene masked by black curtains when drawn.

Chapter V . ML r O p C r t l C S

58

Because central and flexible staging makes limited use of realistic stage settings, the furniture, floor coverings, and costumes must carry much of the burden that scenery does in more conventional theater methods. A few well-chosen pieces of furniture or set properties and a suitable floor covering will usually satisfy the audience as to an indicated locale or room. As mentioned earlier, there must be adequate seating provided for the players, which means that careful judgment must be exercised in the choice of furniture. More than any other scenic factor, the proper furniture will establish the illusion of a play and will be the key to the entire production. Unless necessary for a special effect, there should be no duplication of pieces of furniture, but rather a sensible variety in the choice. A large sofa at one end of the acting area can be balanced by a love seat and an upholstered chair or by two such chairs; a window seat can be correspondingly balanced by two chairs on the opposite side of the room. High-backed seats that will interfere with the audience's seeing the actors should not be used. A safe general rule is that all sofas and chairs should have backs no higher than the shoulder line of a normal-sized person when he is seated. Then the director can be certain that the face of a seated actor will be seen in profile when the actor turns his head from side to side, even by those members of the audience seated directly back of him. Buffets, pianos, and other large pieces must be kept proportionately low. Serving tables and buffets should be low and long rather than high and narrow. Highboys are

PROPERTIES

6 0

out of the question unless a part of the wall space is to be used for a specific scenic purpose involving such a piece. When pianos are absolutely essential to the action of a play, a small upright or spinet should be used whenever possible instead of a full-sized grand, which may be lower but requires so much additional floor space that the advantage in height is usually more than offset ( % 58). Small properties, such as end tables, hassocks, and coffee tables, help dress a room, but care should be used in the choice of articles to be placed on them. If flower containers are called for, low bowls with short-stemmed flowers should be chosen rathen than tall, thin vases with long-stemmed flowers, which may obscure the sight lines of certain members of the audience. One of the most successful economies that can be practiced when presenting plays in central staging is to use as furniture a set of unit pieces. These can be interrelated within the playing area, and can do much to create a striking effect in the theater. The initial outlay of funds may be considerable, but the same pieces can be use