Question

Might there be social, political, or even religious reasons for the use of a particular theatre space at various times in history? For instance, does the Elizabethan thrust theatre reflect Elizabethan social values, or does the structure of the Greek theatre reflect classical religious thought? Does it mean anything that every form of theatre space is currently used in the United States?

Answer 1

Theatre can take place in a variety of locations, ranging from large and elaborately ornate opera houses to street corners. Historically, the space allotted to theatres has varied according to the purpose, the socio-economic conditions and the political system within which theatre artists have worked.

Theatre spaces are broadly divided four categories: proscenium theatres, thrust theatres, arena theatres, and found spaces. Although theatrical performances often take place in enclosed buildings which are specially designed for the purpose, the only necessity for theatre is a live performer and live audience , not a building.

The particular style and space of theatre are set by the public taste of the time and place. For centuries critics have used the terms "real" and "life-like" and "nature" to describe the artistic context. Within the Greek society, theatre had a poignant role in addressing the political and social issues among the common people and hence the space of the theatre was designed in the middle of the city, usually at the plaza or the acropolis to ensure greater accessibility.
In ancient Greek theatre, actors wore masks that covered their full heads and enlarged their stature. They spoke in a chant-like manner and frequently broke into song and dance. During the Golden Age in the 5th century B.C., acting was a highly regarded craft and actors competed for annual prizes along with the playwrights.
In Shakespeare's time, in Elizabethan England, public theatre had a nascent beginning. Actors were formed into sharing companies which changed plays with great frequency and little rehearsal, so each actor had to have a quick memory and retain many roles in his head at once. Theatres were designed around an expansive stage and a screen that allowed the actors a relative distance from the audience while simultaneously giving the actors privacy to change their costumes between different roles. Moreover, Elizabethan theatres had very little scenery, therefore actors had to fill out the environment for the audience using their text, voice, and bodies. During this time, a clear social division marked the audience spaces in the theatre as the higher and front rows in the centre of the theatre were reserved for the nobility and wealthy patrons of the arts while the seatings in the fringes was allotted to the common people.

Today, with the rise of low brow and street art, there is an increasing consciousness about challenging mainstream hierarchies in performative arts. This has also brought the theatre out of the realm of the staged, exclusive space of the building and dispersed the performance across the street. This space is intentionally structured so to question the inbuilt categorisation of the audience as passive spectators and instead narrows the divide between the actor and the pentagon/ audience thereby making the art more participatory andopen.

Thus, with each passing time, as theatre began to draw more and more of the social and political i arena of the streetssues in the formulation of its themes, it also began to mirror the social and economic patterns that were prevalent during that time.