theatre

Table of Contents

Introduction
Origins of theatre space
Developments in ancient Greece
- Visual and spatial aspects
- Acoustics
Developments in ancient Rome
- Stage design
- Vitruvius’ treatise on architecture
- The odeum
Developments in Asia
- India
- China
- Japan
- Bali
The Middle Ages in Europe
- Church theatre
- Staging conventions
- Courtly diversions
Developments of the Renaissance
- The revival of theatre building in Italy
- Developments in staging
- The 16th and 17th centuries in France
- The Elizabethan stage
- Spain’s Golden Age
Baroque theatres and staging
- Court theatres
- Public theatres
  - The opera house
  - The Restoration playhouse
- Influence of technical achievements
- Scenic design
- Developments in France and Spain
- Developments in northern Europe
- Early Russian staging
Developments in the 19th century
- Theatre in France after the Revolution
- German Romanticism and Naturalism
- Russian imperial theatre
- British theatre and stage design
- Theatre and stage design in America
The evolution of modern theatrical production
- The new Naturalism
- Reactions to Naturalism
- The influence of Appia and Craig
- Other developments in the study of movement
- Development of stage equipment
- The influence of Reinhardt
- British innovations
- Influence of the fine arts
- Production aspects of Expressionist theatre
- The influence of Piscator
- Futurism in Italy
- Developments in Russia and the Soviet Union
  - The great directors
  - Russian Futurism—Suprematism
  - The propagandist theatre
  - Political festivals
- Developments in France
- Developments in the United States
- The influence of Brecht
- Theatre building after World War II
- The rise of alternative theatre spaces
- The influence of Grotowski and the Polish Laboratory Theatre

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

Taormina, Sicily: theatre

Andrea Palladio and Vincenzo Scamozzi: Teatro Olimpico

Interactive: A Tour of the Rebuilt Globe Theatre

interior of the Swan Theatre

Italian-manner stage

Charles Kean as King Lear

box set for a scene from Ours

For Students

theatre summary

Discover

Chapter 4 pg 42 - Chapter header of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. Published in 1884 by The American Publishing Company

Periods of American Literature

Sailboat against a beautiful landscape

Which Waters Do You Pass Through When You “Sail the Seven Seas”?

earthquake. Heavily damaged school in the town of Yingxiu after a major earthquake struck China's Sichuan Province on May 12, 2008.

The 6 Deadliest Earthquakes Since 1950

Parsons Weems' Fable, oil on canvas by Grant Wood, 1939; in the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Catalog entry: The historian Mason Locke Weems, commonly known by his clerical title, Parson Weems, pulls back a curtain to point at 6-year-old George Washington. Bearing an adult head and holding an axe, George gazes blankly up at his father, Augustine, who questions his son while holding a partially cut cherry tree. All of this takes place in front of a 20th-century brick building, which Wood modeled after his own home in Iowa. The scene illustrates the fable of Washington and the cherry tree, which Weems invented in 1806 for the first president's biography. Wood playfully suggests the artifice of the tale here, presenting the story in the manner of a costumed stage play rather than a real event. Amid the action, two Black figures pick cherries in the background, a reference to Washington' slaveholding past and a reminder of of what often gets left out in historical mythmaking.

Did George Washington Really Say, “I Can’t Tell a Lie”?

Young man skeet shooting with airborne shell

6 Unusual Olympic Sports

Binary Computer Code, Binary Code, Internet, Technology, Password, Data

How Does Wi-Fi Work?

winter ice melting salt on the ground, pattern as background

Why Does Salt Melt Ice?

theatre: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As	theatron

Photos

Taormina, Sicily: theatre

Andrea Palladio and Vincenzo Scamozzi: Teatro Olimpico

interior of the Swan Theatre

Italian-manner stage

Charles Kean as King Lear

box set for a scene from Ours

Amman, Jordan: Roman amphitheatre

See All Images and Interactives →

Topics

theatre design amphitheatre planetarium showboat proscenium courtyard theatre odeum skene auditorium foyer library museum stadium playground lodge circus acting puppetry directing stand-up comedy

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Key People

Sir John Vanbrugh

British dramatist and architect

Rossi, Aldo: Quartier Schützenstrasse

Aldo Rossi

Italian architect

The Director's Pavillion, salt mines at Arc-et-Senans, near Besançon, Fr., by Ledoux, 1773–75

Claude-Nicolas Ledoux

French architect

Paris: Place de la Concorde

Ange-Jacques Gabriel

French architect

Marcel Breuer

Hungarian architect

Church of Notre-Dame, Le Raincy, Fr., by Auguste and Gustave Perret, 1923, with stained glass by Maurice Denis

Auguste Perret

French architect

Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg. The building was designed by Giacomo Antonio Domenico Quarenghi.

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Quarenghi

Italian painter and architect

Henry Holland

British architect

Victor Louis

French architect

Hector-Martin Lefuel

French architect

Vincenzo Scamozzi

Italian architect

Steele MacKaye

American playwright

Affonso Reidy

Brazilian architect

Lilian Mary Baylis

British theatrical manager

Nicola Sabbatini

Italian architect

Poelzig, 1932

Hans Poelzig

German architect

Bernardo Buontalenti

Italian stage designer

rocaille decorated doors

François de Cuvilliés the Elder

French architect

Benjamin Franklin Keith

American impresario

Jacob J. Shubert

American theatrical manager

Quiz

Hagia Sophia. Istanbul, Turkey. Constantinople. Church of the Holy Wisdom. Church of the Divine Wisdom. Mosque.

Architecture: The Built World