Type of Entertainment Determines Type of Auditorium. —Each type of dramatic entertainment—including the motion picture—demands its own type of auditorium. In the ancient world the Greek theatre developed along lines suited to drama and comedy that employed large choruses, while in Rome some thing nearer the modern stage came into being as the chorus dis appeared. Unfortunately the theatre architect of to-day is much too uncertain of the type of entertainment which will ultimately make use of his creation. He may intend the building for popular melodrama, but financial misfortunes may turn it over to motion pictures or to musical revues. It is only in the smaller communi ties that a theatre should be built for general usage, and some compromise arrived at which will suit both stage and auditorium to almost any kind of entertainment.
The Motion Picture House.—In a motion picture theatre, where the attention of the audience is concentrated on a silver screen and on figures of actors that are well over lifesize, the auditorium may be very deep without incommoding the spectator.
On the other hand, it must not be too broad or too high, for that would distort the appearance of these two-dimensional figures on the flat screen. The mass of the audience must be concentrated in the centre and placed on two main floors. The theatres that carry this out most notably are the Mar morhaus, Berlin (Hugo Pal, arch.), the U-T Theater, Berlin (Fritz Wilms and Max Bischoff, archs.), the Capitol thea tre, New York (Thos. W. Lamb, arch.), the Roxy theatre, New York, the Plaza theatre, London, the Empire theatre, Lon don, the Piccadilly theatre, London.
The Revue Theatre.—The theatre in tended for the use of the big musical revue is rather closely related to the moving pic ture house, though it, too, has its peculiar requirements. Here the main interest lies in the stage picture, the beauty of cos tumes and scenery, and so a large audi torium is possible. Care must be taken, however, to avoid too great a depth, for comedy scenes and solo singing demand more intimacy and a closer view of the performer than in the case of the motion picture. Here it is of great importance that the height of the seats in relation to the stage floor shall permit everyone in the house to see the feet of the dancers. For the revue house—as well as for any thea tre, that is not used on the one hand, for the motion picture, or on the other for the strictly realistic, peep-show type of drama —the architect must take great care to avoid anything in the pro portions of stage and auditorium that may indicate a separation between the actors and the spectators. He must strive to use every means for uniting both groups in close spiritual contact.
The realistic play of the type which presupposes the presence of a fourth-wall between the actor and the audience has set special problems for the modern architect. Hitherto he has solved these as perfectly as possible—and, of course, by the very nature of the case he has not achieved anything exhilarating, notable or truly theatric. In the main he has had to restrict himself to a small auditorium and if he sought larger capacity, a single balcony hung far out over the orchestra floor. He has done away with boxes as obtrusions between the audience and the picture frame. And this picture frame has become a definite and complete separa tion between the audience and the actors. In decoration he has been forced to subdue the colour of his auditorium so as to leave the audience in peep-show dark ness while the play goes on. Two of Ingalls's playhouses in New York, the Little theatre and the Henry Miller, meet these stultify ing conditions as well as they can be met.
Problems of Site and Seat ing Capacity.—Within the limits of the particular piece of land on which he has to build, the architect must work out as large a seating capacity, and as roomy and convenient an arrangement of stage, dressing rooms, and foy ers as possible. Where the site is rectangular the problem is com paratively simple, but where the site is irregular it is often diffi cult to accommodate the auditor ium and stage.
The architect has generally to secure the largest seating ca pacity possible on a given site. Usually this has meant widening the stage and still further widening the fan-like auditorium until only revues can be properly presented. The architect plans one very large, overhanging balcony because the higher prices that can be charged in a balcony, compared with a second balcony or gallery, more than make up in financial capacity for the greater number of seats that a double-decker arrangement provides.
Occasionally the architect tries some new method of getting a large but intimate auditorium on a piece of property of restricted size. A popular method is to place the stage in one corner of the site instead of along the back, and then to throw the auditorium diagonally across the lot. Though this arrangement is better suited to the almost stageless motion picture theatre, it has been used in a "legitimate" theatre, The Ambassador, New York (Her bert J. Krapp, arch.). Among large motion picture houses with well-equipped stages which have also utilized this seating plan are the Paramount theatre, Palm Beach, Fla. (Joseph Urban, arch.), the Bondi theatre, Sydney, N.S.W. (C. Bohringer, arch.), "the Majestic," Leeds (Messrs. Skinlet and Maxwell, archs.) and the Roxy, New York.