5 Theatreplan

Building for the Performing Arts Adaptable Auditoria

Adaptable Auditoria
This guide summarises the methods used to change the form and/or size of a theatre auditorium. There are many ways of making a theatre space adaptable to accommodate different types of performance or to change the function of the venue; for example, a change from proscenium to thrust stage format, from theatre to concert hall, from seated to at oor, or even from rows of seats to cabaret tables. Transforming an auditorium can sometimes be achieved simply by moving objects manually, but, depending on the scale of the change, stage engineering techniques may be required to achieve the result in a reasonable time and with the minimum number of staff. Quite large objects can be moved by hand when mounted on air bearings; a technique often adopted in the theatre for moving large blocks of seats. Other solutions employ swivel castors, wheels on tracks, or lifts to enable vertical movement.
This guide illustrates some of the different methods used to achieve a exible auditorium format and the way in which theatre spaces can be adapted to suit the various challenges that modern performances demand: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Simple staging adaption Basic exible systems Adaptable courtyard theatres Adjusting ceiling height Moving seating and walls Major mechanised systems

I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged.
Peter Brook, The Empty Space

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1. Simple Staging Adaption

The simplest form of adaptable space is a at oor where a performer is surrounded by a standing audience. This can work well for up to 5 rows of people. A greater capacity therefore requires a larger circle. The crowd will naturally gather as closely as possible whilst allowing the performer space for their act.
The audience-performer dynamic:

Performers are masked by those seated towards the front

Performers are more visible but in a domineering position

However, if the audience expects to sit down, the dynamic becomes more complex. With an audience seated on a at oor the performer would need to be raised so that the viewer can see more than from the waist upwards. The alternative is to raise the audience seating in relation to the performer. For a balanced relationship the audience should be distributed equally from the performers eye level: half above and half below.
Audience and performers are in a balanced dynamic

The tiers may also retract to offer a at oor option

Audience seated on three heights of chair on a at oor

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Building for the Performing Arts Adaptable Auditoria

Simple Staging Adaption

The Michael Frayn Space Hampstead Theatre, London In this example of a exible performing area, the Michael Frayn Space at the Hampstead Theatre includes an integrated system of benches and seating tiers. The comfortable bench seats sit directly onto the tiers which makes them light to move and compact in storage. There are numerous versions of tiered seating components designed for this type of application; many are available for hire or purchase for festival or arena presentations. Others are custom made for a specic auditorium.
Architects: Bennetts Associates Theatre Consultants: Theatreplan

The George Bernard Shaw Theatre RADA, London Slim prole stackable chairs may be moved or stored more economically than bulky upholstered seats or benches. A clever device is to use three heights of chair, as provided for the George Bernard Shaw Theatre. This approach works well for three audience rows around a small stage and avoids platforms, treads and rails. Not all audiences will like sitting in the lower or higher chairs, but theatres that choose to adopt different types of seating also nd that this can heighten the experience for their audience.
Architects: Avery Associates Architects Theatre Consultants: Theatre Project Consultants

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Building for the Performing Arts Adaptable Auditoria

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2. Basic Flexible Systems

Where there is a need for a simple means of accommodating different sizes of audience, basic systems can be used to change the seating and auditorium layouts for a variety of theatre and community events. Broadway Theatre Barking, London The Broadway Theatre is a 340-seat conversion of a town hall with a simple system to transform a at-oor community space into a theatre. The main seating area is retractable and connects with xed seating in the balcony and some side seats to wrap the audience around the room. A stage riser is formed by removing oor panels to create a shallow pit in front of the stage, into which seats are set for the front few rows on rostra. When not required as a theatre the room can be returned to a at-oor space by retracting the seating and replacing the oor panels that cover the pit. Manual and power-assisted suspensions are provided for hanging curtains, scenery and lights.
Architects: Foster Wilson Architects Theatre Consultants: Theatreplan

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Building for the Performing Arts Adaptable Auditoria

Basic Flexible Systems

Hampstead Theatre Swiss Cottage, London Theatres enjoying a regular small audience have to be able to respond occasionally to the needs of larger audiences. Seats not sold in a balcony can be made invisible to those in the stalls until demand requires them. Moving walls and curtains are not satisfactory for cutting this space off unless they are integrated into the design of the room, but at the Hampstead Theatre the design of the balcony and the lighting enable this to be achieved simply by leaving it dark. Hampstead has the ability to raise the stage to the level of the auditorium entrances and have the auditorium at. The seats are moved on airbearings to change the form at the front of the room.
Architects: Bennetts Associates Theatre Consultants: Theatreplan

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Basic Flexible Systems

The Anvil Basingstoke, Hampshire Where a hall is to be used for concerts as well as theatrical performances, it will be necessary to eliminate the proscenium. Along with retractable seating and a forestage elevator in the Anvil, the tormentors and teaser of the proscenium fold up for storage under the stage for concert performances. The surrounding fascia is made of a special re-proof material carried on large rollers above the stage. This hall does not have a y tower, but it does have some over-stage electric hoists, together with manually-operated hemp suspensions. It can present symphony and rock concerts, epic drama and musicals, but the xed platform width is too narrow for dance companies.
Architects: The Arts Team Theatre Consultants: Theatreplan

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Building for the Performing Arts Adaptable Auditoria

Basic Flexible Systems

The Grove Theatre Dunstable The Grove Theatre accommodates 777 in the stalls and circle and has a exible system for the stalls oor and orchestra pit. The stalls seating can be removed on palettes into a store under the stage and partly on a retractable unit towards the rear of the stalls thus enabling this area to be used for at oor events. With the seating in place, an orchestra pit can be formed or the pit elevator can be raised to stage level to create a forestage. The orchestra pit/forestage platform lift is mechanised, but the seating wagons are moved by hand.
Architects: Glenn Howells Architects Theatre Consultants: Theatreplan

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Building for the Performing Arts Adaptable Auditoria

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3. Adaptable Courtyard Theatres

Small entertainment venues that anticipate a wide variety of creative production styles often benet from a courtyard theatre format. The Cottesloe Theatre National Theatre, London The Cottesloe Theatre demonstrates a different sort of adaptability: that for a production rather than for a function. In its basic end-stage form, with seating on the two gallery levels, this remarkable space seats about 400 people. This number can vary widely with the arrangement used: variations include proscenium, thrust stage, traverse, in-theround, custom-designed and promenade formats.
Architects: Denys Lasdun Theatre Consultants: Theatre Projects Consultants

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Building for the Performing Arts Adaptable Auditoria

Adaptable Courtyard Theatres

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Adaptable Courtyard Theatres

Takkelloftet (Studio Stage) Operaen, Copenhagen These arrangements of the seating and towers use rectilinear forms. Some of the towers can be stored in the scene dock outside the studio and a number of free forms of seating can also be created.

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Building for the Performing Arts Adaptable Auditoria

Adaptable Courtyard Theatres

Takkelloftet (Studio Stage) Operaen, Copenhagen This space uses a sophisticated combination of retractable seating and towers, which are moved on air-bearings in order to create a number of theatre forms and to accommodate different numbers of people. A selection of ten of these performance arrangements are shown here. The studio has a modular tensioned-wire grid with electric hoists above the whole area.
Architects: Henning Larsen Architects Theatre Consultants: Theatreplan

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4. Moving Ceilings
Another approach in larger theatres that sometimes need only to accommodate smaller audiences (for example, for drama as opposed to opera or musical theatre) is to close off the top balcony by lowering the ceiling. A smaller audience will feel more comfortable in a room that appears to be almost full. A more appropriately-sized room will also offer a re-scaled acoustic environment from the closer proximity of reecting surfaces when the ceiling is lowered. Theatre Royal Plymouth Devon The Theatre Royal has 1320 seats on three levels, but this number can be reduced to 791 when the ceiling is lowered to the level of the upper circle rail. The ceiling is carried on suspended screws mounted in the roof void.
Architects: Peter Moro Architects Theatre Consultants: Carr & Angier

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Building for the Performing Arts Adaptable Auditoria

Moving Ceilings
Milton Keynes Theatre Buckinghamshire A similar principle is used in the theatre in Milton Keynes. This theatre has a stalls, circle and upper circle with a total of 1400 seats.
Architects: Andrzej Blonski Architects Theatre Consultants: Carr & Angier

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5. Moving Seating and Walls

A number of theatres make changes to the form of the stage by moving rostra or by having one or more elevators that can raise or lower the area between the stage and the audience to create an orchestra pit. This can allow a larger audience to be present for drama or when recorded music is used and can also allow the shape of the stage to be changed. In extreme circumstances the stage can be converted into a catwalk for fashion shows and similar events.

De Montfort Hall Leicester At De Montfort Hall, the stalls seating is on seating wagons and these can be set up in various forms to suit an event, or they can all be lowered on one of two elevators and stored under the auditorium. One of the elevators can form an orchestra pit and the other, at the rear of the auditorium, raises the rear seat wagons to create a tier that meets the permanent balcony.
Architects: Burrell Foley Fischer LLP Theatre Consultants: Theatreplan (1994 adaptations)

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Building for the Performing Arts Adaptable Auditoria

Moving Seating and Walls

The Dome Brighton This historic venue is Grade 1 listed and the business plan indicated that it could not produce enough income unless it was able to present a wide range of performances: classical and popular music concerts, musical and drama productions and special events. One important criterion - that the stalls oor could be cleared of seats completely - was achieved by storing the unused seating wagons in a new basement store below the stalls. A second level of excavation was eliminated by folding down the seats and stacking them one above another. This enabled the capital cost to be reduced signicantly. As space was limited on stage, the choir stalls are now stored vertically on the rear wall. To convert from a concert platform to a theatre, the side organ screens and header drive forward to form the proscenium. All this has given the Dome a new lease of life.
Architects: The Arts Team Architects Theatre Consultants: Theatreplan (2002 adaptations)

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Moving Seating and Walls

The Derngate Northampton The potential changes in format are greater still at the Derngate. This hall converts from a at oor for exhibitions, sporting events, trade shows, weddings, and banquets, to a 1600-seat theatre. Similarly, a concert hall format with choir seating or additional audience placed behind the orchestra can be achieved. The change of format is achieved by moving seating wagons and side-wall towers on airbearings. Under the auditorium is a large garage for the seating wagons. This solution was pioneered by Theatreplans John Whitaker and Richard Brett in 1983. This is a receiving house and has a full height y tower allowing scenery to be own above the stage. It also has a safety curtain and the proscenium side walls can be moved on-stage for theatre and right off-stage for concerts and at oor events.
Architects: Renton Howard Wood Levin Architects Theatre Consultants: Theatre Projects Consultants

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Building for the Performing Arts Adaptable Auditoria

Moving Seating and Walls

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6. Major Mechanised Systems

Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center Philadelphia One of the simplest mechanisms is to use a revolving stage. In the 650-seat Perelman Theater an extra-large turntable has been installed which carries an orchestra shell upstage for when the space is to become a concert venue. Use of the revolve means that the standing scenery on stage can remain and is rotated to the rear as the concert shell is brought into view. There is a full y tower over the stage. In addition, an orchestra pit lift and an elevator under the stalls allow the seats to be removed for standing performances and for at oor events.
Architects: Rafael Violy Architects Theatre Consultants: Theatre Projects Consultants

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Building for the Performing Arts Adaptable Auditoria

Major Mechanised Systems

Chandler Center for the Arts Arizona Where there is a regular requirement to change the size of the auditorium for theatre, concerts, conferences and other events, it is possible to do this mechanically. One practical solution, which is useful in performing arts centres and university buildings, allows the removed seating to be used to create a separate breakout space, recital hall or small theatre, and the Chandler Center is a typical example. By rotating parts of the rear of an auditorium to face another stage or platform, acoustic separation can be achieved reliably and eliminate the need for space for large soundproof partitions. This solution was pioneered by Theatreplans Richard Brett in the late 1980s as a competition solution to the complex brief for the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.
Architects: SPS+ Architects (Schneider Shay Pian + Pittenger)

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Major Mechanised Systems

Centre Culturel Du Mont-Jacob Jonquire, Quebec, Canada This is a smaller space, seating 396, which can change its form from end-stage to partial or full at-oor entirely by mechanical means. Each row of seats is an elevator and to change the format, each is lifted in turn and the seats are rotated so as to hang vertically underneath the oor. The elevator then returns to either the oor or stage level depending on the requirements of the production.
Architects: Bertrand Dallaire Architects Theatre Engineering: Gala Systems

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