Theatre Design & Technology - Dec 1966 - 33

BOOK REVIEWS
Books Received: (Persons wishing to review these or
other appropriate new book lilies should contact Associate
Editor Thomas Watson, University Theatre, University of
Delaware, Newark, Delaware. \

Bablet, Denis. Le Decor de Theatre
Centre National de la Recherche SClentlfique. Le Lieu Theatral dans
La Societe Moderne
Deutscher ormenausschuss. English Translations of German Standards and DIN Standards Yearbook
Educational Facilities Laboratories. Bricks and Mortarboards and New
Building on Campus; Six Designs for College CommunicatiDns
Centers
KDhler. Karl. A HistDry Df CDstume
Pawley, EriC. AlA SChDDI Plant Studies
Prisk. Berniece. Stage Costume HandbDDk
Southern. Richard. PrDscenium and Sightlines (Theatre Arts Books
ed.)
Warre, Michael. Designing and Making Stage Scenery

ACTOR AND ARCHITECT. Edited by Stephen Joseph,
University of Toronto Press, 1964. 118 pp. $4.25
This book is a collection of talks given in 1962 at the
University of Manchester, England, during a "Theatre
Week" program sponsored by the University's Drama Department. Participants included directors Stephen Joseph,
Tyrone Guthrie, Hugh Hunt and John English, designer
Sean Kenny and scholar Richard Southern.
The arts are moving terribly fast, and whatever was true
in 1962 seems oddly antique in 1966. But even In
1962, England seems to have been far behind the United
States in staging and building techniques for the theatre.
One after another these authors lament the fact that their
country is not building imaginatively enough to serve the
needs of playwrights, actors and audiences. They set
forth the many advantages of open staging in a persuasive way, but Americans really don't need persuading,
if one can judge from the theatres our universities and
arts centers are building. The authors also discuss ways
of bringing more young people into the theatre, and the
opportunities for the arts arising from increased leisure
time.
Their most pertinent plea, one which regrettably has not
gone out of date, is for the builders and planners to build
for the practical uses that will be made of the theatre,
not merely for fitting an Impressive container around a
given number of seats and a given acting area. I hope
they have had more luck in England than we In convinclllg
the culture committees to listen to theatre consultants.
The value of Actor and Architect is mainly documentary;
here is how one group of professionals summed up the
state of ItS art at a particular time and place. These
things should be recorded, If only 0 let us know how far
and how fast we have come. As a tract, however, I
think the book would have been more effective If the editor had Included more and better illustrations of the new
theatres that were in operation at the time of publication.
We are given, for instance. only one mllliscule floor plan
and one interior photo of the Guthrie Theatre in MlIlneapol is, and Similar crumbs of Chichester. Stratford, Ontario and a few others.

DECEMBER

1966

Thomas Watson

I found most interesting the section de oted to the proceedings of the Theatre
eek' Brains rust
an unfortunate British term which I assume corresponds to our
slightly less II1tinlidating "Panel of Experts"). Here some
of the main speaker authors, plus some architects and a
critic, tossed around many ideas about the theatre "1 general: illusion vs. realism, the Importance of lighting and
scenery, and the effect of subSidies on the theatre, for
example.
I enjoy a good argument. and he Brains Trust came up
with one that is, perhaps, the most Vital question faCing
everyone In the theatre today, on either side of the Atlantic. Editor Stephen Joseph believes that theold-fashloned proscenium theatre Inhibits the development of pia
wrights. "To maintain a steady supply of new plays we
must also continually build new theatres," he states III
his preface. David Scase of the Brains Trust bounces the
blame for dull theatre right back to the artists and the
society they comment upon. "Now was it the lack of
flexible theatres that prevented Osborne, Behan, Delaney
and other "new wave" playwrights from developing their
talents] Or was it the lack of something that had to be
said about the society in which we live] By producing all
sorts of flexible theatres, are we gOing to inspire authors
to write new things] Or are they like cornplasters on a
wound]. .When we as a nation have a purpose we can
recognize, then we shall have good plays. And you can
have theatre anywhere---it is the authors who make it exciting." I'm glad somebody said that. The artist, IiVlng in
his figurative garret and maybe a little hungry, has to
exist no mailer what opulent and ingenious houses we
build for his work.
Marcia Siegel
Dance Scope

co.......
rrhilnt

CONTEMPORARY THEATRE ARCHITECTURE;
An Illustrated Survey by Maxwell Silverman, and
A Checklist of Publications 1946-1964
by Ned A. Bowman
New York' The New York Puhllc Library, 1965
Foreword by George Freedley, pp. 84, $10.00
It is clear Contemporary Theatre Architecture IS a
document of no small significance to scholarship In theatre architecture and, incidentally, a handsome volume in
ItS own right. Yet, admitting the overall excellence of the
book, it remallls necessary to question to some extent
the way in which It lays out the "physical revolution III
the theatre" of which Pietro Belluschi has spoken In The
Ideal Theatre: Eight Concepts.

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