Theatre Design & Technology - Dec 1971 - 31

tation network. Undoubtedly this has contributed to the success of the Stratford and
Shaw Festivals, as well as the National
Arts Center in Ottawa. My own surveys
have shown that Toronto's new "fun palace" on the lake, Ontario Place (opened
May 1971), has attracted tourists from as
far afield as Europe, the Far East and Austral ia. On the other hand, Toronto's repertory theatre, the St. Lawrence Center, has
staggered through two seasons of political,
artistic, economic, and identity crisis, in
spite of excellent programs.
We find a most important statement on
p. 15:
All the co-ordinating, regulatory and fund
granting bodies are essentially in service
to the artists, without whom they would
have nothing to coordinate. regulate or
subsidize.

Chapter 2 confirms the well-known fact
that there are high socio-economic, educational and sensory levels among theatregoers. Opera, ballet, symphony and drama
are a compatible activity cluster attracting
a common audience, and there is a strange
connection between sports and theatre attendance. Baumol and Bowen have influenced Chapter 3, in spite of some original
data, e.g. the five largest Ontario performing
groups had an income gap of $2.5 million
in 1968, which will grow to $4.6 million
in 1973. Among several means for increasing audiences, this book favors subscriptions (Danny Newman?), a wider range of
ticket prices, and computer booking in the
suburbs.
Bricks and mortar are detailed in Chapters 5 and 9, with the over-riding view
that there are too few facilities, that existing ones are poorly designed, and that we
must aim for more "flexibility, mobility and
disposability." It is suggested that the following six main performing facilities are the
minimum required in a large city with a

Scenografie di Pietro Gonzaga
Catalogue della Mostra, a cura di Maria
Teresa Muraro, con Presentazione di Gianfranco Folena. Venezia: Fondazione Giorgio Cini, 1967. 101 pages of text,
100 black and white reproductions. (Approximately $5.00)
Pietro Gonzaga (1751-1831 l, is probably
best known to most of us for his highly
chirascuroic stage design of a gigantic sepulcher with its mammoth arches and classical
columns, and its dramatic contrast of light
and shadows. It is a striking design that is
reproduced regularly in theatre histories and
books on Italian stage design alternately
labeled either a neo-classic or a neo-gothic
example of 18th century stage design. Ac-

USI11

THEATER DESIGN AND TECHNOlOGY

population over two million: a large musical-spectacular house, a dramatic touring
house, a home for repertory theatre, a
ball et-opera house, a symphony hall and
chamber concert hall. In the surveys, only
one-sixth of the respondents thought that
facilities should be located in the suburbs.
This is not surprising since downtown is
favored with choice, convenience and accessibility, not to mention street life, restaurants and late-night entertainment. Since
the cost of land takes as much as onequarter of building budgets for arts centers
(except when donated), governments should
invite them into redevelopment schemes for
city cores. Alternately, theatres could be
linked to private, high-density development,
rather like the multiple-use concept now
:aking shape on Broadway.
Nobody is faultless and no book is perfect. Since arts council employees were so
heavily involved in this study, one should
question the objectivity and interpretation
of some findings. In my experience, some
nebulous research projects in the arts have
been funded, while well-documented requests by professionals have been rejected.
It is only human for members of the board
of an arts councilor their cultural bureaucrats to push their own pet projects, and
so forget that they are "in service to artists."
Some readers may enjoy the slick, pop
style of writing in this book, reminiscent of
the Reader's Digest, although the humor is
rather unsubtle. How.,ver, I have no hesitation in calling it a costly "Rolls Royce production" with beautiful layout and design
plus lavish photography. It represents a
breakthrough which should encourage more
and better studies to come, and help other
communities "to reinstate theatre as one
of the former community values."
F.D. Wallace van Zyl
University of Waterloo. Ontario

tually, Gonzaga belongs to the long list of
Italians who carried the scenic traditions of
the Bibiena, the Burnacini, and the Galliari
families into the court theatres of Europe,
for he spent the greatest part of his career
working in Russia.
Pietro Gonzaga was born near Belluno,
about fifty miles north of Venice, in 1751,
and began his apprenticeship in theatre
under Carlo Bibiena at the age of 16. After
studying painting in Venice for three years
he moved to Milan where he worked for
the Galliari family from 1772-1778. Hewas
appointed 'scenografo principale' to the
Teatroalla Scala in 1779 and for more than
a decade following the appointment he provided scenery for both the ducal and public
theatres in Milan, Parma, Mantova, and
Rome. At the invitation of Catherine the

DECEMBER,1971

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