Theatre Design & Technology - Dec 1973 - 35

Each theatre in the collection is represented by an
interior photo showing both seating and stage, a plan, a
section, stage dimension information, the seating capacity
of the house and a statement of the usage for which the
facility was designed.

sketches, cartoons, photographs and designs from many
sources, some known, but most unknown, which are
arranged in several sections to illustrate the various aspects
of this very fascinating period of English theatre, all
accompanied with clear concise explanations.

Bentham acknowledges the limitations of such reporting and admits frankly that the only real assessment of
a theatre's viability is that which is made during the
course of a performance.

Southern shows us not only what the Victorian theatre
looked like (both early and late), but with the help of
Contant and Fillippi and Georges Moynet, how they
actually looked and worked backsta~e. We are introduced
to some Victorian scene painters and allowed to peek into
their shops as well. The glories of the Charles Kean revivals are recalled as well as those later in the period
produced by Henry Irving and others. The eight sketches
which give us a glance at the pantomimes tells us more
about this particular English phenomenon than do most
history books and Southern's attempt to show us the
social life of the provincial theatre is a high point of the
book (one can practically smell the odors from Bragg's
Wine Cellar in the Theatre Royal in Birmingham). Perhaps
for most readers the most interesting section is the last,
"The 'Entortilationists' ", wherein Southern explains the
skill and daring of a group of trap·workers called the
Hanlon·Lees troupe.

However, New Theatres in Britain does give the North
American reader some sense of acquaintance with each
of these theatres and an overall satisfaction of knowing
that the British too are having problems building a theatre
uniquely suited to the second half of the twentieth
century. If this book is truly representative, their batting
average is probably not even as good as ours.
As a comparison for readers on this side of the
Atlantic, three forerunners of trends in modern British
theatrical architecture are noteworthy - the Mermaid
Theatre, the Chichester Festival Theatre and the Victoria
Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, this latter being Britain's first
successful modern arena stage. The two restored Georgian
theatres, the Theatre Royal (1819) in Bury St. Edmunds
and the Yorkshire (1788) in Richmond, though somewhat
out of place in this collection, reflect a cohesiveness only
occasionally apparent elsewhere in the book.

New Theatres in Britain closes with a useful list of
lighting control configurations (Rank Strand, naturally)
for the theatres cited indicating the control· console type,
the number of dimmer channels, the distribution of
circuitry between the stage and the front of house and
the patching facility.
The book is available through your nearest Century
Strand regional office for under two dollars. It's worth
IIClving i,. oniy to see what the other half has ~o live with.
Lane Drury

THE VICTORIAN THEATRE: A PICTORIAL
SURVEY
By Richard Southern
New York: Theatre Art Books, Inc., 1970
112 pages, 142 black and white illustrations
$8.95
In The Victorian Theatre: A Pictorial Survey Richard
Southern, the English historian and compiler of theatrical
data, has assembled a very useful little book which
suggests the flavour and milieu of the English theatre
during Queen Victoria's long reign. The book is a scissors
and paste job in the very best sense of the phrase, for
Southern has snipped and pasted, assembled and arranged
in a most successful fashion one hundred and forty-two

c:::::§O

THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

To repeat, it is a fascinating presentation of material.
Open the book and start reading, it doesn't matter where.
The chances are you will continue to the end and then
turn back to the beginning to return to where you started.
It not only has the appeal of a good mystery novel but
offers in a most unobtrusive fashion much obscure infor·
mation (where else, for example, can you find a scene
design by Edward William Godwin, the father of Edward
Gordon Craig, for Harlequin Charley Over the Water and
the Maid of Patty's Mi//?). Aside from its intrinsic value,
or as an illustration of a fecund period in English theatre
history, The Victorian Theatre: A Pictorial Survey has a
decided interest for those interested in the American
theatre of the same period. It has often been sa id that
although America gained its pol itical independence from
England in 1776 it did not gain its theatrical independence
until the appearance of Eugene O'Neill in 1915. Much of
Southern's material, especially the photographs of those
fine old theatres, illustrate just how strong the English
influence was, at least in theatre architecture. The theatre
in which this reviewer saw his first "live" performance
years ago, was almost a dead-ringer for the old Empire
Music Hall in Newcastle, England.
Orville K. Larson
Kent State University

MENTION TD&T WHEN YOU WRITE FOR
BULLETINS AND CATALOGS.

DECEMBER. 1973

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Dec 1973