During the twentieth century, an increasingly diverse range of buildings and spaces was used for theatre. Theatre architecture was re-formed by new approaches to staging and performance, while theatre was often thought to have a reforming role in society. Innovation was accompanied by the revival and reinterpretation of older ideas. The contributors to this volume explore these ideas in a variety of contexts, from detailed discussions of key architects' work (including Denys Lasdun, Peter Moro, Cedric Price and Heinrich Tessenow) to broader surveys of theatre in West Germany and Japan. Other contributions examine the MalmA Stadsteater, 'ideal' theatres in post-war North America, 'found space' in 1960s New York, and Postmodernity in 1980s East Germany. Together these essays shed new light on this complex building type and also contribute to the wider architectural history of the twentieth century.

Drawing on detailed design, construction and financial histories of six prominent Performing Arts buildings with budgets ranging from AGBP3.4 million to over AGBP100 million, Geometry and Atmosphere presents unique and valuable insights into the complex process of building for the arts. Each theatre project, from tailor-made spaces for avant-garde companies to iconic and innovative receiving houses, yields surprising and counter-intuitive findings. For each of the six projects, the authors have interviewed all those involved. Combining these interviews with exhaustive archival research, the authors then provide cross-case analysis which is distilled into guidance for all stakeholders as they transform their initial vision into built reality. In particular, the book challenges the technical focus of existing design guides for the Performing Arts by suggesting that current practice in briefing and design does not serve the Arts community especially well. It shows that there is a need for an approach in which the focus is firmly rooted in the delivery of the driving artistic vision. As well as being of interest to architects, urban designers and those involved in theatre studies, this book will be useful to other sectors where public money is spent on major building projects.

Modern Playhouses is the first detailed study of the major programme of theatre-building which took place in Britain between the 1950s and the 1980s. Drawing on a vast range of archival material - much of which had never previously been studied by historians - it sets architecture in a wide social and cultural context, presenting the history of post-war theatre buildings as a history of ideas relating not only to performance but also to culture, citizenship, and the modern city. During this period, more than sixty major new theatres were constructed in locations from Plymouth to Inverness, Aberystwyth to Ipswich. The most prominent example was the National Theatre in London, but the National was only the tip of the iceberg. Supported in many cases by public subsidies, these buildings represented a new kind of theatre, conceived as a public service. Theatre was ascribed a transformative role, serving as a form of 'productive' recreation at a time of increasing affluence and leisure. New theatres also contributed to debates about civic pride, urbanity, and community. Ultimately, theatre could be understood as a vehicle for the creation of modern citizens in a consciously modernizing Britain. Yet while recognizing, as contemporaries did, that the new theatres of the post war decades represented change, Modern Playhouses also asks how radically different these buildings really were, and what their 'mainstream' architecture reveals of the history of modern British architecture, and of post-war Britain.

Modern Playhouses is the first detailed study of the major programme of theatre-building which took place in Britain between the 1950s and the 1980s. Drawing on a vast range of archival material - much of which had never previously been studied by historians - it sets architecture in a wide social and cultural context, presenting the history of post-war theatre buildings as a history of ideas relating not only to performance but also to culture, citizenship, and the modern city. During this period, more than sixty major new theatres were constructed in locations from Plymouth to Inverness, Aberystwyth to Ipswich. The most prominent example was the National Theatre in London, but the National was only the tip of the iceberg. Supported in many cases by public subsidies, these buildings represented a new kind of theatre, conceived as a public service. Theatre was ascribed a transformative role, serving as a form of 'productive' recreation at a time of increasing affluence and leisure. New theatres also contributed to debates about civic pride, urbanity, and community. Ultimately, theatre could be understood as a vehicle for the creation of modern citizens in a consciously modernizing Britain. Through their planning and appearance, new buildings were thought to connote new ideas of theatre's purpose. In parallel, new approaches to staging and writing posed new demands of the auditorium and stage. Yet while recognizing, as contemporaries did, that the new theatres of the post war decades represented change, Modern Playhouses also asks how radically different these buildings really were, and what their 'mainstream' architecture reveals of the history of modern British architecture, and of post-war Britain.

Drawing on detailed design, construction and financial histories of six prominent Performing Arts buildings with budgets ranging from AGBP3.4 million to over AGBP100 million, Geometry and Atmosphere presents unique and valuable insights into the complex process of building for the arts. Each theatre project, from tailor-made spaces for avant-garde companies to iconic and innovative receiving houses, yields surprising and counter-intuitive findings. For each of the six projects, the authors have interviewed all those involved. Combining these interviews with exhaustive archival research, the authors then provide cross-case analysis which is distilled into guidance for all stakeholders as they transform their initial vision into built reality. In particular, the book challenges the technical focus of existing design guides for the Performing Arts by suggesting that current practice in briefing and design does not serve the Arts community especially well. It shows that there is a need for an approach in which the focus is firmly rooted in the delivery of the driving artistic vision. As well as being of interest to architects, urban designers and those involved in theatre studies, this book will be useful to other sectors where public money is spent on major building projects.