Flexible Staging

The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre | 1996 | 700+ words | Copyright

Flexible Staging, type of staging which goes back, in essentials, to the Greek and Elizabethan theatres in an effort to break away from the conventions of the proscenium or pictureframe stage. The initial aim was to re-create a sense of intimacy and immediacy between actors and audience by abolishing the proscenium arch. This led to the evolution of the all-purpose theatre which provides a variety of seating plans and adaptable levels and shapes for the stage. Such theatres can be used for theatre-in-the-round, for productions with the audience on three sides of the acting area (the open, or thrust, stage), for staging at one end of a hall, usually with a large forestage, or for proscenium productions. Pioneering English examples include the university theatre at Bristol, the Questors Theatre at Ealing, London, the experimental theatre belonging to the London Academy of Music and Drama, and the Cottesloe Theatre.

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PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Flexible Staging." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Flexible Staging." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-FlexibleStaging.html

PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Flexible Staging." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-FlexibleStaging.html

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