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Groβes Schauspielhaus

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

Groβes Schauspielhaus, Berlin, converted from the Zirkus Schumann for Max Reinhardt by the German architect Hans Poelzig (1869–1936). Intended to achieve the maximum unity of stage and auditorium, it had seating for over 3,000 on three sides of a U-shaped forestage made up of three movable segments. This could be shut off by a movable wall from a main stage 30 metres deep and 20 metres wide, flanked by banks of steps, and having an 18-metre revolve. Behind this was a huge domed cyclorama illuminated from the flies by banks of spotlights in five colours, and pierced with stars which were echoed in the light-tipped stalactites decorating the dome above the auditorium. This early attempt to get away from the proscenium arch was a seminal design for later arena theatres. The Groβes Schauspielhaus, which opened in 1919 with Reinhardt's production of Aeschylus' Oresteia, was later modified and renamed the Friedrichsstadt-Palast.

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

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

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

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