Theatre Projects and the National Theatre Design

May 12, 2004

From the beginnings of the National Theatre Company at the Old Vic Theatre in London, I was lighting designer to Sir Laurence Olivier. As planning for the new theatre building began, Sir Laurence invited me to join the Building Committee to represent the "practical" aspects of theatre.

The center of debate was the principal theatre, the Olivier. It was already decided that it should be an open stage theatre: one in which the audience partially surrounded the action that took place in the same space.

There was intense debate about the role of scenery. Sir Tyrone Guthrie (also on the Building Committee), the pioneer of the modern thrust stage, advocated that such a stage was for actors and text alone, at most supported by costume and simple illumination. However, even in those early days of 1967, most directors working on thrust stages were using visual effects.

The final brief for the Olivier was "a modified thrust stage capable of providing a full scenic environment, ALSO capable of operating in repertoire with a twice daily changeover of production." Theatre Projects was appointed theatre consultant. The solutions for the stage led to the world's first thrust stage with a cruciform-style rear and side stages, a full fly tower overhead and a most unusual understage.

At first, we explored traps, modular elevators, or a revolve. With the audience partly surrounding the stage, a problem seemed to be that scenery - hanging or rising - ACROSS the stage might not be very useful. Why would scenic elements necessarily be set at right angles to the centerline? Above the stage this led to the design of a computerized point line flying system, to allow scenery of any shape to be hung anywhere at any angle. But below the floor, the question was more complex. Any elevator or trap system set rigidly at right angles seemed too confining.

My partner, Richard Brett, and I went to Vienna to look at the famous drum revolving stage at the Burgtheater. We met with Waagner-Biro, the builders of that amazing piece of theatre technology. It is a revolving stage with rectangular elevators within that allow a scene to be changed by lowering it into the cellar and replacing it with another from below. For the Olivier this seemed an interesting possibility. But our thrust stage seemed to pose extra problems. On any thrust stage, the floor surface itself is an important part of the scenic environment. A rectangular lift, even in a revolving stage, presented limitations. Only the rectangular elevator that would fit within the circumference of the revolve would be changeable. What of the surrounding area?

Finally the "Theta" drum (as Richard Brett and I began to call it) was drawn on a napkin. It was a drum that contained two SEMI-CIRCULAR elevators. Each elevator would stretch to the edge of the thrust and thus allow the removal downward of the acting area. On top of the rotating drum would be a semi-circular disk, capable of being located over either elevator, but capable of independent rotation. Plentiful traps in both elevators and the disk could be rotated to achieve access from below at any point or at any angle.

So the design evolved. It would provide: