Modern Theatres 1950–2020 is an investigation of theatres, concert halls and opera houses in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North and South America.
The book explores in detail 30 of the most significant theatres, concert halls, opera houses and dance spaces that opened between 1950 and 2010. Each theatre is reviewed and assessed by experts in theatre buildings, such as architects, acousticians, consultants and theatre practitioners, and illustrated with full-colour photographs and comparative plans and sections. A further 20 theatres that opened from 2009 to 2020 are concisely reviewed and illustrated.
An excellent resource for students of theatre planning, theatre architecture and architectural design, Modern Theatres 1950 – 2020 discusses the role of performing arts buildings in cities, explores their public and performances spaces and examines the acoustics and technologies needed in a great building. This beautifully illustrated book is also a must-read for architects, theater designers, theatre historians, and theatre practitioners.
Chapter 1.00: Aspects of Modern Theatres
1.01. Edwin O. Sachs – A British Theatrical Enigma
David Wilmore
1.02. Cities, global and regenerating
David Staples
1.03. Theatres and publicness
Bostjan Vuga
1.04. Prevailing Themes in 20th Century Theatre Architecture
Joshua Dachs
1.05. Towards a new theatre architecture: developments in Britain after 1950
Alistair Fair
1.06. Front of House moves to the forefront
Robert Shook
1.07. Concert Halls, Music, and Audiences
Chris Blair
1.08. The Modern Opera House
Nicholas Payne
1.09. Playhouses and spaces for drama
Tim Foster
1.10. Stage Engineering Systems
Mark Ager
1.11. Stage Lighting
Mark White
1.12. Sound, and Opera’s Dirty Little Secret
Chris Full
1.13. New Technologies and Performance
Raj Patel
1.14. Acoustics and the Modern Theatre
Sebastien Jouan
Chapter 2.00: Thirty Significant Theatres 1950 to 2010
Chapter 3.00: Fifties
3.01. Royal Festival Hall, 1951, London, UK
Miles Glendinning and Sebastien Jouan
3.02. Festival Theatre, 1957, Stratford, Ontario, Canada
Gary McCluskie
3.03. Kalita Humphreys Theater, 1959, Dallas, Texas
David Staples
3.04. Musiktheater im Revier, 1959, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Elain Harwood
Chapter 4.00: Sixties
4.01. Arena Stage, Washington, DC, USA
Joshua Dachs
4.02. Bunka Kaikan, 1961, Tokyo, Japan
Shozo Motosugi
4.03. Philharmonie, 1963, Berlin, Germany
Karin Winkelsesser
Chapter 5.00: Seventies
5.01. Finlandia Hall, 1971, Helsinki, Finland
David Staples
5.02. Sydney Opera House, 1973, Sydney, Australia
David Staples
5.03. Teatro Regio, 1971, Torino, Italy
David Staples and Simone Solinas
5.04. Royal National Theatre, 1976, London, UK
Patrick Dillon
5.05. Royal Exchange Theatre, 1976, Manchester, England
Andy Hayles
Chapter 6.00: Eighties
6.01. Schaubühne at Lehniner Platz, 1981, Berlin, Germany
Reinhold Daberto
6.02. Arts Centre Melbourne, 1982, Melbourne, Australia
Tim Brinkman
6.03. Joyce Theater, 1982, New York, NY, USA
Elizabeth Bradley
6.04. Derngate, 1983, Northampton, England
Roger Hopwood
6.05. Lucent Danstheater, 1987, The Hague, Netherlands
Eric Blom and Lian The
6.06. Opéra Bastille, 1989, Paris, France
Michel da Costa Gonçalves
Chapter 7.00: Nineties
7.01. Sadler’s Wells Theatre, 1998, London, UK
Richard York
Chapter 8.00: New Millennium
8.01. The Lowry, 2000, Salford, United Kingdom
Alistair Fair
8.02. Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, 2002, Singapore
Gaurav Kripalani
8.03. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 2003, Los Angeles, California, USA
Carl Giegold
8.04. KÀ Theater, 2004, MGM Grand Hotel, Las Vegas, AZ, USA
David Barbour
8.05. Matsumoto Performing Arts Centre, 2004, Matsumoto, Japan
Shozo Motosugi
8.06. Casa da Música, 2005, Porto, Portugal
Maria Rita Liberal Arnaut
8.07. Auditório Ibirapuera ‘Oscar Niemeyer’, 2005, São Paulo, Brazil
Claudia Toni
8.08. National Center for the Performing Arts, 2007, Beijing, China
Jörg Kümmel
8.09. Operahuset, 2008, Oslo, Norway
David Turnbull
8.10. National Opera House, 2008, Wexford, Ireland
David Staples
8.11. DR Koncerthuset, 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark
Allan Xenius Grige
8.12. Guangzhou Opera, 2010, Guangzhou, China
David Staples
Chapter 9.00: Snapshots of twenty theatres – 2011 to 2020 - David Staples
9.01. Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, 2009, Dallas, Texas, USA
Karin Winkelsesser
9.02. Onassis Cultural Centre, 2010, Athens, Greece
Karin Winkelsesser
9.03. New World Center, 2011, Miami, FL, USA
Karin Winkelsesser
9.04. Royal Opera House, 2011, Muscat, Oman
Karin Winkelsesser
9.05. Harpa, 2011, Reykjavik, Iceland
David Staples
9.06. Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 2011, Stratford-upon-Avon
Alistair Fair
9.07. Heydar Aliyev Center, 2012, Baku, Azerbaijan
David Staples
9.08. `A`ali`ikūhonua Creative Arts Center, 2012, Seabury Hall, Maui, USA
David Staples
9.09. Musiktheater am Volksgarten, 2013, Linz, Austria
Karin Winkelsesser
9.10. Everyman Theatre, 2014, Liverpool, UK
Alistair Fair
9.11. Han Show Theatre, 2014, Wuhan, China
Karin Winkelsesser
9.12. Harbin Opera House, 2015, Harbin, China
David Staples
9.13. Dubai Opera, 2016, Dubai, UAE
Karin Winkelsesser
9.14. Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, 2017, Athens, Greece
Karin Winkelsesser
9.15. Boulez Saal, 2017, Berlin, Germany
Karin Winkelsesser
9.16. Elbphilharmonie, 2017, Hamburg, Germany
Karin Winkelsesser
9.17. Bridge Theatre, 2017, London, UK
David Staples
9.18. National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, 2018, Taiwan
Karin Winkelsesser
9.19. The Shed, The Bloomberg Building, 2019, New York
David Staples
9.20. Xiqu Centre, 2019, Hong Kong
David Staples
Chapter 10.00: Conclusions
10.01. Postscript – "The Ghost Light"
Chapter 11.00: Modern Theatres contributors
Biography
David Staples has been a theatre consultant for over 40 years, working on opera houses, concert halls and theatres in 67 countries. His projects include the Oslo Opera in Norway, Esplanade in Singapore, Lowry in England and Portland Center for Performing Arts in Oregon, USA. He has lectured on every continent except Antarctica and is a former chair of the Society of Theatre Consultants, a member of the International Society of Performing Arts, of Opera Europa, a Fellow of the Association of British Theatre Technicians and a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.
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