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40-621: The Stephen Joseph Theatre is a theatre in the round in Scarborough , North Yorkshire , England that was founded by Stephen Joseph and was the first theatre in the round in Britain. In 1955, Joseph established a tiny theatre in the round on the first floor of the Public Library. The theatre flourished and in 1976 moved to a supposedly temporary home on the ground floor of the former Scarborough Boys' High School. However,

80-404: A 404-seat theatre in the round, and The McCarthy , a 165-seat end-on stage/cinema. The building also contains a restaurant, shop, and full front-of-house and backstage facilities. The Round boasts two important technical innovations: the stage lift, facilitating speedy set changes, and the trampoline, a Canadian invention which allows technicians particularly easy access to the lighting grid. It

120-554: A collective. All Word and Action productions were performed in normal lighting conditions, without costumes or makeup. The innovations of Margo Jones were an obvious influence on Albert McCleery when he created his Cameo Theatre for television in 1950. Continuing until 1955, McCleery offered dramas seen against pure black backgrounds instead of walls of a set. This enabled cameras in the darkness to pick up shots from any position. Richard Nixon's 1968 U.S. Presidential campaign staged nine live televised question and answer sessions using

160-472: A crowd. Street theatre should be distinguished from other more formal outdoor theatrical performances, such as performances in a park or garden, where there is a discrete space set aside (or roped off) and a ticketed audience. In some cases, street theatre performers have to get a licence or specific permission through local or state governments in order to perform. Many performers travel internationally to certain locations of note. Street theatre

200-476: A drama with others. The stage is always in the centre with the audience arranged on all sides, and is most commonly rectangular, circular, diamond, or triangular. Actors may enter and exit through the audience from different directions or from below the stage. The stage is usually on an even level with or below the audience in a "pit" or "arena" formation. This configuration lends itself to high-energy productions and anything that requires audience participation. It

240-522: A ground-breaking theatre-in-the-round format, adapted for a live televised audience. The first time use of the staging device was memorialized in the book, The Selling of the President 1968 by Joe McGinniss . The producer of these Nixon "Man in the Arena" programs was Roger Ailes , who later went to on start Fox News . Ailes' innovation of the theatre-in-the-round format for candidate forums became

280-533: A permanent home proved difficult to find and it was not until late 1988 and the closure of the local Odeon cinema by Rank Leisure that the theatre's long-standing Artistic Director, Alan Ayckbourn , found a suitable venue. Ayckbourn launched a £4 million appeal to transform the old cinema with a view to opening it up in 1995. The new theatre, known simply as the Stephen Joseph Theatre, opened in 1996 and comprises two auditoria: The Round ,

320-430: A pre-arranged scenario, looking beautiful or surreal or simply just involving passers by in conversation. They did not seek to trick in a Candid Camera way, but rather invited the audience to pretend along with them. No amount of planning or rehearsal could dictate what would happen. Another example would be Natural Theatre's Pink Suitcase scenario. A number of smartly dressed people carrying bright pink suitcases enter

360-399: A set of streets or buildings. They search for and miss their companions. In their search they get on buses, hail cabs, end up in shop windows, etc. By the time they meet up at a pre-arranged spot with the help of passers-by, perceptions of the area have changed and shopping has ceased for at least a few moments. The humour is universal and this piece has been seen in nearly seventy countries. It

400-575: A situation close to their original context. Whatever the reason for choosing the street, the street is a place with a different set of possibilities than the conventional theatre space. Sue Gill of Welfare State International argues that a street theatre performance is not a lesser form than an indoor performance, nor is it simply taking what you do on stage and placing it outdoors, but a form with an energy and an integrity of its own. Many companies are politically motivated and use street theatre to combine performance with protest. This has occurred through

440-434: A voluntary basis. The nature of this type of performance is temporary, generally lasting only a few hours, and is considered much more accessible and easier to participate in than in a gallery or a museum , as those who might not have ever been to a theatre or museum can participate in interactive street theatre. Some interactive art installations allow visitors to walk in, on, and around them, or allow them to play with

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480-404: Is a particularly appropriate setting for staging of dramas using Bertolt Brecht 's alienation effect , which stands in opposition to the more traditional Stanislavski technique in drama. Alienation techniques include visible lighting fixtures and other technical elements. Round theatres also allow lighting parts of the audience so that people are reminded that they are in a theatre watching

520-480: Is also the place where the image used for the cover of Richard Hawley 's album Coles Corner was taken. Theatre in the round Theatre-in-the-round was common in ancient theatre, particularly that of Greece and Rome , but was not widely explored again until the latter half of the 20th century. The Glenn Hughes Penthouse Theatre in Seattle, Washington was the first theatre-in-the-round venue built in

560-438: Is arguably the oldest form of theatre in existence: most mainstream entertainment mediums can be traced back to origins in street performing, including religious passion plays and many other forms. More recently performers who, a hundred years ago, would have made their living working in variety theatres , music halls and in vaudeville , now often perform professionally in the many well-known street performance areas throughout

600-405: Is favoured by producers of classical theatre and it has continued as a creative alternative to the more common proscenium format. In effect, theatre-in-the-round removes the fourth wall and brings the actor into the same space as the audience. This is often problematic for proscenium or end stage trained actors who are taught that they must never turn their backs to the audience, something that

640-466: Is that they can cause side effects such as cancer , which is false. The public play was placed in the city plazas and also outside of hospitals and clinics where people are possibly going to receive information regarding parent planning and contraceptives. The significance of this play was that it promoted safe sex information that protects against unwanted pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases that can be caused by unprotected sex. It educated

680-433: Is unavoidable in this format. However, it allows for strong and direct engagement with the audience. It is also employed when theatrical performances are presented in non-traditional spaces such as restaurants, public squares, or during street theater . Set design is usually minimal since it would obscure the audience's view. Theatre-in-the-round was common in ancient theatre, particularly that of Greece and Rome , but

720-429: Is usually performed by four or five actors, but has been done with twenty-five. Interactive street theatre is a combination of two separate art forms, street theatre and interactive art . Unlike other interactive art, the presentation of interactive street theatre is outside in a public place and most of the time at festivals . The audience of interactive street theatre consists of passers-by who stop to participate on

760-549: The guerrilla theatre of San Francisco Mime Troupe , The Living Theatre , the carnivalesque parades of Bread and Puppet Theatre , and the work of Ashesh Malla and the Sarwanam Theatre Group of Nepal . A character-based street theatre which developed in the 1960s and 1970s was developed by groups like Lumiere and Son, John Bull Puncture Repair Kit, Exploded Eye and Natural Theatre Company. The performances were unannounced and featured characters who acted out

800-525: The Fair Oaks Playbox in Pasadena, California, an important early practitioner of central staging in addition to other stage configurations that it pioneered in its advent of flexible staging . As Indicated by Jones, the centrally staged productions of the Fair Oaks Playbox were followed approximately eight years later by the work of Glenn Hughes in his Seattle Penthouse. Stephen Joseph was

840-751: The United States. It first opened on May 19, 1940 with a production of Spring Dance , a comedy by playwright Philip Barry . The 160-seat theatre is located on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle and is on the National Register of Historic Places . In 1947, Margo Jones established America's first professional theatre-in-the-round company when she opened her Theater '47 in Dallas. The stage design as developed by Margo Jones

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880-419: The audience and so necessarily lose exclusive command of the acting space. All members of the audience can see the actor, but the actor can no longer see all of them. At this point, in order for the play to function, the audience themselves must be allowed to become key conductors of the meaning of the performance. Some, like the writer Mick Fealty , have stressed a close analogy between Gregory's description of

920-525: The blueprint for modern "town hall" candidate formats and even multiple-candidate debates. Elvis Presley's '68 Comeback Special TV program was performed with the musicians seated using a raised staging in-the-round format. When an arena staging was conceived for the progressive-rock group Yes by their tour manager Jim Halley in the mid-1970s, it prompted a redesign of rock concerts and venue seating arrangements. The politics of theatre-in-the-round were explored most deliberately by RG Gregory. In his view

960-493: The dropping of a coin in a hat by the audience. The logistics of doing street theatre necessitate simple costumes and props , and often there is little or no amplification of sound, with actors depending on their natural vocal and physical ability. This issue with sound has meant that physical theatre , including dance, mime and slapstick , is a very popular genre in an outdoor setting. The performances need to be highly visible, loud and simple to follow in order to attract

1000-858: The first to popularise the form in the United Kingdom from the US in the 1950s and set up theatres-in-the-round in Newcastle-under-Lyme and the Studio Theatre in Scarborough. The current theatre, opened in 1996, is known as the Stephen Joseph Theatre . Joseph was reputed to have once rhetorically asked, "Why must authorities stand with their back to a wall?" His answer was: "So nobody can knife them from behind." Sam Walters set up an impromptu performance space in

1040-407: The lit space of a proscenium arch is analogous to the seat of power; the audience adopts the role of passive receivers. In traditional theatre design, maximum care is taken with sight lines in order to ensure that the actor can engage every member of the audience at the same time. However, once removed from the picture frame of the arch, the actors are compelled to turn their back on some members of

1080-469: The loaves of bread for explosives. Other artists consider a paying, theatre-going public to be unrepresentative of the public to whom they are trying to communicate, and performing to 'the man on the street' may be considered a more democratic form of dissemination. Some contemporary street theatre practitioners have extensively studied pre-existing street and popular theatre traditions, such as Carnival , commedia dell'arte etc. and wish to present them in

1120-485: The object of the installations. Another way interactive theatre is done is that spectators themselves become part of the artwork . There are also types of interactive street theatre where that spectator becomes an active part of the show and works together with the artist to create a magnificent collective art piece. In Peru , interactive street theatre was used to raise awareness of the many misconceptions of family planning and use of contraceptives . The play "Ms. Rumors"

1160-427: The public on misinformation such as condoms being uncomfortable, contraceptives causing abortions , and many other misconceptions that were made up due to lack of knowledge on contraceptives and family planning. In South Africa , interactive street theater was used to raise awareness to health causes such as AIDS or HIV and how certain behaviours promote the increase of the virus. Puppet shows were performed in

1200-539: The rudimentary dynamics of theater-in-the-round with the network effect of Internet-based communication in comparison to traditional broadcast and marketing channels. George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia is home to the largest arena stage archive and contains material from the theatre's 50-year history. Included in the collection are photographs, production notebooks, scrapbooks, playbills, oral histories and handwritten correspondence. According to their website,

1240-627: The street as a means of directly confronting or engaging the public. For example, multimedia artist Caeser Pink and his group of performers known as The Imperial Orgy staged a piece titled Our Daily Bread that brought performers onto the streets of the New York's financial district to ceremoniously lay loaves of Wonder Bread along the sidewalks, each with an advertisement from Satan offering to buy people's souls in exchange for material possessions. The performance caused an uproar when police were called out and bomb-sniffing dogs were brought in to inspect

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1280-423: The streets to educate the public of how deadly contracting aids or HIV virus is. The show consisted of the main character having aids and transmitting the disease to others, which ultimately led to the death of the character and the transmission of it to other people as well. Having these performances played in public will raise awareness to the deadly virus, that many people may not have had knowledge of. It educated

1320-764: The total volume is 260 cubic feet (7.4 m ) or 440 feet (130 m) linear and is housed in the Fenwick Library. Street theater Street theatre is a form of theatrical performance and presentation in outdoor public spaces without a specific paying audience. These spaces can be anywhere, including shopping centres , car parks , recreational reserves, college or university campus and street corners. They are especially seen in outdoor spaces where there are large numbers of people. The actors who perform street theatre range from buskers to organised theatre companies or groups that want to experiment with performance spaces, or to promote their mainstream work. It

1360-711: The upstairs of the Orange Tree pub in Richmond, London in the early 1970s and subsequently moved across the road to a permanent Orange Tree Theatre . In 1972, RG Gregory set up the Word and Action theatre company in Dorset in England to work exclusively in theatre-in-the-round. Gregory sought to create a grammar that would enable actors to maximise the form's potential for connecting with the audience both as individuals and as

1400-567: The world. Notable performers that began their careers as street theatre performers include Robin Williams , David Bowie , Jewel and Harry Anderson . Street theatre is a way to make traditional theatre accessible for those who may not be able to otherwise attend or afford tickets. The audience typically consists of anyone and everyone who wants to watch and for most performances is free public entertainment. Performance artists with an interest in social activism may choose to stage their work on

1440-510: Was a source of providing information to people when there were no sources of providing information like television, radio etc. Nowadays, street play is used to convey a message to the crowd watching it. Street play is considered to be the rawest form of acting, because one does not have a microphone or loud speakers. Sometimes performers are commissioned, especially for street festivals , children's shows or parades , but more often street theatre performers are unpaid or gather some income through

1480-405: Was followed by a forum to discuss any questions the audience had about parent planning, which worked better than private counselling since people would have the support of their peers, and the answers would educate the entire group. The play "Ms. Rumors" focused on the information that is usually misrepresented regarding birth control pills or "the pill". One of the rumours about birth control pills

1520-406: Was not widely explored again until the latter half of the 20th century. In Margo Jones' survey of theatre-in-the-round, the first two sources of central staging in the United States she identified were the productions by Azubah Latham and Milton Smith at Columbia University dating from 1914, and T. Earl Pardoe 's productions at Brigham Young University in 1922. In 1924, Gilmor Brown founded

1560-404: Was performed as a means of promoting a much greater understanding of information regarding contraceptives and planned parenthood . The play told the audience the truth about contraceptives through the character of a pharmacist, which in turn contradicted the false claims that the character Ms.Rumors suggested. The play lasted around four months and was around twenty minutes long. The performance

1600-538: Was used by directors in later years for such well-known shows as Fun Home , the original stage production of Man of La Mancha , and all plays staged at the ANTA Washington Square Theatre (demolished in the 1960s), including Arthur Miller 's autobiographical After the Fall . Such theatres had previously existed in colleges, but not in professional theatre buildings. Theater in the round

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