Visualising Lost Theatres

Virtual Praxis and the Recovery of Performance Spaces

Joanne Tompkins, Julie Holledge, Jonathan Bollen, Liyang Xia

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN:
  9781108476751
• eBook ISBN:
  9781108755863
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

This pioneering study harnesses virtual reality to uncover the history of five venues that have been 'lost' to us: London's 1590s Rose Theatre; Bergen's mid-nineteenth-century Komediehuset; Adelaide's Queen's Theatre of 1841; circus tents hosting Cantonese opera performances in Australia's goldfields in the 1850s; and the Stardust showroom in 1950s Las Vegas. Shaping some of the most enduring genres of world theatre and cultural production, each venue marks a significant cultural transformation, charted here through detailed discussion of theatrical praxis and socio-political history. Using virtual models as performance laboratories for research, Visualising Lost Theatres recreates the immersive feel of venues and reveals performance logistics for actors and audiences. Proposing a new methodology for using visualisations as a tool in theatre history, and providing 3D visualisations for the reader to consult alongside the text, this is a landmark contribution to the digital humanities.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Series page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: Theatre Venues and Visualisation
• 1 The Rose Theatre, London, and Stage Movement in Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus
• 2 Komediehuset, Bergen, and Henrik Ibsen’s Stagecraft in His First Theatre
• 3 A Colonial Audience Watching Othello at the Queen’s Theatre, Adelaide
• 4 Cantonese Opera and the Layering of Space on the Australian Goldfields
• 5 The Design of Attraction at the Stardust Showroom in Las Vegas
• Conclusion: Visualising the Future of Theatre Research
• Appendix: The Eighteen Scripts of the Underworld
• References
• Index