MODERNIST FORM IN EARLY 20th CENTURY THEATRES IN

Ross Thorne

Introduction

A brief discussion of the influence of modernism on the design of a particular building type necessitates two explanations: first, there is an assumption of the parameters of modernism in architectural design and second, there is the explanation of what modernism might represent to the function or use of the particular building type - in this case, theatre. The former is relatively easy to do, but the latter presents some difficulties which will be outlined in due course. It is assumed that visually, architectural modernism generally conforms to the International Style as described by Hitchcock and Johnson;l it is related to function and visual composition as described by Colquhoun2 and it is devoid of eclectic historical and other superficial surface decoration, as manifested by Gropius3 and Le Corbusie~.~Even with this almost puritan European (perhaps also Scandanavian) picture, the importance of the fringe dwellers of the Modem Movement cannot be forgotten - the Expressionists (particularly Erich Mendelsohn) for their influence on the visual attributes of Australian theatre design.

In this paper 'theatre' will include buildings that were originally built (or altered) for an audience to watch a theatrical performance, whether functioning 'live', cinematic or a mixture of the two (as occurred with a number of buildings constructed in the 1920s and 1930s). Such a catholic interpretation of 'theatre' conforms to the use of the term in USA5 and permits scrutiny of the development of the theatrical designs of one or two architects who specialised in designing theatres for both types of function.

As well as affecting architecture the Modern Movement, or modernism, affected other disciplines and intellectual pursuits. The one with which this paper is concerned is what is generally called 'theatre', representing theatre studies and theatre practice. The former comprises an extensive literature, not of analysing performances so much as discussing the dramatic literature and philosophies of writers of drama. This emanates largely from academics in Departments of

FABRICATIONS 5, September 1994 Pages 87-113 ROSSTHORNE 87 FABRICATIONS English, French and other languages who analyse the dramatic language of the writers in those languages. Occasionally, the physical relationship of the actor and audience is mentioned but only where it is impossible to ignore it as, for instance, with the products of Grotowski in P~land,~where the action is threaded between and through the audience. In complaining about this type of theatre (studies) Carlson raises the spectre of Joel Springam, one time Professor of English at Columbia University. Springam attempted to 'analyse the written text without the "distractions" of cultural or historical context', claiming that 'the study of the history of theatrical spaces . . . had no more to do with the understanding of the drama than the study of the history of printing had to do with the understanding of p~etry.~

This an early and extreme case, and Carlson admits that today few university departments of English do not consider how a dramatic piece might have been perf~rmed.~But his whole thesis of dicussing the semiotics or meaning of theatre architecture is to go beyond the discussion of the use of the performance space (i.e. the stage) by actors performing a play, to how the audience, in every way, perceives the play, both as an intellectual experience and one of the setting and how the (architectural and stage) setting design may enhance or detract from appreciation of the performance and literature being presented.8

The next section provides an overview of how the Modem Movements of architecture and theatre (studies and practice) dealt with theatre design in terms of an early twentieth century avant garde approach to the actor-audience relationship through the design of the physical space that the two sets of participants shared. It will also view what little architectonic expression arises from the modernist architects for theatre design. Australian theatre design will then be discussed in terms of both these fundamentals, that is, how theatre design in Australia was influenced by architectural and theatre (studieslpractice) modernists.

Taking these two strands of modernism the paper will conclude that live' theatre design in Australia, while little influenced by modernist architects, was, rather belatedly, more influenced by theatre practitioners, and that mostly movie theatre design was influenced by modernist architects, mostly through the visual elements they had developed - that is, in a stylistic way.

I I ROSS THORNE 88 FABRICATIONS Fig 1 Australian Art Deco at the Orpheum Theatre, Cremorne, NSW

Fig 2 Expressionist exterior: Ozone Theatre, Mildura, by Taylor, Soilleux & Overend, architects

ROSS THORNE 89 FABRICATIONS The Modern Movement and theatre: the 'Influencers'

The contribution of architects

The principal architectural players or 'influencers' in the modem movement are generally assumed to be those architects who had what what were considered avant garde ideas (personal philosophies or theories) for the time, and seemed able to articulate them. Accordingly, Le Corbusier and the architects and designers from the Bauhaus are dominant for Europe, and Frank Lloyd Wright is dominant for USA. The dispersal of the personnel from the Bauhaus in the early 1930s, first to Britain and then to the USA, possibly had a type of 'missionary effect' of 'spreading the word' - literally.

The writings of Le Corbusier and, in particular, the main architectural force at the Bauhaus, Walter Gropius, tend to have a socio-political message. The former suggests how people should live in cities - in large high-rise blocks of flats 'organised in an orderly way'g with lots of open space betwen the blocks. He was concerned with how people lived,ll trying to solve the housing problem with mass produced housing, particularly for 'artisans', and producing a 'free plan' and 'free facade' as a revolution against the 'paralyzed plan' of houses.12 The only reference to theatre-type spaces in the four works of Le Corbusier cited, is one to the Palace of the League of Nations Assembly Hall (1928) that he designed, showing acoustic and air movement considerations in a fairly conventional but simple auditorium sectional shape.13 Gropius also was also concerned with housing and urban planning, coming to similar conclusions to those of Le Corbusier - high rise with space between for light, air and ground to use by the inhabitants.14 It was his way of attempting to overcome the 'burning and baffling problem' of town planning.15 Although the two works cited detail housing, illustrate workers' housing, schools and factories, there is no reference to theatre except for an illustration of a 'reconstruction' of the conventional Jena Municipal Theatre (1922). The exterior illustration - the only information provided - shows a composition of simple forms and voids minus any decoration.16

Hitchcock and Johnson, in their 1932 originated work on the modem movement in architecture, also illustrate houses, workers' housing, elderly persons' housing, schools, factories and other work environments, some recreational facilities, but only one movie theatre in Stockholm (1929) in which 'acoustical considerations determine the

ROSS THORNE 90 FABRICATIONS shape of the interior.'17

Resorting, generally, to documentation on the Bauhaus and particularly theatre, as it existed at the Bauhaus, the picture is fleshed out somewhat but it is limited in its scope. Both Schle~uner~~and Moholy-Nagy19 produced a distinctive form of a designers' dance theatre that seemed to relegate the body of the performer to being the motor for a type of kinetic art. Molnar produced a diagrammatic scheme for a U-shaped theatre (1924) which attempted to combine the 'traditional' scenic stage, an apron, and an area, further in front, that could be used as a thrust stage.20 The audience, on a steep rake, surrounded this thrust on three sides. Quite high, above the rear rows of this audience were three narrow tiers of boxes, possibly derived from the traditional European opera-house format. Weininger produced a spherical theatre (1927) - illustrated only as an auditorium with what seem to be narrow rows of boxes rising up the internal wall of the sphere. They surrounded a central circular stage where the sphere 'sits' on the ground.21 How such a theatre would work is very vague. The final Bauhaus design for a theatre was for a client. Designed by Gropius, it is titled Total Theatre' and, although more completely documented than the other two, there is still an element of vagueness on how it would really work as a theatre. It attempted to be adaptable from theatre-in-the-round, to a type of Greek theatre format, and to a type of scenic stage format, being designed in either 1926 or 1927.22

A designer, Norman Be1 Geddes, at about the same time as the Bauhaus, produced as many if not more theatre designsz3 than the members of that institution. In 1922 he designed a theatre-in-the-round with a high domical roof that would have had exraordinady poor acoustic^.^^ In 1929 he designed a pair of comer stage (diagonal axis) theatres titled 'Repertory Theater', again each with a domed ceiling encompassing stage and auditorium. The splayed auditoria walls were at a %-degree angle to each other. This design was a response to what Geddes considered was a wasteful use of space in the design of traditional (longitudinal axis) proscenium theatres.25 He describes how this was a development of his Theatre Number 6, designed in 1914.26

Being consistent with his concept of domical roofs, and %-degree fan auditoria, Geddes designed a 'Divine Comedy Theater' for the Chicago World's Fair in 1929.27 More conventional, but still with a wide, over 90-degree fan auditorium, he produced for the competition, by

ROSS THORNE 91 FABRICATIONS invitation, a design for the Ukranian State Theatre, Karkov (1931).28 At last, the section appears acoustically realistic; and the folded ceiling shows Expressionist influences in its indirect lighting.

Although Geddes claims that 50 theatres were built between 1922 and 1932, using his concept of the stage-auditorium relationship developed in 1914 (Theatre Number 6)29 these would not be as the scheme was published with its domical ceiling. According to his experience as a theatre building consultant, lain Macintosh is thankful that neither the Geddes nor Gropius Total Theatre projects was ever built because they would have been un~orkable.~~He places the lack of real architectural influence in the context of more effective influences.

The repetition of illustrations of rarely realised projects by Gropius, Geddes and Poelzig probably accounts for the impression that the taste of the purifiers [of the modem movement] in the first half of the twentieth century was chiefly for new uncluttered forms of theatre in which unbroken arcs of audiences in vast 'democratic' auditoriums shared a single space with all-embracing spectacle shaped by the directors who claimed to be the new artists of the theatre. But there was another strand in the new movement that was anti-pictorial and sought not a wider canvas [of spectacle provided by complex machinery] but a narrower concentration on the text and on character. This second group can be further divided into those who saw no need to change the theatre structure itself to create 'a new theatre' and those who were for a return to Shakespearian or even Athenian simplicity of theatrical design.31 (This author's emphsis.)

Notwithstanding another theatre design consultant's considering these visionary designs naive for their lack of workability as theatres (and also being thankful that they weren't built),32 'impression', in the above quotation, seems to be the operative word. Apart from one contemporary article extolling the virtues of Geddes' Number 6 design33 other journals and books, from USA, that specialised in theatre design, continued, until 1930, to promote the traditional theatre form, decorated with historicist elements.34 The generalist histories and encyclopaedic works on theatre mostly do not mention the Bauhaus, Gropius or the Total TheatrS5 but are more likely to mention or have an entry on Irwin Piscator, the avant garde theatre-director client for the Total Theatre project. Whereas Gropius gives the impression that the design and its intentions for theatre production emanated from his design,36 they appear to have been

ROSS THORNE 92 FABRICATIONS conceived by Rscator who set up most of the ideas temporarily, for a production of Rasputin in 1927.37 Geddes claimed that his solution of 1914 'has been utilised in over fifty theatres by various architects since its description' in the Architectural Record in 1922.38 Since no published building resembles the design as a whole, it can only be assumed that the 'utilisation' was the plan concept of having the axis of the auditorium diagonally across the site with the stage in one comer, as was the case in the traditional proscenium-format Empire Theatre (Sydney) in 1926.39 It allowed the entepreneur to maximise the auditorium capacity and skimp miserably on foyer and stage space. Geddes' thetare-in-the-round (Theatre Number 14, 1922) is extolled for its 'influence', long after the event, by a devotee to that form, Stephen Jo~eph.~But a theatre designer, contemporary of both Geddes and Gropius, Jo Mielziner, points out that experiments in theatre-in-the-round date from 1914 in USA;41 and designs for thrust stage theatres from 1875 in France. The latter, designed by Davioud and Bourdais, provided for an audience on three sides of the stage and had, unusually for the time, well-calculated sight lines.42 Mielziner virtually only gives a nodding acknowledgement to the vision of Gr0pius4~in an otherwise sea of influences, mostly from theatre directors, writers and a few stage designers and engineers.

If avant garde function, expressed as architectural designs of the Modem Movement, possibly had relatively little influence on the general design of theatres, the same cannot be said for the influence of surface visual attributes. Through the 1930s surface decoration would be reduced and, in some cases, replaced by stepped, straight, or curved planes developed for both reasons of utilising indirect lighting and acoustics. At the start of the decade the motion picture exhibitor journals of USA first noted a change in the style of surface decoration - from historicallethnic to what we now know as Art Deco, sometimes referring to it as modern is ti^'.^" However, at that time a design for the Playhouse at Newark, New Jersey (1930), appearing highly influenced by the Modem Movement of the Bauhaus andlor Erich Mendelshn, was referred to as 'the bizarre restraint of adsoneed modernistic design'.45 (This author's emphasis.) Perhaps this indicates the conservatism in USA, for there could be no greater difference than illustrated by the two books, published in 1930, both purporting to be 'up to date' according to their titles: one is of US theatres, the other of European (including British) examples.* Sexton's selections for the US have invariably, highly decorated wall surfaces in historical, ethnic or, on occasions, Art Deco patterns; those selected by Morton Shand include ones by Expressionist

ROSS THORNE 93 FABRICATIONS architects such as Hans Poelzig, Erich Mendelsohn, and others who designed almost as important non-traditional examples.47

Perhaps because Theatres were mostly designed by 'commercial' architects, they were attracted to modernist ideas that they could interpret into something that would perhaps be 'eye-catching', or at least be visually interesting. Dynamic external form became important, as exemplified by the Universum Cinema, Berlin, by Mendelsoh in 1928-29,48or by the Dutch architects, after the fusion of the Amsterdam and Rotterdam schools. This fusion was 'no doubt facilitated by the existence around 1925, of independant WrightIBerlagians like Willem Marinus Dudok, who subsequently became the hero-figure of middle-of-the-road modernist^'^^ or the non-purist Modernists, who are more likely to have been the designers of theatres. Mendelsohn had met the Rotterdam and Amsterdam architects and felt that something between the two, 'function plus dynamics' was the challenge for architect~re.~~This is rather what both he and Dudok achieved. The other characteristic which had considerable influence was the use of light, both internally and externally. For the former, the use of vast indirectly lit troughs or wall surfaces, washed with light, became a feature of many of the modernist theatres. The dark hard edge adjacent to the light that washed across a surface, fading gradually to another hard edge, sometimes echoed a characteristic of Cubist paintings,51 albeit more geometric in theatre interiors.

Some influential examples are likely to have been:

Gross Schauspielhaus, Berlin, 1918-19,52 Titania Palast, Berlin, 1921,53 Capitol Theatre, Berlin, 1926,% Universum Cinema, Berlin, 1928-29,55 Gaumont Palace, Paris, 1931;56

and second hand, through the influence of the German Expressionists, particularly the brothers Max and Bruno Taut on the architect Raymond Hood:57

Radio City Music Hall, New York, 1932, RKO Roxy Theatre, New York, 1932, the former for its 'sunburst' of indirectly lit concentric semi-circular , planes sweeping across the audit~rium;~~and the latter for its

ROSS THOKNE 94 FABRICATIONS Fig 3 Expressionist interior: King's Theatre, Spit Junction (Moman), NSW, by Crick & Fume, architects

Fig 4 A 1921 'Streamline'interior: Foyer of the Titania Palast Cinema, Berlin, predating streamline industn.al and product design by a decade and more

ROSS THORNE 95 FABRICATIONS auditorium's simple, horizontally banded wall panelling.59

Another intermediary influence between the Expressionist architects and Australian theatre design, would be a few of the movie theatres designed for the Odeon chain of Oscar Deutsch in Britain - in particular by the architect Harry Weedon - such as:

Odeon Theatre, , 1936, Odeon Theatre, Scarborough, 1936, Odeon Theatre, Colwyn Bay, 1936,60 all possessing somewhat exaggerated Expressionist sculptural attributes that appear to be derived from the design of the Universum Cinema, Berlin, andlor some of Dudok's buuldings.

The contribution of the theatrical profession

If modernist architects are responsible for the transfer of visual style to Australia, it is the modernist members of the theatrical preofession and allied disciplines (writers, directors, critics, etc) that have been the influence on the functional aspects, certainly the physical relationship of the acting area to the audience, and the changes in that relationship. Some of these changes were being experimented with and documented before architects and designers were preparing 'visionary' theatres that may not have worked as functional entities. Part of this influence was the 'second strand' noted by Macintosh (as quoted above), by those who wanted to 'change the theatre structure itself to create "a new theatre" and those who were for a return to Shakespearian or Athenian simplicity.61

The term 'modem', although in the vocabulary of philosophy, did not impinge upon theatre until after 1900.62 The word was used specifically by groups breaking away from what they saw as the theatre solely concerned with entertainment'j3 - the realistic, spectacular stage which was starting to be called '~ommercial'.~~Like the Modem Movement in architecture there was a social element in their revolt, their search for novelty, for new hitherto untried achievements, even, at times, attempting to forecast the future as the 'drama of tomor~ow'.~~Some were clamouring for more social realism, others wanted to ' escape into a truly theatrical world'.66

The various streams of modernism in theatre may, for this paper, be categorised as -

ROSS THORNE 96 FABRICATIONS Naturalism and Realism; Revolt against realism; Breaking down the stage proscenium and overcoming the gulf between actor and audience; Searching for 'new' physical relationships between performers and audience (even if this means searching history for past relationships).

The latter two are the most important for architecture but the former should not be overlooked as they relate to the total experience of attending theatre.

The Cambridge Guide to World Theatre draws a difference between naturalism and realism although it admits the two are often treated as synonymous. Although naturalism 'shares the mimetic mode with realism, it takes more explicit cognizance of environment, not merely as setting but as an element of the action of drama'. Today such plays may be referred to as 'kitchen-sink drama'.'j7 Realism received its main impetus when Andre Antoine founded the Theatre Libre in Paris in 1887. He 'provided authentic settings for slice-of-life dramas that eschewed the tight suspenseful structure of the well-made play'. Realism, with 'method' acting in film and television, 'verisimilitude of setting, coherence of character, modernity of problems, and prosaic quality of dialogue' has, over the last one hundred years, become the dominant style of drama.68

In contrast to the modernist architects' contribution to theatre function (or mode of performance through spatial form) the general reference works on theatre almost invariably mention two designer-theorists who led the revolt against realism: in the first decade of this century both Edward Gordon Craig (England) and Adolphe Appia (Switzerland) abolished the 'falsities' and 'trivialities' of stage-realism and substituted three dimensional symbolic form and an imaginative use of light and shadow.69 Craig had also been an actor, wrote copiously on the theatre and directed a number of plays. In 1934, at an international conference on theatre in Rome, Craig was one of those in attendance who derided Gropius' Total Theatre concept as 'a piece of machinery that would denigrate the actor, the art and the drama itself. The challengers called for new great plays rather than new forms for the physical theatre.70 It therefore seems that both the avant garde realists and the avant garde anti-realists would not be the source of changes to physical form that would incorporate different relationships between actors and members of the audience. This was

ROSS THORNE 97 FABRICATIONS to be achieved generally by theatre directors, often experimenting in existing halls or theatre spaces, frequently to small audiences, in an amateur or semi-professional context. (In fact, similar 'little theatre' groups, interested in performing quality literary plays, burgeoned across England in the 1920s and declined in the 1930s, 71 but in USA, they continued well past World War II.72)

Around 1906 Vsevolod Meyerhold became director of Vera Komisarjevskaya's theatre in Moscow. For his production of Hedda Gabler he removed the proscenium arch and 'presented an entirely non-realistic production based on the French symbolists' principle of correspondance between moods and wl~urs'.~~From about 1908 to 1911 he experimented more and more with breaking down the barriers between stage and audience by building gangways and steps from the stage into the a~ditorium.~~

In 1913 Jacques Coupeau founded the Theatre du Vieux Columbier - an end stage with neither proscenium nor footlights75 which he remodelled in 1921 to provide 'an abstract semipermanent setting of several levels' with 'no sharp division between the stage and the audit~rium'?~Terance Gray took over a former theatre (renamed Festival Theatre) near Cambridge in 1926 and, because the two tiers above the stalls finished in front of the proscenium, he was able to remove the whole proscenium wall to produce an open flexible stage,77 where 'it was difficult to find any definite point at which the stage ended and the auditorium began.'78 When moving to new premises in 1927, Peter Godfrey, director of the Gate Theatre, had to set up a small hall with relatively low ceiling into a theatre. Only able to raise the stage a little off the floor, he steeply raked the 100 seat auditorium, commencing the first row at the edge of the stage. 'At first it was terrifying for an actor to have to play a long emotional scene with the spactators sitting at a little more than arm's length',79 but at last there was intimate theatre with subtlties of voice and facial expression, today, mostly continued in small community and studio theatres.

Intimacy was also an intention or outcome of many of the developments in new physical forms of the actor-audience relationship. Willian Poel and his Elizabethan Stage Society from 1881 continually 'stressed the value of the open stage platform',80 performing mostly in halls, lecture rooms and courtyards up until the early 1930~.~lSuch interest in how Shakespeare staged his plays was fuelled by the discovery in 1888 of de Witt's contemporary drawing of the Elizabethan period Swan Theatre.82 Nugent Monck, a professional

ROSS THORNE 98 FABRICATIONS director, set up an amateur theatre company in Norwich - the Maddermarket. After World War I he found a disused Georgian church in the small city; it possessed a gallery on three sides, so he decided to set up a stage, in 1921, modelled on the Elizabethan Fortune Theatre.83 In Moscow the Meyerhold Theatre (c 1934) was set up with a half-ellipse open thrust stage@' while, two years later, when a rain storm caused an open-air performance of Hamlet to be quickly re-staged in the banquet hall of Elsinore Castle (1936), Tyrone Guthrie chose to rearrange his Old Vic Theatre production for an open thrust stage, set against one wall.85 When the opportunity and suitable space arose again, about ten years later at the Edinburgh Festival, he did another production in similar manner. Then, in 1951, when asked to be the artistic director of the Shakespearian Festival at Stratford, Ontario, he accepted on the condition that the plays could be produced on an open (thrust) stage.86 The first productions occurred in a tent structure in 1953 to great acclaim; this was dismantled in 1956 and a permanent theatre was built in the same form, opening in 1957.87 As Guthrie was directing the performance on an open thrust at the Edinburgh Festival, John English began touring with a thrust-stage, tent, travelling playhouse in the United Kingd~m.~~

As mentioned previously a theatre-in-the-round performance occurred in 1914. It was at the Teachers' College of Columbia University, New York, and was the forerunner of a number of centre-stage productions presented in schools and universitie~.~~The first purpose-built theatre-in-the-round was the Penthouse Theatre, University of Washington, Seattle (1940)90 after its having experimented with the form since 1932.91 Other early examples are the original Alley Theatre, Houston, Texas (1950),92 Theatre en Rond, Paris (1954),93 but, for England, the greatest exponent of this form of spatial theatrical function was Stephen Joseph, who commenced by touring and adapting existing premises from 1955, finally achieving a permanent theatre, the , Stoke-on-Trent, in 1962.94

Following Reinhardt's and Meyerhold's attempts at various forms of actor-audience relationship, often in the one space, Okhlopkov, in 1932, attempted yet another form of adaptability at the Realistic Theatre, Moscow. He arranged the space so the performance surrounded and encompassed the a form that was further developed and made more well known by Grotowski at his Theatre Lab which he commenced in 1959, at Opole, Poland.% Grotowski admits that it is only for the spectator 'who really wishes, through confrontation with the performance, to analyse himself'.97 This

ROSS THORNE 99 FABRICATIONS ultimate in flexibility has resulted in spaces that one can do 'anything' in, as with the now established 'studio' type of theatre - one of the earliest purpose-designed being the Studio Theatre at the Canon Hill Arts Centre (1%5).98 Almost all forms of adaptability have been attempted, from being able to alter the capacity of the auditorium by the use of sliding screens," to positioning a flytower over an open stage.lm For adaptable theatres the work of consultant James Hull Miller in the USAIO1 is significant and, for Britain, the work of the Association of British Theatre technician^.^^^ And, finally, it was a group of actors, playwrights, directors and designers, brought together by the Ford Foundation Program in Humanities and the Arts, in April 1959, who initiated the influential eight architectural concepts of the 'ideal' theatre.lo3

It has been indicated above that while modem movement architects may have developed new spatial-functional relationships in, say, housing, as a response to social, political and developing cultural changes in at least sections of European communities, it was largely amongst members of the modem movement in the theatre profession that new spatial-functional relationships arose for 'live' theatre. Where the spatial-functional arrangement remained unaltered, as in the movie theatre (and proscenium-stage theatre), it was the architects who developed new ways of enclosing or stylistically wrapping the required spaces. It could be deduced from the dates of live theatres constructed that those purpose-built by architects, to accord with the new forms, occurred mostly post-World War 11, some decades after experimentation by the theatrical profession. In contrast, the new styles of wrapping space were adopted by architects in USA, UK and Australia within, at most, only a decade after construction of the earliest examples of modem movement movie theatres and other exemplars.

The 'influenced' Australian theatres

Functional actor-audience relationships

The 'revolt' against commercial theatre seemed to arrive in Australia about the time of World War I.lM Violet Paget and husband Hugh Buckler redecorated the Royal Standard Theatre, Sydney, as the Little Theatre, in 1913, for 'serious' drama, particularly that by Shaw,

ROSS THOKNE 100 FABRICATIONS Pinero, Wilde and Bennett etc.lo5 This was preceded in , by Gregan McMahon forming the Melbourne Repertory Theatre Company in 1911 to perform plays of the literary theatre. McMahon had been trained in England and well knew the work of Granville-Barker and the growing English repertory movement.lm McMahon's influential work as a producer-director of such theatre in both Sydney and Melbourne continued until towards the end of the 1930s, using existing proscenium-stage theatres. Other (wholly or partially amateur) repertory theatre companies commenced in Adelaide (1914),lo7 and Hobart (1926),lm the latter obtaining its own Playhouse in 1938. lW This was a converted church as was the Little Theatre, Melbourne, from 1934 until the mid 1950~.~~~Sydney, with only two commercial theatres in 1939 gained a new commercial proscenium stage theatre, the Minerva,ll1 and Doris Fitton found a home in a former vaudeville hall at North Sydney for her semi-professional Independent Theatre.l12 Even when the established little theatres renovated or rebuilt (as in Melbourne, 1956 and Adelaide, 1963) they commissioned designs that comprised simple undecorated auditoria facing proscenium stages, as had been praised by Cheney for theatres built by similar organisations in USA as far back as 1925. 114

The actor-audience relationships of the modem movement in theatre were not transferred to Australia, in permanent form, until five years after subsidies commenced to flow to promote theatre. Possibly the most significant event was the first permanent theatre-in-the-round, established in 1960 in a boat shed in Sydney. It was by the American actor-singer, Hayes Gordon, who arrived in Australia in 1952. In that year he tried to sell the idea of theatre-in-the-round to some soon-to-be unemployed actors in the John Alden Shakespaere Theatre Company, but they were unacquainted with the form with which he was familiar from examples in his home country.l16 In 1958 he experimented with a few productions in the round in temporary premises, then set up the Ensemble Theatre in the Milsons Point boat shed. 117

Other new-form theatres were established in almost rapid succession: in 1962 the open, thrust stage Emerald Hill Theatre was set up in a former church in South Melbourne;l18 in 1963 the open, end stage Old Tote Theatre was opened in a former workshop at the University of New South Wales;l19 and, in 1964, the dimensions of the Elizabethan Fortune Theatre were used to reconstruct a modem version of that open air theatre in the courtyard of the Faculty of Arts building at the

ROSS THORNE 101 FABRICATIONS University of Western Australia.lZ0 In 1965 the same University invited Tyrone Guthrie to advise on the design of a new theatre for its campus, after first commissioning Peter Parkinson, 'an architect whose experience of theatre causes him to view the design problem from the stage outwards, rather than from the auditorium'.121 As a result, the first purpose-built thrust stage theatre in Australia, the Octagon, opened early in 1969, Katherine Brisbane describing it as 'the most exiting new theatre building in Australia'.122

The modern movement in theatre was now being expressed by purpose-built architectural designs rather than simple conversions of existing spaces. Over the next two decades new performing arts centres and elaborate conversions of existing buildings would incorporate the spatiallfunctional relationships experimented with by directors, actors and writers in Europe, the USA and UK over the first sixty years of this century.123

Form and surface treatment

Without here discussing what constitutes Art Deco,12* it will suffice to say that, in USA, the style was generally one of replacing historical revival and ethnic ornamentation, of the teens and early twenties of this century, with that derived from the original French Art Deco. In Britain the so-called Art Deco of the 1930s movie theatres is considerably different: a perusal of some 140 Odeon theatres in the UK shows a significant influence from European Expresionist architectslZ5 - strong external compositions of three dimensional form with, on the interior, troughs of indirect lighting, wide ribs and flutes, rather than surfaces being covered by decoration of stylised figures, flowers and fountains.

In Australia the decade of the 1930s shows a development from a relatively modest Art Deco style, through the occasional quite fulsomely decorated theatre interior, as for the Orpheum at Cremome (Sydney, 1934), lZ6 to a more Expressionist style for both exterior and interior, epitomised, in particular, by some of the designs of Taylor, and Soilleux and Overend, and Crick and Furse. No doubt there are other examples influenced by members of the European modem movement in architecture and there are a few Wrightian examples in the early 1920slZ7but the remainder of this paper will be restricted to examples of theatre designs by these two firms of architects. Vivian Taylor of Taylor, Soilleux and Overend, was an acoustic consultant from about 1928 and, after the advent of sound films, he

ROSS THORNE 102 FABRICATIONS Fig 5 Dynamic Expressionist exterior Minerva (Metro) Theatre, King's Cross, NSW

ROSS THORNE 103 FABRICATIONS conducted the acoustic design of some hundreds of movie theatres. lZ8 When the firm started designing austerity theatres for Hoyts in the 1930s he provided acoustically functional auditoria with splayed or convex panels (e.g. Padua, Brunswick, 1937; Hoyts, Albury, 1937). Taylor's aim was to provide a theatre for the required forty thousand pounds, but with some appearance of quality and difference from one to another. The latter he and his partners particularly achieved with rather idiosynchratic ticket boxes in the centre of some of the firm's entrance lobby designs.lZ9 However, it was the exterior form that harkened back to the Expressionist architects. One, such as the Ozone, Midura (1938) and Padua, Brunswick, had one or two half cylinder bays projecting from the remaining straight wall surface. The Regal, Hartwell (1937), was more curvaceous, almost streamlined. Unlike the British architects' use of different cladding materials on the various individual forms that made up the external abstract composition, Taylor, Soilleux and Overend retained the simple (sometimes polychromatic banded) brickwork over the whole front exposed to the street, or rendered the whole and painted it in one colour. There was almost no, or little, extraneous decoration nor vertical 'feature' in the style of that of Mendelsohn's Universum cinema in Berlin. But this was not the situation with Crick and Furse.

From the presentation sketches published in Building and photographs of many of the theatres designed by Guy Crick and Bruce Furse, the intention often appeared superior to the cement-rendered reality. That many of the exteriors do not have strong three dimensional compositions is possibly due to the fact that most were new wrappings for old parcels. Crick's son claimed his father was influenced by German architecture of the 1930s that was uncluttered, as well as steel ~ind0ws.l~~In 1940 Crick wrote that 'modem decoration [in theatre architecture] is unassuming, depending upon surface design, such as surface texture, plaster finishes [and], as previously mentioned, aided by trough [indirect] illumination'.131 The trough illumination could be magical in its almost ethereal quality as was achieved with the revamped Lyceum Theatre (Sydney, 1941) Wests (Adelaide, 1939) and most supreme of all, for an interior light without surface decoration, the Minerva Theatre (Sydney, 1939).

In the Minerva the troughs, stretching unbroken across the auditorium, rolled back as waves from the proscenium. It was a serene interior, whereas the interior space of the auditorium of the Kings Theatre, Spit Junction (Sydney, 1937) is quite difficult to perceive as an entity. It is almost deconstructed with its strong use of Expressionist elements,

ROSS THORNE 104 FABRICATIONS Fig 6 Dynamic Expressionist, almost Futurist, interior of coves and light: Wests Theatre, Adelaide

Fig 7 Fqressionist interior of light, aciueving considerable sophistication of design: Minerva (Metro) Theatre, King's Cross, NSW

ROSS THORNE 105 FABRICATIONS some, such as the horizontal bands, echoing those of Mendelsohn's Universum cinema.

Exteriors that have Expressionist elements are the Kings, Chatswood (Sydney, 1936), but more so the Kings, Rose Bay (Sydney, 1935) with its uncluttered curves containing an abstract pattern of thin slit windows both horizontal and vertical - almost pure geometry. However, the exterior of the Minerva Theatre is very Expressionist in its three dimensional form, indicating the functions of the stage house, auditorium and enclosed escape stairs hung off its side, and the entry to the foyer. It also emulates Mendelsohn's Universum cinema insofar that Crick and Fwse used a projecting fin as an advertising element.

Up to this point it has been claimed in this paper, that the theatre buildings by Taylor, Soilleux and Overend, and Crick and Fwse, have shown Expressionist influences. However, some of the elements on the exterior may suggest the influence of 'streamlining', for example, horizontal banding - even the curvaceous quality. This is not neccessarily the case when the dates of streamlining are considered in comparison with those for Expressionist architectural examples which also contain horizontal banding, striation and sweeping curved design elements. The Lockheed Sirius racing aeroplane of 1929 was one of the earliest to have a streamlined design with all the elements - wings, fuselage and tail - as a sculptured integrated whole, except for its wheels which were covered in 'teardrop' shaped aerodynamic ~0vers.l~~Streamlined train engines commenced to appear in England in 1929133and in the USA it was the Bwlington Zephyr (with rounded front and fluted stainless steel sides) in 1934. ~xkrimentaldesigns in streamlined form included the propeller driven Zeppelin rail car in 1929,135but Norman Be1 ~eddes?}own futuristic sketches for ships, cars, railway trains etc. generally date from 1929 to 1931136and Raymond Loewy's from about 1934.13' Streamlined production cars commenced with the commercially unsuccessful avant garde designs of the Chrysler and De Soto Airflow models in 1934, which were considered 'ugly' by the buying public.13* It was to take another four years of regression and slow advancement in streamlining on cars before the strong horizontal banding and bullnose or tear-drop shapes, so often associated with streamlining, would eventuate.139

But, in architecture, the elements of horizontal banding and sweeping curves date back to 1921. For the latter, the staircase in the Titania Palast (1921) cinema in Berlin is a marvellous example of pre-streamlining 'streamlining'.140 And for banding and curved

ROSS THORNE 106 FABRICATIONS horizontal striations, Mendelsohn's Berliner Tageblatt Building (1921-1923) is an excellent example.141 The horizontal string-course type banding around the corner and between each floor are very strong, while the deep entrance awning at the comer142 has all the elements of a much later American diner style of architecture. Therefore, according to this argument, the theatre buildings of the two Australian architects may be more purely influenced by the Expressionist architects of the Modem Movement than hitherto recognised.

As an epilogue to this section on the form and surface influence of the modem movement on theatre design in Australia it should be noted that two designs of Crick and Furse did not follow the strong Expressionist style. The exterior of Wests, Adelaide has a facade that was simple with repetitive elements, proportioned to remind one of late 1930s Swedish modem architecture. And the interior of the Kings Theatre, Clovelly (Sydney, 1939) was also reminiscent of Scandinavian simplicity in its restraint of use of indirect lighting up a wall of convex panels. 143

In an all too brief discussion, the germ of the concept that theatre in Australia has been influenced by the modem movement or modernism in a particular way, has been presented. Modernism, or the avant garde in theatre, influenced live performance and its spatial/functional relationship, first in existing hall-type premises, then in converted buildings and finally, in the last two decades, new performing arts complexes. By contrast, modernism in architectural design was applied most generally in a stylistic manner (or as fashion ?) to the envelope of the spaces for which the functional requirements had been defined. To provide 'popular' architecture for movie theatres, the Australian representation of modernism either became confused with the more superficial Art Deco style or it appropriated the more dynamic type of modernism as manifested in Expressionism.

Notes 1. H-R Hitchcock and P Johnson, The International Style, New York, 1966, originally published 1932, illustrations pp 102-235. 2. A Colquhoun. 'Composition versus the Project'. Modernity and the Classical Tradition Architectural Essays 1980-1987,Cambridge, MA, 1991, pp 33-35, particularly on page 35: 'It is clear that function-determining relationships that can become a spatial (that is, formal) experience but that does not entirely determine the type of space (form) created - is merely a

ROSS THORNE 107 FABRICATIONS mask for form (space). All the escape hatches are carefully left open to provide a retreat from too rigorous an interpretation of functional determinism.' 3. Gropius considered that the satisfaction of the human soul would partly be by The liberation of architecture from the mass of ornament' that was used up until the time of the Bauhaus, and even after. W Gropius, The Scope of TotalArchitecture , New York, 1962, originally published 1943, p 60. 4. Le Corbusier pursued the argument that 'modem decorative art is not decorated' in his chapter 'The Decorative Art of Today' in The Decorative Art of Today, translated by James Dunnett, Cambridge, MA, 1987, pp 83-101.-- 5. American books on cinemas may refer to them simply as theatresltheaters, perhaps movie theatres: see, for examples, R W Sexton, ed, American Theatres of Today, Vol 2, New York, 1930, and D Naylor,Greot American Movie Theatres. Washington DC, 1987. Also, the Theatre Historical Society of America which publishes the journal Marquee does not differentiate between 'live' and cinematic theatres in its articles on theatres. 6. For example, for Grotowski's productions, C Innes, Avant Garde Theatre 1892-1992, , 1993, p 105, only notes 'the actor-spectator relationship of perceptual, direct, "live" communion' which 'requires the total integration of spectators in the performance'. This is the one vague reference to an actor-audience relationship in the whole work 7. M Carlson, Places of Performance: The Semiotics of Theatre Architecture, Ithaca. NY. 1989.. .D 1. 8. Ibid, pp 1-11. ' 9. Le Corbusier, When the Cathedrals were White, translated by R E Hyslop, Jr, New York. 1964. D 195. 10. Ibid, pp 183-201, for a general discussion in relation to housing and its application to New York. This is reiterated as a 'city of towers' in Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture, translated by F Etchells, New York, 1960; undated later edition, Holt Rinehart and Winston, pp 54-62. 11. Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture, pp 21 1-247. 12. Le Corbusier, Precisians: on the State of the Present State of Architecture and City Planning, translated by E S Aujame, Cambridge, MA, 1991, pp

A-172-12Q 13. Ibid, sketches 162-173, pp 164-165, 167. 14. W Gropius, The Scope of Total Architecture, pp 106-115 and Fig 40. 15. W Gropius, The New Architecture and the Bauhaus, Cambridge, MA, 1965), DD 99-110. 16. 1bid; 51. 17. Hitchcock and Johnson, The International Style, pp 98-99. 18. H M Wingler, The Bauhaus: Weirnar Dessau, Berlin, Chicago (Cambridge, MA, 1978), p 361. 19. Schemmer et al, The Theafre of the Bauhaus, Middletown, Conn, 1961, pp 4s-77.- 20. Ibid, pp 73-77. 21. Ibid, p 89. E Michaud, ThebeauBauhaas (1919-1929), Lausanne, 1978, pp ---,109 110. 22. Gropius himself gives the date 1926 in the Introduction in Schemmer et al, op cit, p 13; but it is given as 1927 in Wingler, op cit, p 419, and in Bauhaus, the abridged edition of the catalogue for the exhibition '50 jahre bauhaus', Stuttgart, 1975, p 143. 23. N Geddes, Horizons, originally published 1932, New York, 1977, pp 140-181. 24. Ibid, pp 161-166 entiltled Theatre Number 14'. 25. Ibid, pp 144-151.

ROSS THORNE 108 FABRICATIONS 26. Ibid, p 151. 27. Ibid, pp 152-157. 28. Ibid, pp 172-181. 29. Ibid, p 146. 30. I Macintosh, Architecture, Actor andAudience, London, 1993, pp 47-51. 31. Ibid, p 51. 32. G C Izenour, TheatreDesign, New York, 1977, pp 95-98. 33. C Bragdon, Towards a New Theatre: Being a Description - with Commentary - of a New Tvue of Theatre Building- designed- bv Norman Be1 Geddes'. The ~rchite~tll~z~ecord, LII, 3. 34. In 1925 The Architectural Forum, XLII, 6, provided a special issue of 125 pages of articles including 54 (unpaginated) plates illustrated entirely of historicist decorated examples of recently designed theatres. R W Sexton and B F Betts. eds. American Theatres of Today (New York. 1927) and Sexton, opcit, ~ol2, NY, 1930, both are entirely illustrated by theatres decorated in historical revival, ethnic or (for a few in the 1930 volume) Art Dew styles. The only concession to modernism is one article: B Schlanger The Theatre of Tomorrow', Sexton, op cit, pp 51-56, which seeks a less decorated, better functioning traditional proscenium stage, 'live' or 'movie' theatre. A later standard 'how-to-design-a-theatre' book, H Burris-Meyer and E C Cole, Theatres andAuditoriums (New York, 1949), also provides the traditional proscenium theatre as the only functional solution although the Malmo Municipal Theatre (1944) with its adaptability to a thrust stage theatre is given as one of the examples. It and the other examples illustrated show the 'anti-decoration' influence of the modem movement. 35. Twenty three general references were inspected for Bauhaus theatre, Gropius or Total Theatre. Those that did not mention any of them were: J R Taylor, The Penguin Dictionary of the Theatre, Harmondsworth, 1966. P Hartnoll, A Concise History of the Theatre, London, 1986. P Hartnoll (ed) The Oxford Companion to the Theatre, Third Edition London, 1967). B Gasixiigne,World Theatre, London, 1968. J Burdick, Theatre. New York, 1974. 0 1 Holtan, Introduction to Theatre: AMirror to Nature, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.1970. R W Conigan, The Worldof the Theatre, Glenview, IL, 1979. 0 G Brockett, The Theatre: AnIntroduction. Historical Edition, New York, 1964 11979. 0 G Brockett, The Theatre: AnIntroduction, New York, 1964 11979. G Wickham, A History of the Theatre, Oxford, 1985. R Hal-wood, All the World's a Stage, London, 1984. F M Whiting, An Introduction to the Theatre, Fourth Edition, New York, 1978. R Cohen, Theatre, Palo Alto. CA, 1981. D C Mullin, The Development of the Playhouse: A survey of theatre architecture from the Renaissance to the Present, Berkeley, 1970. R and H Leacroft, Theatre and Playhouse: An illustrated survey of theatre buildingfrom Ancient Greece to the present day, London, 1984. C Molinan, Theatre through the Ages, London, 1973. Reference to Gropius and/or the Total Theatre andlor the Bauhaus were found in the following: M Esslin (ed) IllustratedEncyclopaedia of World Theatre, London, 1977, p 126. M Banham, ed, The Cambridge Guide to World Theatre, Cambridge, 1988, p 419.

ROSS THORNE 109 FABRICATIONS D Cheshire, Theatre: history, Criticism and reference; the Readers Guide series, London, 1967, pp 102, 108. S Tidworth. Theatres: AnIllustratedHiston. London. 1973. no 202-204. B Hewitt, History of the Theatre: from 1800 to the New York, 1970, pp 181, 182. 0 G Brockett, History of the Theatre, Fourth Edition, Boston, 1982, pp 600,601. V M Roberts, On Stage: a history of theatre, Second Edition, New York, 1974, pp 444,445. 36. Schlemmer et al, op cit, pp 12, 14 37. Molinari, op cit, p 305. 38. Geddes, op cit, p 146. 39. R Thorne, Theatre Buildings in Australia to 1905: From the time of the First Settlement to arrival of cinema. Sydney, 1970, plate 117a, opp p 222. 40. S Joseph, New Theatre Forms, London, 1968, pp 30,33. 41. J Mielziner, The Shapes of our Theatre, New York, 1970, p 66. 42. Ibid, pp 53, 56. 43. Ibid, pp 81-83. 44. For examples: A F Adams, Theatre Design Breaks with the Past', Motion Picture News, 28 June 1930, p 21. Fox Theatre, Hackensack, NJ, Motion PictureHerald. 'Better Theatres Section', 12 March 1930. Paramount Theatre, Oakland, CA, for showing 'the movement toward an architectural re-evaluation in Modem terms' of the 'theatrical spirit' (in elaborate Art Deco), ibid. 45. 'Playhouse, Newark to seat 436', Motion Picture News, 7 June 1930, pp 66-68. 46. Sexton, op cit; P M Shand, Modern Theatres and Cinemas, London, 1930. 47. Shand, op cit, Figs 71,79, 100, 105. The Titania Palast, Berlin, designed by Schoffler, Schonbach and Jacobi; Figs 11, 12, 13, 36, 80, 81. Thatre Pigalle, Paris, designed by Charles Siclis. 48. B Zevi, ErichMendelsohn, London, 1985, pp 95-99. 49. R Banham, Theory and Design in the First Machine Age, second ed, London, 1967, p 164. 50. K Frampton, ModernArchitecture: A CriticalHistory, New York, 1980, p 120, quoting a letter from Mendelsohn to his wife. 51. See, for example, the work of Juan Gris in D-H Kahnweiler, Juan Gris, His Life and Work, London, 1969, pp 13 ('Houses in Paris', 1911). 23 ('Still Life with bottles', 1912), 238 ('Still Life', 1911), 243 ('Portrait of Artists' Mothers', 1912), 271 ('Landscape', 1917). The effect can be seen in the Regal Theatre, Godalming, by Robert Cromie in G Stamp (ed) Britainin the Thirties, AD Profile 24, London, undated, p 53. 52. Architect, Hans Poelzig. This theatre was built to accommodate Max Reinhardt's epic and spectacular productions: W Pehnt, Expressionist Architectur, London, 1973, pp 13-16. See, for a good set of illustrations, Shand, op cit,

Figs 6. 29. 30. 3 1 and D Sham. Modem Architecture~ ~ and Expressionism.~~ ~ .. - r~- London, 1966,'pp 51-53. 53. Architects, Schoffler, Schonbach and Jacobi. F Lacloche, Architectures de Cinemas, Paris, 1981, pp 144 (Fig 210). 147 (Fig 224). 150 (Fig 230). Shand, op cit, Figs 79, 100, 105. 54. Architect. Hans Poelzis. Sham. Modern Architecture and Ex~ressionism. ~llus&tion on p 57;-Laclochk; op cit, p 124 (Fig 177); hand, op cit, Figs

73.87., ~ , 105. 55. Architect, Erich Mendelsohn. Zevi, op cit, Plan, sketches that indicate the dynamic, expressionistic quality and photographs, pp 95-99. rchiteet, H~MBelloc, 1931 (exterior renovation, G Peynet, 1954). Lacloche,

ROSS THORNE 110 FABRICATIONS op cit, pp 78-79. 57. A Balfour, Rockefeller Center: Architecture as Theater, New York, 1978, pp 207-210. 58. Ibid, p 209 and, in particular, Fig 360. 59. N van Hoogstraten, LostBroadway Theatres, New York, 1991, pp 247-248. 60. D Sharp, The Picture Palace and other buildingsfor the movies, London, 1969) pp 132-135. 61. Macintosh, op cit, p 51. 62. A Nicoll, English Drama 1900-1930: The beginnings of the modern period, Cambridee.-, 1973. D 7. 63. Ibid, p 10. 64. A Nicoll, The Development of the Theatre: A Study of Theatrical Art from the Beginnings to the Present Day. London, 1966, p 205. 65. Niwll, English Drama1900-1930, p 10. 66. Niwll, The Development of the Theatre, p 205. 67. Banham, The Cambridee- Guide to World Theatre, p 703. 68. Ibid, p 815. 69. Niwll. The Development ofthe Theatre, o 210 70. R Isaacs, ~ro~i&:An lliustrated ~iogra~h~of the Creator of the Bauhaus, Boston, 1991, p 184. 71. Niwll, English Drama1900-1930, pp 54-55. 72. S Cheyney, The Theatre: Three Thousand Years of Drama, Acting and Stagecraft, London, 1958, pp 499-502. 73. J Roose-Evans, Experimental Theatre: from Stanislavsky to Today, London, 1970. D 20. 74. Ibid, p 21.' 75. Ibid, p 42. 76. Hewitt, op cit, pp 89-90. 77. A Davies, Other Theatres: The Development of Alternative and Experimental TheatreinBritain, Houndsmills, Hampshire, 1987, p 87. 78. N Marshall, The Other Theatre, London, 1947, p 54. 79. Ibid, p 46. 80. Niw11, English Drama 1900-1930, p 53. 81. Banham, The Cambridge Guide to World Theatre, p 777. 82. Nicoll, The Development of the Theatre, p 218. 83. Marshall, op cit, pp 91,92; Niwll, English Drama 1900-1930, p 69. 84. Roberts, op cit, p 428. 85. T Guthrie, In VariousDirections: Portraits, tributes, trends; a view oftheatre, London, 1965, pp 66-67. 86. Ibid. D 67. 87. E ~ekonand L W Connolly, The Oxford Companion to Canadian Theatre, Toronto, 1989, pp 504,505. 88. Joseph, New Theatre Forms, pp 40,41, Fig 7, p 42. 89. Ibid, p 30. 90. Ibid, p 32; Leacroft, op at, pp 186, 187. 91. G Boardman (ed). The Oxford Companion to American Theatre, New York, 1984. o 21. 92. Joseph, & Theatre Forms, p 35. 93. Ibid, pp 30, 32. 94. S Joseph. Theatre in the Round. London, 1967, .D 34. 95. ~obeh,bp cit, p 428. 96. J Grotowski. TowardsaPoor Theatre. London. 1968. 97. Ibid, p 40. ' 98. For this studio theatre (p 38) and some seventy eight British theatres (mostly designed with some adaptability) built between 1951 and 1967, see F

ROSS THORNE Ill FABRICATIONS Bentham, New Theatres in Britain, London, 1970. 99. As at the Municipal Theatre, Malmo (1944), see H Schubert, The Modem Theatre Architecture, Stage Design, Lighting, London, 1971, p 45. 100. As at the Kalita Humphreys Theatre, Dallas (1959), see Joseph, New Theatre Forms, pp 84-86; and Leacroft, op cit, pp 215,216. 101. Betwen 1962 and 1968 the designs by James Hull Miller were published in a variety of Reference Manuals by the Hub Electric Company, Chicago. Manual No 109 is perhaps the most representative of his work. This author's copies were obtained on film from the Department of Health Education and Welfare, US Office of Education. ED 028609. 102. See, for example, S Joseph, ed, Adaptable Theatres: a report of the proceedinss at the third biennial congress ofthe Association internationale

originally a catalogue for a touring exhibition of the designs that tookplace in ..1962. 104. Theatre history, particularly for 'little' theatre, has been largely neglected in Australia. Until The Companion to Theatre in Australia is published in early 1994 the principal secondary source is K Brisbane, ed, Eatencdning Australia: an illustrated history, Sydney, 1991, the material in which is edited from the entries written for the forthcoming 'Companion'. 105. Thorne. Theatre BuiIdinss in Australia to 1905. P 199. 106. Brisbke, op cit, pp 159,178. 107. Adelaide Repertory Theatre, Opening of The Arts Theatre June 1963, Souvenir Programme, (Adelaide, 1963), p 7. 108. Hobart Repertory Theatre Society, Golden Jubilee 1926-1976: 50 Years of the Theatre. Hobart. 1976. 109. Hobart ~epertoryTheatre Society, 25th Anniversary Souvenir Programme, Hobart, l973), p 3. 110. Melbourne Little Theatre, Souvenir prepared for The Opening of The New Melbourne Little Theatre, Melbourne, 1956, unpaginated. The Twelfth Night Theatre commenced in Brisbane in 1936. I Palmer, The Origin and Development of Dramatic Art in Brisbane', unpublished typescript, 1951 in Oxlev Library. 111. Brisbane, op ci< p 246. 112. D Fitton, Not Without Dust andHeat: my life in theatre, Sydney, 1981, p 48. 113. Melbourne Little Theatre, Souvenir. Adelaide Repertory Theatre, op cit, and visits to inspect both theatres by the author. 114. S Cheyney, The Art Theater: Its Character as Differentiated j?om the Commercial Theater, its Ideals and Organisation; and a Record of Certain European andAmericanExamples, New York, 1925, pp 253-259. 115. R Thome 'Performing Arts Centres: The Phenomenon and what has influenced their being', in K Spinks, ed, Australion Theatre Design, Paddington, NSW, 1992, pp 1-67. 116. Hayes Gordon, recorded interview with, by author on 14January 1982. 117. Three decades of Ensemble', The Manly Daily, 29 December 1989. 118. By stage directorlacademic Wal Cherry to present what he termed ' something different' and 'adventurous'. E H Theatre booklet (c 1964) providing 'milestones' and productions from 1959 to end of 1964. 119. J South and H Scott, Ten on the Tote: An Illustrated History of the Old Tote

Theatre~ Comnanv- ~~ to Celebrate its Tenth Anniversary 1963-1973. Kensington, 1573.' 120. P Parsons The New Fortune and Shakespeare Studies', Westerly, 4, 1963. The New Fortune - 1964'. Westerly, 1, 1964. 121. Peter Parkinson, Theatre - Architecture. Catalogue for an exhibition of the

ROSS THORNE 112 FABRICATIONS same name held at His Majesty's Theatre, Perth, 13-27 January 1987. 122. Ibid, p 6, quoting from The Australian, 6 February 1969. 123. For a detailed discussion of these theatres see R Thome in Spinks, op cit, pp 1-67. 124. R Thome, 'Will the Real Art Deco Please Stand Up ?' Paper presented at the Second World Congress on Art Deco, Perth, October 1993. 125. R Clegg, Odeon, , UK, 1985. 126. R Thome, 'A Vanishing Era: The Art Deco Suburban Picture Palace' Architecture in Australia, August 1972, pp 417-421. 127. See, for example, designs by Walter Bwley Griffin for Australian Picture Palace, Sydney (1918), Capitol Theatre, Melbourne (1924). Palais Theatre, St Kilda (prior to 1926) in R Thome, Cinemas of Australia via USA, Sydney, 1981, pp 88,89,96-101, 149. 128. H Vivian Taylor's written response to a questionnaire sent to him in October 1968. 129. The author worked with Taylor in the first half of the 1960s decade on a number of acoustic consulting commissions in Sydney, and information on a number of theatres was obtained during conversations. It appears that the movie theatres mentioned may have been due to the design-work of Best Overend in the partnership, according to P Goad, "Best Overend - Pioneer Modernist in Melbourne'. Paper presented at Society of Architectural Historians of Australia and New Zealand, Perth, September 1993. 130. From an undated questionnaire (c 1975) response from Guy Crick junior, on his father's work. Crick senior was born in 1901, worked with Henry E White, then became a partner of Bohringer and Taylor in Melbourne before starting on his own, then taking Bruce Furse as a partner during the 1930s. He died in 1964. 131. Theatre Architecture and Allied Trades and Services: Theatre Design', Film Weekly Motion Picture Directory, 1940-41, pp 61,62. 132. Geddes, op cit, p 28. 133. Ibid, p 68. 134. M Greif, Depression Modern: The Thirties Style in America, New York, 1975, P 90. 135. Geddes, op cit, p 29. 136. Ibid, generally for chapters on railways, ships, motor cars and buses. 137. Greif, op cit; see generally from p 88 top 95. 138. R M Langworth and J P Norbye, The Complete History of Chrysler Corporation: 1924-1985, New York, 1985, pp 69-76. 139. Ibid. See uarticularlv the 1938 and 1939 examples. DD 91-97. . A. 140. Shand, opcit. 141. E Mendelsohn. Comnlete Works ofthe Architect: Sketches. Designs. Buildings, English translation.~ewYork, 1992; first editionin German, Berlin, 1930 published by the author. 142. Ibid, pp 81-86. 143. For descriptions and photographs of the Kings Theatres in Sydney suburbs see Thome, Cinemas of Australia, pp 189-204, and for Wests, Adelaide, pp 362-367.

ROSS THORNE 113 FABRICATIONS