The Space

The theatre architectural structure, if any.

Leads to technical possibilities and limitations.

This includes the area outside the house and performance space, if any, like the lobby.

In their book, Theatre and Playhouse, Richard and Helen Leacroft offer conditions that determine the actor-audience relationships due to and affecting theatre architecture.

1. The need to see the actor's facial expression. (sightlines and proximity.)
   
   
2. The need to hear the actor speak. (acoustics)
   
   
3. A large audience requires either the audience to be raised or the actor to be raised, or both.
   
   
4. The need to play to a VIP -- a chief, priest, or king.
   
   
5. Conventions regarding entrance and exits of performers.
   
   
6. The inclusion in the performance of sacred objects.
   
   
7. Scenic representation.
   
   
8. The need to enclose the actors or audience due to weather.
   
   
9. The need to continue existing customs under differing architectural conditions.
   
   
10. Adaptations of existing buildings to theatrical purposes.
    
    
11. The resurrection of misunderstood conventions and architectural forms.
    
    
12. Social conditions which require one section of an audience to be separated from another, or to enjoy additional facilities related to status.
    
    
13. New forms of lighting.
    
    
14. The need to protect people from fire.

Richard and Helen Leacroft, Theatre and Playhouse: An Illustrated Survey of Theatre Building from Ancient Greece to the Present Day (London and New York: Methuen, 1984) preface.