The audience sit in rows facing the stage. They can either have a level or raked sloping floor. These usually consist of a raised rectangular platform at one end of a room. The Studio at the Questors Theatre, Ealing. Usually these spaces allow for the temporary setup of seating in a number of different configurations to enable a wide variety of productions to be presented. These are flexible performance spaces which when stripped to their basics are a single room painted black, the floor of the stage at the same level as the first audience row.

The stage area is usually rectangular, more like a sports arena, with tiered seating. Arena theatresĪrena theatres are large scale auditoria and have a central stage area with audiences on all sides, similar to theatres in-the-round. In-the-round auditorium at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough. Scenery is minimal and carefully positioned to ensure it does not obstruct the audience’s view. The actors enter through aisles or vomitories between the seating. The arrangement is rarely ‘round’: more usually the seating is in a square or polygonal formation. These have a central performance area enclosed by the audience on all sides. The thrust stage at the Gulbenkian, University of Kent. Such stages are often used to increase intimacy between actors and the audience. The thrust stage area itself is not always square but may be semi-circular or half a polygon with any number of sides.

Thrust stagesĪs the name suggests, these project or ‘thrust’ into the auditorium with the audience sitting on three sides. Theatres containing proscenium stages are known as proscenium arch theatres and often include an orchestra pit for live music and a fly tower for the movement of scenery and lighting. Sometimes the front of the stage extends past the proscenium into the auditorium. Their stages are deep and sometimes raked, meaning the stage is gently sloped rising away from the audience. Proscenium stages have an architectural frame, known as the proscenium arch, although not always arched in shape. The most common types of stage arrangements are listed below. Theatres have evolved with different internal layouts according to the types of productions presented there.

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