Proscenium or Thrust (if it's not a personal question)?

A great example you have used here.

You see a production at the RST and you are never far away from the action and you can hear the words clearly even when it is un-microphoned.

So when the RST goes to London to the Proscenium arched Barbican, you can not hear the words clearly because you can be far from the action and the acoustics under the overhang are poor, so in a Proscenium type theatre, there is a need to move into the 21st century.

The old RST stage and auditorium were never satisfactory. Various modifications were made over the years to both the stage and the auditorium but the main problematic issues couldn't be solved. The actors were aware of the poor situation and so was the audience. It's all explained in the RSC's Transformation book, although I admit that's biased in favour of the theatre transformation, for obvious reasons.

My never-ending crave for Shakespeare productions stems from Michael Boyd's Henry VI trilogy in the old Courtyard Theatre in Stratford. The thrust stage that gave people a taster of what the new RST was going to be like. The production used the space to its full potential and more. I was amazed at the way characters would appear from above, below, from every corner of the space and from the balconies. It felt electrifying.

I only saw four productions in the original RST (Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Great Expectations, Julius Caesar (2006), and The Merry Wives of Windsor the Musical). Can't remember much about it, though every time we were sitting in the stalls close to the stage so I had no complaints about it.

I keep feeling that Shakespeare wrote his plays for the thrust stage. I mean think about it, the Globe itself is a thrust stage. The plays are written with intimacy in mind (and some involvement with the audience as well). I still like Shakespeare productions on the Proscenium, but every time I feel that something is missing. Other plays manage fine but its something about Shakespeare's plays that can get lost on the Proscenium.

Another vote for thrust - proscenium stages are really alienating.

The old RST put me off going to the RSC for about 15 years - you might as well have been in a different room.

Rust ll he ay

While we're vaguely on the subject, I would dearly love to never again overhear someone saying "it's in the round, but only on three sides". THEN IT'S NOT IN THE ROUND, IS IT? IT'S A *THRUST*.

I've never seen a good set design on a thrust stage. Rupert Goold says the best theatre to direct in is the Lyttelton because it is a "box of tricks", Red Barn was a great example. For large theatres I prefer proscenium, for small thrust of some type.

Ughh! You mean where you sit and see more of the audience opposite, in between trying to get your feet under your seat so they're not trampled on by the actors?

I saw Winters Take on a thrust stage and for the entire trial scene Leontes sat on a chair with his back to me, on a thrust stage all the seats are restricted view. The alternative approach is in every scene the actors walk round continuously in a circle, watch out for it at the RSC. Of course all the West End theatres are rubbish but the Lyttelton say is much better. Director's theatre works much better there because they give them more control over what the audience can see, the recent Hedda Gabler for example.

Rufus Norris is brilliant in the Olivier Theatre.

Tamburlaine the Great was miked? Are you sure? - Albert Finney, Denis Quilley, Barbara Jefford etc had enormous voices. Anyone else remember them rehearsing it out on the terrace because of the strikes? I used to go with schoolmates to watch. Had a lot to do with why I've gone on to spend a bloody fortune in that theatre.