Theatre Architecture in the Course of Time
Article for SPEKTAKEL, mev12, self-published by metatektur, December 2024. ISBN 978-3-9820370-8-0 ‘Sensational’, ‘satisfying the eye’, ‘attracting visitors’ - etymologically, these terms are always associated with the theatre, but they can also be easily applied to ‘marvels’ of architecture. The history of theatre buildings is the history of the spectacle in society. From ancient Greek plays, in which the art of acting was democratised in the open air and made accessible to all, to the baroque ‘Theatrum Mundi’, which tore down the barrier between the art world and reality until it was rebuilt in the age of reason, to reformist and radical visions, realised buildings and never-realised designs, we examine the dialectic of the spectacle in architecture and society. metatektur.org