Modern Theatres 1950-2020

Modern Theatres 1950-2020 is an investigation of theatres, concert halls and opera houses in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North and South America. The book explores in detail 30 of the most significant theatres, concert halls, opera houses and dance spaces that opened between 1950 and 2010. Each theatre is reviewed and assessed by experts in theatre buildings, such as architects, acousticians, consultants and theatre practitioners, and illustrated with full-colour photographs and comparative plans and sections. A further 20 theatres that opened from 2009 to 2020 are concisely reviewed and illustrated. An excellent resource for students of theatre planning, theatre architecture and architectural design, Modern Theatres 1950 - 2020 discusses the role of performing arts buildings in cities, explores their public and performances spaces and examines the acoustics and technologies needed in a great building. This beautifully illustrated book is also a must-read for architects, theater designers, theatre historians, and theatre practitioners.

David Staples has been a theatre consultant for over 40 years, working on opera houses, concert halls and theatres in 67 countries. His projects include the Oslo Opera in Norway, Esplanade in Singapore, Lowry in England and Portland Center for Performing Arts in Oregon, USA. He has lectured on every continent except Antarctica and is a former chair of the Society of Theatre Consultants, a member of the International Society of Performing Arts, of Opera Europa, a Fellow of the Association of British Theatre Technicians and a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute. .

Chapter 1.00: Aspects of Modern Theatres 1.01. Edwin O. Sachs - A British Theatrical Enigma David Wilmore 1.02. Cities, global and regenerating David Staples 1.03. Theatres and publicness Bostjan Vuga 1.04. Prevailing Themes in 20th Century Theatre Architecture Joshua Dachs 1.05. Towards a new theatre architecture: developments in Britain after 1950 Alistair Fair 1.06. Front of House moves to the forefront Robert Shook 1.07. Concert Halls, Music, and Audiences Chris Blair 1.08. The Modern Opera House Nicholas Payne 1.09. Playhouses and spaces for drama Tim Foster 1.10. Stage Engineering Systems Mark Ager 1.11. Stage Lighting Mark White 1.12. Sound, and Opera's Dirty Little Secret Chris Full 1.13. New Technologies and Performance Raj Patel 1.14. Acoustics and the Modern Theatre Sebastien Jouan Chapter 2.00: Thirty Significant Theatres 1950 to 2010 Chapter 3.00: Fifties 3.01. Royal Festival Hall, 1951, London, UK Miles Glendinning and Sebastien Jouan 3.02. Festival Theatre, 1957, Stratford, Ontario, Canada Gary McCluskie 3.03. Kalita Humphreys Theater, 1959, Dallas, Texas David Staples 3.04. Musiktheater im Revier, 1959, Gelsenkirchen, Germany Elain Harwood Chapter 4.00: Sixties 4.01. Arena Stage, Washington, DC, USA Joshua Dachs 4.02. Bunka Kaikan, 1961, Tokyo, Japan Shozo Motosugi 4.03. Philharmonie, 1963, Berlin, Germany Karin Winkelsesser Chapter 5.00: Seventies 5.01. Finlandia Hall, 1971, Helsinki, Finland David Staples 5.02. Sydney Opera House, 1973, Sydney, Australia David Staples 5.03. Teatro Regio, 1971, Torino, Italy David Staples and Simone Solinas 5.04. Royal National Theatre, 1976, London, UK Patrick Dillon 5.05. Royal Exchange Theatre, 1976, Manchester, England Andy Hayles Chapter 6.00: Eighties 6.01. Schaubühne at Lehniner Platz, 1981, Berlin, Germany Reinhold Daberto 6.02. Arts Centre Melbourne, 1982, Melbourne, Australia Tim Brinkman 6.03. Joyce Theater, 1982, New York, NY, USA Elizabeth Bradley 6.04. Derngate, 1983, Northampton, England Roger Hopwood 6.05. Lucent Danstheater, 1987, The Hague, Netherlands Eric Blom and Lian The 6.06. Opéra Bastille, 1989, Paris, France Michel da Costa Gonçalves Chapter 7.00: Nineties 7.01. Sadler's Wells Theatre, 1998, London, UK Richard York Chapter 8.00: New Millennium 8.01. The Lowry, 2000, Salford, United Kingdom Alistair Fair 8.02. Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, 2002, Singapore Gaurav Kripalani 8.03. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 2003, Los Angeles, California, USA Carl Giegold 8.04. KÀ Theater, 2004, MGM Grand Hotel, Las Vegas, AZ, USA David Barbour 8.05. Matsumoto Performing Arts Centre, 2004, Matsumoto, Japan Shozo Motosugi 8.06. Casa da Música, 2005, Porto, Portugal Maria Rita Liberal Arnaut 8.07. Auditório Ibirapuera 'Oscar Niemeyer', 2005, São Paulo, Brazil Claudia Toni 8.08. National Center for the Performing Arts, 2007, Beijing, China Jörg Kümmel 8.09. Operahuset, 2008, Oslo, Norway David Turnbull 8.10. National Opera House, 2008, Wexford, Ireland David Staples 8.11. DR Koncerthuset, 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark Allan Xenius Grige 8.12. Guangzhou Opera, 2010, Guangzhou, China David Staples Chapter 9.00: Snapshots of twenty theatres - 2011 to 2020 - David Staples 9.01. Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, 2009, Dallas, Texas, USA Karin Winkelsesser 9.02. Onassis Cultural Centre, 2010, Athens, Greece Karin Winkelsesser 9.03. New World Center, 2011, Miami, FL, USA Karin Winkelsesser 9.04. Royal Opera House, 2011, Muscat, Oman Karin Winkelsesser 9.05. Harpa, 2011, Reykjavik, Iceland David Staples 9.06. Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 2011, Stratford-upon-Avon Alistair Fair 9.07. Heydar Aliyev Center, 2012, Baku, Azerbaijan David Staples 9.08. `A`ali`ikuhonua Creative Arts Center, 2012, Seabury Hall, Maui, USA David Staples 9.09. Musiktheater am Volksgarten, 2013, Linz, Austria Karin Winkelsesser 9.10. Everyman Theatre, 2014, Liverpool, UK Alistair Fair 9.11. Han Show Theatre, 2014, Wuhan, China Karin Winkelsesser 9.12. Harbin Opera House, 2015, Harbin, China David Staples 9.13. Dubai Opera, 2016, Dubai, UAE Karin Winkelsesser 9.14. Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, 2017, Athens, Greece Karin Winkelsesser 9.15. Boulez Saal, 2017, Berlin, Germany Karin Winkelsesser 9.16. Elbphilharmonie, 2017, Hamburg, Germany Karin Winkelsesser 9.17. Bridge Theatre, 2017, London, UK David Staples 9.18. National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, 2018, Taiwan Karin Winkelsesser 9.19. The Shed, The Bloomberg Building, 2019, New York David Staples 9.20. Xiqu Centre, 2019, Hong Kong David Staples Chapter 10.00: Conclusions 10.01. Postscript - "The Ghost Light" Chapter 11.00: Modern Theatres contributors