Visualising Lost Theatres
Virtual Praxis and the Recovery of Performance Spaces

Drawing on cutting-edge virtual reality, this book unearths the social-political histories and theatrical praxis of five 'lost' theatres.

Joanne Tompkins (Author), Julie Holledge (Author), Jonathan Bollen (Author), Liyang Xia (Author)

9781108476751, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 August 2022

300 pages
23.6 x 15.8 x 1.7 cm, 0.465 kg

Visualising Lost Theatres makes a major contribution to the fields of both Theatre Studies and Digital Humanities. Readers are invited to imagine anew the 'lost' theatres of the book's title, from the Rose in 1590s London to the Stardust Hotel in 1950s Las Vegas. The authors' use of digital tools and methods to explore those venues allows them to offer new ways to understand canonical figures such as Shakespeare and Ibsen, while also highlighting the importance of other forms of live performance such as Cantonese opera. The book ranges across many fields – architecture, tourism, digital culture heritage, translation, and more – but its contribution to Theatre Studies is particularly immense, not just expanding what we know but providing new tools and methods for future research. Patrick Lonergan, NUI Galway

This pioneering study harnesses virtual reality to uncover the history of five venues that have been 'lost' to us: London's 1590s Rose Theatre; Bergen's mid-nineteenth-century Komediehuset; Adelaide's Queen's Theatre of 1841; circus tents hosting Cantonese opera performances in Australia's goldfields in the 1850s; and the Stardust showroom in 1950s Las Vegas. Shaping some of the most enduring genres of world theatre and cultural production, each venue marks a significant cultural transformation, charted here through detailed discussion of theatrical praxis and socio-political history. Using virtual models as performance laboratories for research, Visualising Lost Theatres recreates the immersive feel of venues and reveals performance logistics for actors and audiences. Proposing a new methodology for using visualisations as a tool in theatre history, and providing 3D visualisations for the reader to consult alongside the text, this is a landmark contribution to the digital humanities.

Introduction: Theatre Venues and Visualisation
1. The Rose Theatre and Stage Movement in Marlowe's Doctor Faustus
2. Komediehuset and Henrik Ibsen's Stagecraft in his First Theatre
3. A Colonial Audience Watching Othello at the Queen's Theatre
4. Cantonese Opera and the Layering of Space on the Australian Goldfields
5. The Design of Attraction at the Stardust Showroom in Las Vegas
Conclusion: Visualising the Future of Theatre Research.

Subject Areas: Philosophy & theory of education [JNA], Cultural studies [JFC], Theatre studies [AN], Public buildings: civic, commercial, industrial, etc [AMG]