The proscenium arch is like a window onto the stage! It is a window that separates the audience from the stage and is a central element in an established form of theater design.
Theater is fun! Yes, theater is entertainment! Theater is about seeing the stage. In old Victorian theaters, the seats ascended almost literally and symbolically to ‘the gods’. This was where the highest seats were… but these seats were far from the luxury, glamor and style below. Yes, the gods, they offered a view, but it was a view.
It could be said that the proscenium arch was the window for this view. It was a ‘real and true’ window. However, perhaps the actual window was the large central space of the theater rising towards the lights, sometimes large sconces above…
Sometimes when you look through the proscenium arch you can see the big stage below… and sometimes it’s at the back of this stage that the orchestra plays… the orchestra plays backstage instead of in front of the stage in the ‘pit’. And here the setting is another world…
The proscenium arch and its curtains and everything… and the lighting around it… can create the illusion of space. It could be argued that the proscenium arch restricts and hinders ‘space’. The audience is “tight” while waiting for the curtain to go up. But why would they be tight? There is room for everyone! Perhaps the proscenium arch does the opposite. Instead of ‘constraining’ space, it rather creates space.
Space is important in the theater…and in Victorian theaters…the seats are raised to the ‘gods’. It’s like there are no seats and the only way is up! But is this really the reason? Maybe the reason is to see the stage or maybe it has something to do with the real and true purpose of the theater, which is entertainment. Yes, entertaining not only the so called high end but also the low level… the high level, the low level… and the mid level of course. Yes, the reason is entertainment and theater, it simply offers the human being the opportunity to be a spectator, any opportunity… and ‘gods’ and ‘circles’ can give that opportunity. And ‘the gods’, while cheap and expensive, are sometimes the best places to watch the entertainment.
But what does the proscenium hide? It hides the stage behind and when the curtain rises, the stage opens up to a wide space. Sometimes it’s not just one image that the public sees… it’s not just one image that they see, but a whole world. And in this way, you can say that the proscenium arch hides and then reveals a world instead of a stage or an image and people want to see new worlds. So the proscenium arch is the great window that ‘offers’ this world. It is the ‘cover of the book’, the great exterior design that aims to reveal the great interior design behind it.
