PROGRAMME DETAILS FOR THE 187TH SEASON 2010/2011
TUESDAY 12 APRIL 2011
FLIP TANNER
Project Co-ordinator, RSC
Flip Tanner has worked with the RSC for 19 years initially in stage management and then as part of the RSC's touring team. In 1996 Flip was appointed Technical Director for The Other Place; the RSC's studio theatre which is now the site of the temporary Courtyard Theatre. In 2002, he began work as Project Co-Ordinator focusing on the building project and the transformation of the RSC's theatres. Chiefly Flip undertakes liaison between the Architects' and Design team and the RSC as a complex Client with special responsibility for The Auditoria, Technical Equipment and the backstage facilities. Flip has prepared outline proposals for The Other Place Theatre, and drafted numerous spatial and functional studies to interrogate and support a number of diverse requirements. During 2004 he did a similar role for the Courtyard Theatre and also produced the auditorium designs to planning stage and responsible for the design and layout of the Backstage spaces at the Courtyard Theatre.
In Search of the Proscenium
In 2006, while working on the designs for the Courtyard Theatre, the RSC's Press Office asked Flip Tanner a question. "When did the first proscenium stage come about?" After muttering something about the restoration and ducking a specific answer, he went to find out. Flip secured a Churchill Fellowship for a research trip that took in important theatres in Italy, Paris, Spain and the USA. Flip will share one part of his research focusing on the evolution of the proscenium stage and its relationship with the Shakespearean stage, together with some historical context about the RSC's stages.
Lecture Notes:
The 862nd meeting of the Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon took place at Mason Croft on Tuesday 12 April 2011. The Chair for the evening, Lady Deborah Follett, introduced Flip Tanner whose subject was ‘In Search of a Proscenium’. Mr Tanner worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company for 19 years, initially in stage management, and in 2002 began work as Project Co-ordinator for the transformation of the RSC’s theatres which was completed this year.
Mr Tanner spoke about his search for the origins of the proscenium arch, a project funded by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust in 2004, inspired by a question about the date of the earliest proscenium stage. In the course of the project he visited about thirty theatres: in Spain and Italy where surviving buildings at Almagro in Madrid and Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza are contemporary with Shakespeare but took a very different path, developing prosceniums and perspective scenery. In the USA he saw several large thrust stage theatres and experimental venues that attempted to combine the thrust stage with a proscenium, including a number of replica Elizabethan theatres, for example a reproduction of the Swan Theatre in Chicago. Throughout he was interested in the experience of those who worked on and around these various types of stages. Returning to Stratford and the Memorial Theatre opened in 1932 he recognised the influence of the cinema on its design. The relationship between audience and stage was crucial. In conclusion he answered the question which sent him on his travels: When did the first proscenium arch come about? Answer: The Teatro Olimpico in Italy in 1585.
After questions from the floor and a vote of thanks from the Chair, the meeting closed at about 9pm.
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