More from Tuesday...

Tuesday, March 15

After spending time in the Trinity shopping center in Leeds, we went over to the West Yorkshire playhouse. This multi-theater building plays over 20 shows a year, and houses two different performance spaces: a large amphitheater with over 700 seats and a smaller black box with 200 seats that could be moved as necessary for the individual show. The potential of the two spaces was vastly different, but neither space was a traditional proscenium theater. The small black box theater was set up in a very traditional manner, with rows of tiered seating facing the raised stage. However, the seats were on risers that give them the potential to be moved to face a different direction or even be moved out of the theater entirely, giving the audience no place to sit. An interesting issue with the set up was that the director was encouraged to keep actors out of the aisles because of the sound of the stairs when they were walked on. That space usually housed smaller scale productions, new works, and less traditional theater work. 

The amphitheater space was an entirely different style. With 700 tiered seats in a half circle around a deep stage, the room seemed to go on forever. The stage was set up for the production of "Great Expectations" and featured a massive boat hull set that showed us the incredible potential of that stage. 

The tour of the backstage area gave us a glimpse into the possibilities the stage offers, but also how realistic the designers have to be, because the sets do not get stored after a show closes, they get destroyed.

In a talk back with some resident actors, they talked about their individual theater preferences, devised or pre written theater (their answer was that they preferred whatever they were not currently doing) as well as their individual experiences in the various shows they've done with the company. As a whole, the experience showed me the inner workings of an incredibly diverse but very successful theater, which combines artistic opportunity with the harsh reality of budgeting the arts. 

In the afternoon, we explored the Royal Armories (Armouries for the locals) and saw some stunning examples of the changes in warfare over the years. The collection ranged from the early Japanese Samurai to the Second World War, including a temporary exhibition on gun violence in the UK and its impacts. 

 All in all, a great third day in the Wakefield area! 

-Emily Whalen '17