Amphitheater - Enkeigekijo

A theater with spectator seats arranged in a circle around the performance space. This is a common format in performing arts spaces in the East and West, past and present, but especially in ancient Greece and Rome, there was a strong tradition of associating performing arts spaces with circles. In Greek outdoor theaters, the circular, flat earthen floor called the orchestra in front of the stage played an important role as a place for choral dances and other performances. The audience seats were built in a concentric stepped pattern surrounding a bowl-shaped slope that made use of the natural terrain, and the circular order strongly dominated the theater. After the Hellenistic period, the orchestra was compressed into a semicircle and its character changed from a performance space to a seating area for nobles, but the arc-shaped audience seats retained the character of a circular space. In ancient Rome, a method was devised to support the bowl-shaped audience seats with a vault structure, which allowed the arc-shaped outline to be seen on the exterior of the theater, further strengthening the connection with the circle. Magnificent oval-shaped arenas, such as the Colosseum in Rome (c. 80), are the most concise expression of the relationship between performing arts space and circular shapes. They are called amphitheatrum (meaning amphitheater) and are the prototype of modern stadiums.

After the fall of Rome, the tradition died out for a time, but interest in it increased again during the Renaissance. However, from this time onwards, theatres themselves moved towards proscenium stages, and circular theatrical characteristics were more often symbolically expressed in urban squares, gardens and architectural designs. In the 18th century, there were calls to eliminate the box seating that was mainstream in theatres at the time and to use arched terraced seating in the ancient style, and in the 19th century this was finally realised at the Festival Theatre in Bayreuth, but by then the memory of the amphitheater itself had been almost completely lost.

In the 20th century, in reaction to the traditional framed stage and stimulated by the revival of ancient plays, Glenn Hughes of the University of Washington proposed the theatre-in-the-round, in which the stage is surrounded by seating on all four sides, and in 1940 he built the Penthouse Theatre at the university. Since then, this method has been taken up all over the country as an attempt to restore the original form of simple theatre, and in recent years some commercial theatres have partially adopted it. However, these modern theatres are in response to the trend of modern theatres losing their unique spatial character and becoming inorganic multi-purpose spaces, and can be said to be different from the tradition of ancient theatres.

[Haruyoshi Fukuda]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

演技空間を中心に、円く取り囲むように観客席を配置した劇場。これは東西古今の芸能空間に共通してみられる形式であるが、とくに古代ギリシアやローマには、芸能空間を円形と結び付けて考える強い伝統がみられた。ギリシアの野外劇場では、舞台前面のオルケストラorchestraという円形の平土間が合唱隊の舞踊などの場として重要な意味をもった。観客席は自然の地形を利用したすり鉢状の斜面内に、それを取り囲むように同心円の階段状につくられ、円形の秩序が強く劇場内を支配している。ヘレニズム期以降はオルケストラは半円に圧縮され、演技の場から貴人席へと性格を変えたが、弧状の観客席はそのまま円形空間の性格を保っていた。古代ローマでは、すり鉢状の観客席をボールト架構で支える方式が考案され、これにより、弧状の輪郭が劇場外観にも表れて、円形との結び付きをさらに強めることとなった。ローマのコロセウム（80年ごろ）をはじめとする壮大な楕円(だえん)形の闘技場は、芸能空間と円形との関連をもっとも端的に表現するもので、アンフィテアトルムamphitheatrum（円形劇場の意）とよばれ、近代の競技場の原型となっている。

　ローマ滅亡後は一時伝統がとだえたが、ルネサンス期にふたたびそれへの関心が高まった。しかしこのころから劇場自体はプロセニアム舞台の方向へ進み、円形にまつわる劇場的特質は都市広場や庭園、建築の意匠などに象徴的に表れるほうが多かった。18世紀には、当時の劇場の主流であった桟敷(さじき)席を排し、古代風の弧状階段席にせよという声があがり、19世紀に入りバイロイトの祝祭劇場でようやくそれは実現するが、しかしそこでは円形劇場の記憶自体はほとんど失われてしまっていた。

　20世紀に入ると、因襲的な額縁舞台への反発、古代劇復活上演による刺激などから、1932年にはワシントン大学のグレン・ヒューズが、舞台四周を客席で囲む円形劇場theatrein-the-roundを提案、40年にペントハウス劇場Penthouse Theatreを同大学内につくった。以来、この方式は素朴な演劇本来の姿を取り戻すための試みとして各地で取り上げられ、近年では商業劇場のなかにも部分的にこれを取り入れたものが現れている。しかしこれらの現代の円形劇場は、現代の劇場が独自の空間的性格を失い、無機的な多目的空間となる傾向と呼応しており、古代の円形劇場の伝統とは異なるものということができる。

［福田晴虔］

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