Blackfriars Theatre Museum - Of Theatres and Cathedrals copy

The structure of a rectangular theatre seems reminiscent of the floorplan of a template cathedral. This is perhaps best summarized by the informal lecture I gave during the grand opening of the Blackfriars Theatre in Second Life, “The congregation of theatre go-ers would gather at the nave, and the actors on-stage at the choir. That platform of the stage might be analogized as an altar, and the entire actor’s area, a sanctuary or chancel. The show broods in place before curtain is lifted, such as how the nave and choir might be separated by an opaque rood screen. Actors would move about backstage in an ambulatory of sorts, possibly in an apse-like path, and some might fret in greenrooms or go about ‘last minute preparations’ in spaces akin to chapels. Trapdoors lead to the crypt and back, wherein the spirits of fallen actors may frequent, in lieu of the storage of the bones of saints. Additional seating, perhaps box seating, for the audience may be provided in the aisles flanking the nave, and to impress, these spaces may be separated by an arcade. Finally, for those who have not met the price of admission, they might loiter about to hear bits of the play in the narthex. But what of transepts, you ask, well, Dominican churches, like many gothic churches, do not contain transepts, and our epic theatre is set within a Dominican premise. But, then again, particular to the Blackfriars, we have stool seating spaces on stage left and right, so let’s call these the transept presbytery.”

--Ina Centaur, March 2009

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