"Scenographic Architectures" : (Re)Questioning the Relationship between Spectators and Actors

Abstract

The history of performing arts venues is told through various diagrams and generally plans (rarely cross-sections, still less axonometric or other perspectives) that summarise the spatial organisation between auditorium and stage according to models reduced to architecture, to the perennial; but this does not consider the contribution of scenic devices and scenography. Doesn't the etymological meaning of the word theatre (theatron) refer to the place from which we watch, suggesting that we should think of spaces adapted for creation rather than creations to be fitted into constrained spaces? The formula for the place and the action that takes place there invites us to think not only about the stage set, above all about the way in which the audience is organised in relation to the action. We ask these questions within the speculative framework of our academic research work, focusing on the context of the teaching experiments we carry out in architecture schools. Our practice as assiduous spectators and as critical journalists specialising in theatrical venues and scenography is also part of this examination, which crosses the rules of visibility and listening to performances.

In this proposal, we intend to share our experiences of the Des Architectures scénographiques design studio (2024-25), which combines theatre architecture and stage design, at the École nationale supérieure d'architecture Paris-Malaquais, in partnership with the Comédie Française. Based on Paul Claudel's Le Soulier de satin, this was an opportunity to combine confrontation with reality (professional investigations) and fictional experimentation (educational explorations) to enrich the range of scenic spatial situations, going beyond the morphologies of what the building offers. It's a question of the creative space, of the relationship established or to be developed between actors and spectators, of the spaces of performance. Teaching is seen as a way of researching, practising and questioning the scenic space.