December, 1962 389 The Design and Construction of the Chichester Festival Theatre * by Charles Weiss, D.Arch., M.1.Struct.E. SYNOPSIS The paper gives a brief history of of the Chichester Festival Theatre. the idea of building it occurred to the development It describes how its founder and gives the reasons whch led to the choice of the open stage as opposed to the proscenium arch. The reasons for the choice of the particular type of structure are given, with special reference to the r61e played by the suspended roof in assisting the stability of the canti- levered auditorium structure. A brief cost analysis of the structure concludes the paper. HISTORY The most appropriate adjectiveone can apply to this enterprise, the creation of the Chichester Theatre, is that it is adventurous. This applies to its conception as a theatre, to its architecture and, perhaps, to its structure and it certainly started as a financial venture. It owes itsbirthto a mere chance. One evening in 1959, a prominent Chichester citizen-a former Mayor of the City-was viewing ‘ Monitor ’ and Dr. Tyrone Guthrie (now Sir Tyrone) captured his imagination with the description of the history of the theatre built by the people of Stratford (Ontario). For the viewer, Mr. Evershed-Martin, this was the beginning of three years hard and continuous battle leading to the realization of his fireside dream. Sir Tyrone agreed to act as the Honorary Theatre Adviser and the idea of a Glyndebourne for the stage began to germinate. For many years now thetheatre world has been gravely concerned, especially in the provinces, at the loss of its audiences to television. Many hold the view that in terms of illusion the theatre, that is, the proscenium theatre, cannot compete with the cinema and television, and that to survive it has to change the method of presentation of plays. The proscenium theatre divides actors and audiences too sharply ; it is too remote from reality. Closer contact between actors and audience would create intimacy and an atmosphere of reality and would restitute the spoken word to its due importance, in preference to providing spectacles of lavish colour and decor. The trend is towardsthe revival of the Elizabethan theatre and perhaps it is befitting thatthis revival should take place during the reign of Elizabeth 11. According to a de Witt woodcut, but since disputed by Leslie Hotson in his book “ Shakespeare’s Wooden 0,” the stage of the Elizabethan theatre was a two or three storeyed house with the stage proper jutting Paper to be read before the Institutiovt of Structurul Engineers at 11, Upper Belgrave Street, London, S. W. 1, on Thursday, 6tl~ December, 1962, at 6 p.m. out into the open. The audience, or at least the quality, were accommodated in another . ‘ house ’ built around the stage compound, whilst the plebs milled around the stage between the two ‘ houses.’ Audience and actors were in intimate contact. Chichester intends to revive the principle of the Elizabethan theatre,not necessarily for Elizabethan plays only, but for the production of all drama, tradi- tional and modern, for the triumph of the spoken word without the tricks of the proscenium stage. The first and most important task was, of course, the raising of funds sufficient to build and equip the theatre, and the Trustees, under the chairmanship of the Earl of Bessborough, formed an executive committee, led by the founder, Mr. Evershed-Martin. The enterprise was to be non-profit making and it was intended to raise the money by public subscription. The City Council wholeheartedly supported the project and agreed to lease at a peppercorn rent a site in Oaklands Park in delightful surroundings within walking distance of the City centre. Fortunately, a car parkfor 500 cars is adjoining the site, thus solving very economically indeed the parking problem, Powell and Moya, F.F.R.I.B.A., were appointed architects for the theatre late in 1959 and were briefed to design, on a shoestring, an open stage theatre seating about 1,400people with minimum, but adequate, backstage accommodation, lavatories for the public and a spacious foyer with bar. The season, which it is hoped soon will become the Chichester Festival, would be from July to September, but it was thought desirable that the auditorium should be capable of being used for other activities out of season as well. The foyer was to be designed for occasional use for exhibitions. PRELIMINARY DESIGN The first sketch plans materialized early in 1960 and at that stage all the professional consultants, like everyone else concerned with the project, served in an honorary capacity. To go to the public for money it was essential to give the public an idea of whatthetheatre would look like and drawings and models were prepared and nationally publicised. The shape of the theatre initially was envisaged as a ‘ circus tent ’ but instead of the central arena, another eccentric circle at the perimeter formed the stage. This was soon discarded because of the inherent difficulty-or certainly expense-of arranging the seating accommodation on a circular plan and various polygons were tried. To get the maximum number of seats, it was essential to provide a gallery, but it was undesirable to detach this gallery from the rest of the auditorium. Eventually, it was found that a regular hexagon offered the best solution and the