Thursdays Thesaurus: In The Round

Today we take on the term – In The Round
In the round is a type of theater that puts the actors in the center of the theater with the audience on all sides surrounding them. It can also be referred to as an “arena theatre” or “central staging”.

Theatre in the round can be traced back to Greek and roman theatre and can be seen today in the Greek and Italian ancient theatrical ruins. It came back into popularity in the early 1900’s as theater began experimenting with more flexible theatre arrangements.Usually this type of theatre style leads to sets being designed with care so that the audience is not blocked by furniture or scenery. This staging does require the actors to sometimes have their backs to the audience, so it can sometimes be difficult for actors to adapt to if they are more used to traditional theatre arrangements.

If you are in San Diego then you should go to The Old Globe, their Sheryl & Harvey White Theatre is a theatre that is designed for in the round productions. In Los Angeles the Theatre In The Round Players only do productions in this style.

Now I’d like to know, have you seen any shows in the round? How did you like it?