Visualising Lost Theatres - Virtual Praxis and the Recovery of Performance Spaces

This pioneering study harnesses virtual reality to uncover the history of five venues that have been ''lost'' to us: London''s 1590s Rose Theatre; Bergen''s mid-nineteenth-century Komediehuset; Adelaide''s Queen''s Theatre of 1841; circus tents hosting Cantonese opera performances in Australia''s goldfields in the 1850s; and the Stardust showroom in 1950s Las Vegas. Shaping some of the most enduring genres of world theatre and cultural production, each venue marks a significant cultural transformation, charted here through detailed discussion of theatrical praxis and socio-political history. Using virtual models as performance laboratories for research, Visualising Lost Theatres recreates the immersive feel of venues and reveals performance logistics for actors and audiences. Proposing a new methodology for using visualisations as a tool in theatre history, and providing 3D visualisations for the reader to consult alongside the text, this is a landmark contribution to the digital humanities.