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| Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:St_James_Theatre.jpg |
St James
Theatre, designed by Henry White in 1912
was at the time the largest theatre for vaudeville and pictures in
Australasia. (Lee, 2007)
The theatre
was designed for live performances and silent movies, but over the years has
been modified and adapted to house performances ranging from live Shakespearean
performances, to concerts and movies, and is now the home of The Royal New
Zealand Ballet. ("The St. James Theatre ")
St James
Theatre is designed in a Baroque Revival style; from the outside this can be identified by a facade adorned with classically inspired columns with
curvilinear organic capitals, a combination of linear and domed archways, a pastel
stucco finish, and plaster statues that pay homage to the Statue of Apollo. The
interior is highly ornamental, decorated with curvaceous plastering, dancing
cupids, harps and horns all with gold-leaf gilding. (Blunt, 1978)
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Historically,
Baroque theatres were designed with the greatest technology available such that
stages could be transformed mid-performance to provide new settings in seconds
whilst hiding the unsightly elements key to the stage's function. This gave
rise to a new dynamic available for playwrights to weave into their work, and
effectively created a new theatrical genre providing viewers with a multimedia
experience. (Norberg-Schulz, 1972) Theatres intending to screen such
performances would generally be modeled in Baroque fashion, and as such
reflects the styles of performance on offer such as at the St. James Theatre . St.
James Theatre also intended to use the greatest technology available and was
the first theatre in the world to be built from steel and the finest English
concrete reinforced with top quality cow hair. (Cochran, 1993)
St. James
Theatre has survived financial turmoil and threat of demolition, (McGill, 1998) and has been once again been recognised as an
"outstanding cultural and historically significant" theatre and focus
for performing arts in New Zealand. ("The St. James Theatre ")
McGill, D. (1998). Full circle : the
history of the St James Theatre. Wellington, NZ: Phantom House.
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