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A proscenium arch is a square frame around a raised stage area in traditional theatres. It creates a 'window' within which the play is performed. It represents a style of theatre which has persisted since the seventeenth century but has become an almost derogatory term to many modern dramatists.
Development
The term has a complex origin and originally meant something very different. It derives from the Greek proskenion, meaning 'in front of the skene'. The skene was a building with doors that served as the backdrop in Ancient Greek theatre. The proskenion was a raised stage in front of the skene which appeared in the Hellenistic era and in Roman theatre; it served simply to make the actors higher to aid visibility, and to separate them from the chorus. Ancient theatres thus lacked the modern proscenium arch. It was also absent from Renaissance theatres.
The proscenium arch developed in seventeenth century theatres, alongside the development of illusionistic scenery. Throughout much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, proscenium arch theatres were the norm. Only in the twentieth century, as theatre began to reject illusionistic scenery, did other forms of theatre design become popular (see below).
Function
The proscenium arch creates a 'window' around the scenery and actors. The advantages are that it gives everyone in the audience a good view because the actors need only focus on one direction rather than continually moving around the stage to give a good view from all sides. It also allows for more complex scenery as blocking the audience's view is much easier to avoid.
Proscenium arch theatres have fallen out of favour because they perpetuate the fourth wall concept within theatre, which implies that the characters performing on stage are doing so in a four-walled environment, with the "wall" facing the audience being invisible. Many modern theatres attempt to do away with the fourth wall concept and so most modern theatres are designed with a thrust stage that projects out of the arch and into the audience, or even with a circular stage entirely surrounded by the audience (known as theatre in the round).
See also
"Proscenium arch"