The Stage

Theatres Trust’s Jason Barnes calls for end to ‘black box’ venues

Published Tuesday 16 June 2009 at 14:30 by Lalayn Baluch

Jason Barnes, Theatres Trust trustee and former production manager of the National Theatre’s Cottesloe space, has criticised ‘black box’-designed venues, claiming they have “absolutely nothing” to offer theatremakers.

Speaking at the Trust’s annual conference, entitled Experiencing Theatres, Barnes praised “found spaces” - non-theatrical venues and sites - which he believes offer more variety to creative teams.

Black box theatres are usually comprised of a simple, unadorned large, square room with black walls and a flat floor. The venues became popular in the sixties and seventies with experimental theatre groups.

The Cottesloe Theatre is the NT’s black box 300-seat studio, and the South Bank venue’s smallest principal performance space.

Barnes said: “Black box, let’s ban those words from our vocabulary. Black box has absolutely nothing to give. You need something to vary from, which is why found spaces are so exciting and you can react to them.”

Meanwhile, Mark Foley of architects Burrell Foley Fischer - the firm responsible for modernising London’s Almeida Theatre in the eighties and 2003 - said there has been a “distinct” shift away from black box theatre design.

He said: “What I find interesting about good theatre spaces is that they have a personality which you can engage with. So that it is not just one sort of theatre [as with a black box], it is a whole variety.

“It is exciting to see, each time you come and see a new show, how that space is reinterpreted.”

The point was echoed by Royal Shakespeare Company associate designer Tom Piper, who believes that venues with “personality” are growing increasingly popular.

He admitted that as a designer, he did not get “very excited” about designing for black box venues.