Theatre as a place of experimentation with space

Abstract

The space of the city and the space of the theater stage have a lot in common. Transformations of urban spaces have much more limitations than experiments with stage space. The article presents a comparative analysis of two avant-garde trends of the early twentieth century in the theater and, in parallel, in architecture. It is shown that Brecht’s epic theater and Bauhaus architecture were strongly influenced by Spengler’s pessimistic ideas. The Meyerhold Theater and the constructivist movement, on the contrary, are based on the ideas of social optimism. Using the example of the modern city of Amman (the capital of Jordan) and the Al-Shams Theater, it is shown that the choice between depressive and optimistic development paths remains relevant today.

Keywords

• theater
• architecture
• history
• Bauhaus
• constructivists
• Jordan