Doubling the Swan Recipe: The Transformation of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre

Seating in the dress circle and gallery curved around the auditorium wall, following its "U" shape; but at ground level, in the stall seats and the pit benches behind them, theatergoers sat in straight lines parallel to the stage, from which the front row of the stalls was separated by a shallow orchestra pit.3 At 26 feet wide by 27.5 feet high, the proscenium opening was nearly square, but its height was reduced by a third and its decoration simplified in 1913 when the dress circle was also modified. Costumes and scenery perished in storage under the stage; but books and paintings were rescued from the library and art gallery, which, physically separate from the theater, remained standing. Since 1919 the theater had had its own resident company, engaged to play festival seasons in the spring and summer of every year and led by Walter Bridges-Adams.