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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 9, No. 11. August 21, 1946
Student Assoc. Theatre
Student Assoc. Theatre
Dear Sir,—
Mr. Eiby, in his report of the Lili Kraus recital, suggested that the theatre in the new Stud. Ass. building should seat a thousand.
Readers will have noted that the proposals approved by the Stud. Ass. in general meeting provide for a theatre to seat 500-600. That number was fixed on for several reasons which I regard as important.
| (1) | To provide a hall capable of seating every student would mean eclipsing the Town Hall and the Majestic, which is clearly absurd. |
| (2) | We can confidently expect that there will one day be a College Hall. |
| (3) | The day of the big theatre has long since passed. Every theatre built in Wellington during the last twelve years or more has provided for a maximum capacity of 800-850, reflecting the world-wide policy to build intimate theatres. No theatre above this size can give to its patrons adequate seating sight-lines and audibility. |
| (4) | The ground floor space will be limited in width by the site, and in depth from the stage, which is the practical limit for adequate seating. This means that if our hall were made to seat a thousand it would be necessary to have two galleries and those in the top gallery would be too far away and at too acute an angle to the stage to see or hear properly. |
| (5) | If we can build a theatre that will be adequate for all but two or three functions a year, we shall have succeeded. It would be uneconomic, wasteful, and would result in an inferior theatre if we tried to stretch seating capacity to provide for peak numbers. |
| (6) | Finally, I am convinced, that our gymnasium should be in a separate building where the noise and commotion involved could not interfere with social and cultural activities. |
I have listed my reasons because I feel it is important for all students to keep clearly in mind what our aim is and where our limitations will lie.
R. M. Daniell