Ancient and contemporary use of open-air theatres : evolution and acoustic effect of scenery design.

The subject of this research is the acoustic properties of ancient theatres, focusing on their contemporary use and the effect of scenery design. Performance style, material use and influence of architectural characteristics and evolution on acoustics are of interest. Generic scenery designs are investigated and guidelines for architects and scenery designers are provided. This dissertation is organised in twelve chapters. Chapter 1 is the introduction. The literature review is presented in Part 1. Chapter 2 examines the theory of sound in antiquity and today, currently used acoustic indices and commonly used acoustic software. Chapter 3 describes ancient performance spaces, in terms of layout, and forms of drama. Chapter 4 focuses on: stage building in antiquity, revival of ancient drama and scenery design categorisation. Part 2, the methodology, contains Chapters 5 and 6. The former examines appropriate parameters for acoustic software use, on-site measurements, absorption coefficient measurements and subjective evaluation. Chapter 6 investigates the phenomena of diffraction in ancient theatres, which can be accurately calculated by applying appropriate scattering coefficients. Part 3 presents the main analysis in four chapters. Chapter 7 examines theatre evolution in antiquity, revealing that the acoustic environment improved. Chapter 8 compares measurements, simulation and subjective evaluation for Epidaurus, Knossos and Philippi, and presents absorption coefficient measurements for porous stone. Chapters 9 and 10 acoustically investigate Mieza, Philippi and Dion in terms of ancienVpresent condition and restoration proposals with purposely-built stage enclosures, and effects of generic scenery categories respectively. Chapter 11 offers guidelines for ancient theatre and scenery design use, with applications to contemporary open-air theatres. Finally, Chapter 12 presents this study's conclusions, contribution to knowledge and further work. This study introduced and acoustically examined early theatre forms, emphasised on the acoustic improvements in theatre evolution, and demonstrated the usefulness of stage buildings/enclosures and scenery