Glossary · O
Orchestra
The circular or semicircular level floor of a theatre between the seats and the stage. In the Greek theatre the chorus performed there; in the Roman theatre it held the seats of senators.
See also: Cavea, Scaenae frons
Rules that use the word
The Greek theatre: three squares. Plan a Greek theatre by inscribing three squares in the orchestra circle; the side nearest the scene fixes the front of the stage (proscaenium), and the scene is set back to a line tangent to the circle.
The Roman theatre: four triangles. Draw the orchestra circle and inscribe in it four equilateral triangles at equal intervals; the side nearest the scene fixes the front of the scaena, a parallel through the centre fixes the front of the stage, and the angles on the auditorium side give the directions of the stairways.
The scene: twice the orchestra. Make the scaena twice as long as the orchestra is wide; raise its podium a twelfth of the orchestra diameter, its lower columns a quarter, their entablature a fifth of the columns; above, a parapet half the podium and columns a quarter shorter than those below.
Where it appears in the book
In the chapters The Classical World.
Nearby in the glossary
Opus quadratum · Opus reticulatum · Opus testaceum · Orangery · Order · Organic architecture · Oriel · Orthostat