Conference Paper

Back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Adolphe Appia advocated key changes, which influenced the creation of new theatrical spaces. The purpose of this initiative was to make space applicable to the needs and requirements of a new theatrical space. Appia’s entire creative life was dedicated to merging the auditorium with the stage in order to enable interaction between the actor(s) and audience. Have these changes, which started to be applied in Europe before the Second World War, been accepted in the Republic of Macedonia starting in 1965? This subject is only briefly researched in Macedonia, perhaps because the architectural theatrical space is treated as a black box in which some sort of magic occurs. This text will attempt to contribute to research based on the experiences of several important theatre workers (directors, stage designers and theatre analysts), as well as architects. Several theatre buildings will be analyzed (such as the Institute Jaques‐Dalcroze in Hellerau near Dresden, the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, the Macedonian National Theatre in Skopje and the Drama Theatre in Skopje) with the use of schemes, drawings and 3D models. This study will not only touch upon the physical characteristics of the theatre, but also on the needs of theatre workers. The results will be compared and contrasted with similar results found across the EU, contributing to the design of new architecturaltheatrical spaces in Macedonia in the future, which will follow EU trends.