The latter is a drama in which members of the audience are simultaneously performers and audience: those looking out and imagining are the same as those being looked at and imagined. In the former it is the stage upon which the central action occurs and is observed in the latter it is the stage from which the social drama of class and status is acted out and observed. Etymologically, both words, palcoscenico and palco, imply the idea of a stage. The word for the box containing seats in a theater is palco. In Italian, the word for the stage, the location where the opera or play takes place is palcoscenico. This visibility diminished, of course, as the boxes moved away from the center and toward the edges overlooking the stage. The social importance of the individual boxes diminished in direct relationship to their visibility as measured by their occupants’ ability to see and be seen. It was, however, not the best location for hearing the opera. It was the place from which theoccupant could see everyone in the hall and be seen in turn and, of course, have full view of the The Royal Box, the most important location of all, was situated on the second tier in the center of the curve and directly opposite the stage. The most prestigious seats were those along the curve of the horseshoe directly opposite the stage. On the one hand it permitted the audience seated in the boxes to be closer to the action on stage in addition it allowed for deader acoustics than was possible in the earlier rectangular or fan-shaped halls and, therefore, less reverberation and better vocal clarity. The function of this design was two-fold. Tiered boxes and balconies arranged around and above an open seating area and the stage beyond. The unique horseshoe plan of the 18thĪnd 19th century opera houses consisted of
Houses had been built in Venice (which hadĮlaborate productions taking place within Performed in small halls as entertainment
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