A reconstruction of the Theatre of Dionysos

The Greeks had a word for it. In the fifth century BC, the citizens of Athens decreed that there should be a "seeing place" where they could meet in the shadow of the Acropolis to watch plays, dances and the offering of hymns to the gods above.

That word, theatron, has entered our language as theatre - and thanks to new technology, advances in archaeology and more than a little detective work, the world's first theatre has been recreated by researchers at Warwick University. Welcome to the Theatre of Dionysos.

Two thousand years later, the remains of the structure has risen from the ashes of time thanks to virtual reality. Today, this electronic reconstruction of the oldest theatre in the world forms the hi-tech end of an exhibition that has already toured Europe and will be on display for six months. "A Stage For Dionysos" was unveiled last week at the British Theatre Museum in Covent Garden by Sir Peter Hall, with the Greek Minister for Culture in attendance.

Produced by Spyros Mercouris (brother of the late Melina), it aims to trace the history of Greek theatre, involving costumes and archaeological artefacts. But the visual reconstruction in virtual reality promises to be the most vivid encapsulation of a time when Sophocles and Euripides were staging their dramas for the entertainment of the good citizens of Athens.

"It's more than a window on to the golden age of ancient Athens," says Richard Beacham, a professor of theatre history at Warwick University. "You can immerse yourself into that world and experience what it would have been like."

To Beacham and his colleagues at the university's School of Theatre Studies, the rapid increase in computer power and accuracy of 3-D representations means that non-technical people can appreciate history more fully. It allows students to determine the way in which space would have been used, what the acoustics would have been like, as well as the lighting and sightlines which cannot be appreciated from traditional methods.

"We call it 3-D archaeology and it is an extremely powerful tool, not just in teaching but appreciation," he says.

Virtual reconstructions allow professional researchers to "interrogate" the historical evidence and test hypotheses. "Often there will be a contemporary text which will have a reference from someone in the audience seeing something," he says. "We can check whether the computer model is accurate by testing against those records."

The stunning reconstructions shown on these pages reveal that 15,000 people could see the entertainments on display - and those in the last rows were some 300ft above the actors. "The computer's eye-view brings it alive," Beacham says. "At that distance, you can appreciate why the performers used masks and colourful costumes. Otherwise they wouldn't have been seen."

But perhaps the most amazing part of the reconstruction has revealed details of a "covered" theatre literally next door. Curiously, the Odeon of Pericles was used for rehearsing plays that would be staged at the rather more prestigious open-air establishment next door.

"The Odeon had a polygonal roof like a tent," Beacham says. "On top they built an oval-shaped metallic orb, possibly made of gold." As this was literally due east of the stage of the open-air theatre, it was often used as a prop for the rising Sun. "There are a lot of references to sunrises in ancient plays," Beacham says. "It would have caught the light quite dramatically."

The computer has thus generated historical accuracy from a jumble of ruins. In the case of the Odeon, it is known that there were nine rows of nine columns from archaeological evidence. The end result would have been curious to say the least. "We have long suspected that there were dreadful lines of sight for the people in the audience," Beacham says. "We have shown that 40 per cent of the audience wouldn't have been able to see anything."

New computer tools allow Beacham to simply extend traditional traditional theatre research methods into the information age. "The new technology allows us to use the old methodology in revealing ways," he says. Where archaeologists often recreate objects using 2-D maps, Beacham and his colleagues use the third dimension for more realistic representations. The Warwick group work with architects to make sure that the computerised representations are not just aesthetically compelling but truly realistic. "We can check whether our buildings would have stood up," Beacham says.

As part of this wider initiative, the Warwick group are intimately involved in an extensive investigation of Rome's first permanent theatre, the Theatre of Pompey which was built on the Campus Martius in 55BC. Named after Pompey The Great, it is the place where Julius Caesar was murdered, leading to Mark Antony's words in Shakespeare: "Even at the base of Pompey's statues, which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell."

Although many existing features of the great theatre remain, they are buried underground. Since that time other buildings have used its foundations and can no longer be seen directly. "It's still there, but it can't be accessed," Beacham says.

Although various authorities have suggested its return to glory - including Mussolini - the option is no longer viable. So as part of an international collaboration, the Warwick group is recreating ancient Rome by computer. The team use what Beacham calls "keyhole archaeology" to see how extant pieces of the structure can be related to others.

"It's like completing a 3-D puzzle," he says.

For further information, The Theatre Museum may be contacted on 0171-836 2330.

A Spotlight on History

PROFESSOR Beacham has taught at the University of Warwick since 1976. American by birth, he earned his doctorate at Yale University and has recently worked at the Getty Center for the History of Art and Humanities. While helping to prepare a grant application to the J. Paul Getty Trust for the physical restoration of the Hellerau Festspielhaus near Dresden, he became aware of the possibilities offered by computers.

He and his co-workers developed a computer model to show what they wanted to do in the real world. The Hellerau is widely regarded as the birthplace of modern theatre and one of the first to use spotlights.

"I realised I could do a lot of my work in multimedia," he says. "I could integrate the spaces I wanted to investigate a lot more easily than in the real world."

Beacham works alongside architects and programmers to develop material that would be of interest to academics. "It's quite surprising that there are no companies working in multimedia recreations in the field of theatre," he says.

Beacham has also written books on ancient theatre and has translated several ancient comedies as well as producing them on a replica Roman stage. He is currently editing Theatre In The Roman World: A Documentary History.

Bringing back the sights and sounds

PROFESSOR Beacham and his colleagues use PCs and Silicon Graphics O2 Machines for their virtual recreations.

The PCs use off-the-shelf packages such as 3-D Studio Max and Radiance while the SGI machines use Softimage. To market his work, Beacham has set up a company called Theatron which works in collaboration with Warwick University and harnesses the skills of architects, multimedia designers, programmers and theatre historians.

Beacham says: "We can offer this unique access to people in the heritage field." Established in 1996, the company is still in the research and development phase and is producing, with the university, a CD-Rom called Ancient Theatre & Its Legacy. It will consist of video, images, sound and text as well as a large number of virtual reality computer models of ancient theatre sites.

"It is designed for use by the academic community," Beacham says. "You can see the evolution of theatres." He points out that there are at least 1,500 departments at American universities which could use it as a teaching module.

Beacham forsees technical innovations in replicating the acoustics within ancient theatres. Theatron has been working with engineers at the University of Ferrara in Italy to recreate the performances of ancient plays. "We can now import a sound file, put on earphones and listen to how the theatre spaces would have sounded," he adds.