Assembly Hall
A landmark building in the City, part of the collegiate buildings built for the newly established Free Church of Scotland. The collegiate buildings form a quadrangle between Mound Place and Castlehill, the Assembly Hall facing South onto Castlehill.
Although not built as a theatre or regularly used as such apart from Festival time, this building is seminal to the development of the thrust stage for it was here in 1948 that Tyrone Guthrie found the physical actor-audience relationship which he later built upon in Canada. In England the Sheffield Crucible (q.v.) is the nearest to Guthrie’s concept. It also proved to be the inspiration for Bill Howell’s Young Vic (q.v.).
Built / Converted
1948
Dates of use
- : A ‘found space’ - never formally converted to theatre use
Current state
Extant
Current use
Other use (Church of Scotland, conference and events, and Edinburgh Festival venue)
Address
Mound Place, Edinburgh, Lothian, EH1 2LU, Scotland
Further details
Other names
-
Events
- Use: A ‘found space’ - never formally converted to theatre use
- 1850 Design/Construction: as Assembly Hall within theological college for the new Free Church.William H Playfair- Architect
- 1885 Alteration: Elevation extended to the East.John Dick Peddie- Architect
- 1903 Alteration: Raised to two storeys - floor lowered to increase siz of Hall.John Dick Peddie- Architect
- 1948 Alteration: Temporary adaptation for Guthrie's production of The Three Estates.
- 1999 Alteration: Adapted for use as temporary home of the Scottish ParliamentSimpson & Brown Architects- Architect
Capacities
-
Listings
- ListingA
Stage type
-
Building dimensions: -
Stage dimensions: -
Proscenium width: -
Height to grid: -
Inside proscenium: -
Orchestra pit: -