All for one and one for all! The joint joys of in-the-round theatre

An actor strides down the stairs inches from where I sit. Another speaks from the far side of the auditorium. I’m aware, too, of the audience as we face each other at the New Vic in Newcastle-under-Lyme. The New Vic is a theatre-in-the-round, with a stage in the centre encircled by seats, so it often breaks the fourth wall and creates a sense of shared experience.

“Every piece of theatre we make is about that community you’re looking at opposite you,” says Theresa Heskins, the artistic director, who adapted and directed its current production, The Three Musketeers. “Their presence is part of the show.”

In-the-round was a common format in the ancient theatre of Greece and Rome. The 20th century saw a re-emergence. Director Stephen Joseph formed the Studio Theatre Company in Scarborough in 1955, touring in-the-round productions, including to Newcastle-under-Lyme. The New Vic opened in 1986 and, like other theatres-in-the-round such as the Orange Tree in Richmond and Manchester’s Royal Exchange, there is a sense of equality inside. The seats have different perspectives but all offer a good view. “It’s almost like being around a campfire, and everyone telling stories,” says Lemar Moller, who plays D’Artagnan. “You can include a lot more [of the audience] in your actions. You can be talking to someone in front of you, then make an aside to someone behind you … You can have more intimate moments.”

Is it ever disorientating for the actors to perform with the audience surrounding them? Perry Moore, who plays the Cardinal, remembers arriving on stage through the wrong entrance in his first job at the New Vic. “So I just slowly walked to the other side,” he laughs. “You do get used to it. You might tune into how many audience members are on one bank compared to another and work it out from there.”

Adapting to the round is a unique experience. “As an actor, you’re acting 360 degrees,” says Rhiannon Skerritt, who plays a city guard and dressmaker in the production. “You’re always visible to somebody, so you should be fully immersed in the scene. I think it frees you as an actor.”

Moore adds: “You feel quite vulnerable, really, because even though it does seem like such a big space, when you’re on that stage and you’re surrounded by 600-odd people, you do feel like they’re in your lap, that you can’t hide anywhere. But that’s also great, because you can be quite naturalistic in-the-round. You don’t have to worry about sight lines as much – it’s a different set of rules.”

As not all the audience can see an actor’s face at the same time, Heskins says that the sound design and music are even more critical to convey emotion. Costumes, such as the golden dresses of the masquerade ball, are designed to be seen up close and from all angles.

“It’s an amazing configuration for audiences, actors, directors and designers,” says Lotte Wakeham, artistic director at Bolton’s Octagon, which often presents in-the-round shows. “There’s a special immediacy and democracy, with audiences feeling really involved, as they can see each other as well as the actors.”

Wakeham is preparing to direct Pride and Prejudice in the round later this year. “For the design, you can’t use big pieces of scenery. The floor and the costumes become the main outlets for visually telling the story, and any furniture needs to be very low, for sight lines.” Wakeham says she learned a lot about directing in the round by working with Alan Ayckbourn at the Stephen Joseph theatre. “He used to say that the audience won’t mind seeing a lot of an actor’s back, as long as they’ve seen their face once. So, when an actor first comes on stage, you find some reasons for them to move around so they can clearly be seen by everyone. Then they can relax.”

“So many plays are written to have doors and windows or walls,” says Heskins. “You can’t really do any of that, but it’s a fantastic opportunity, because what happens is that you end up rebooting plays that feel really fresh when a designer is challenged to make all those things work, or to get rid of them all together.”

There’s no curtain, either, influencing the transitions between scenes. It leads to “a strong sense of momentum, because the audience are watching all the time,” says Heskins. From my seat, I think of how she says the stage here loves movement. As the characters fight and dance, I realise I want to watch it again but sitting from the other side next time, taking it all in anew.

• The Three Musketeers is at the New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme, until 25 January. Pride and Prejudice is at the Octagon, Bolton, 5-28 June.