 A speaking chorus of 500–1,000 people was supposed to be available at each site; the largest planned Thingplatz, at Gelsenkirchen, was to have accommodated 200,000 people.The resulting size of both the stage and the audience area, and the need to have multiple stage levels for visibility, caused acoustic problems, and the theatres were soon equipped with amplification systems as well as lighting; turrets and platforms vaguely reminiscent of mediaeval forts concealed the controls for the equipment, and fire-pits for solstice festivals, originally planned to be in the middle of the stage area, were relegated to the periphery because of the risk to the cables.In many cases an adjacent area was provided for mass assemblies, with the theatre stage then becoming the speakers' podium.