"Aquí" and "allí"

[Desmond]

I am confused over this.

If
Here is ... = Aquí está...
There is ... = Allí está ...
Then why is The theatre is here. = El teatro está allí. and not El teatro está aquí.

El teatro está allí. should be he theatre is there.

[aleCcowaN]

allá está el teatro (we have just spot it in the distance)
acá está el teatro (we are nearby)

Consider acá or aquí should be as large as to include the object: "acá está el Cañon del Colorado" (we've just spot it in the distance while driving or on a plane -no contradiction with my first example)

More formally, aquí defines more a focal point and acá a wider area. Centuries of daily use has made them almost synonyms. However educated or formal speech tends to keep them a smidge different:

sé que el teatro estaba por acá (about there, not sure exactly where)
para llegar al teatro tienes que ir por aquí (following this precise path)

[Desmond]

Ok Let me put it in this situation. I am in a bar and I have ordered the cerveza. I am sitting down.. You come in and ask me where is my cerveza. Pointing to a glass on the table I say your cerveza is here.
If it was still on the bar I would say your cerveza is over there on the bar.
I see here as directly in front of you, and there as a direction to somewhere else. The bank is there on the next calle. It is a distance and a direction thing.

I know that the theater was here

(Using spanishdict.com)
sé que el teatro estaba por acá
sé to know
que that
el the
teatro theater
estaba to be, to stay
por by
acá here

I would have thought

I know that the theater is around here.

Maybe this is just a turn of fraze open to either interpretation. That is the problem I feel that I have.Not everything that makes sence in english has a direct transclation in spanish.

[aleCcowaN]

"Acá" as opposed to "allá" is something you have to consider:

Novio [a la novia con quién se acaba de mudar]: "Me parece que olvidamos el control remoto en tu departamento"
Novia: "No, está por acá en algún lugar. Recuerdo haberlo sacado de una caja"

You can say "tu cerveza está acá, sobre esa mesa" just to say you don't need to go all the way to the bar.

I would be really surprised if this is used in English in a different way.

[poli]

I don't have the precise understanding of these terms that Alec has, but
parents more often say "ven acá" to their children than ven aquí.

[Desmond]

ven acá. Thanks for this. I will add this to my lessons. Here and there can be mixed up in England. Your glass is there instead of here when pointing. Some interpretations can lose there meaning in translation.

I am writing comedy along the lines of only fools and horses. I asked a friend if I could translate this into Spanish. He said it wouldn’t translate well and Spanish TV comedies are different to English TV comedies. Is Spanish American style comedy?

[aleCcowaN]

You meant ahí.

Ahí está tu cerveza (whether 2 feet away or 30 feet away, but always on sight or almost)

acá/allá, aquí/allí are used to refer a place, being the first pair more blurry and the second one more precise (but, anyway, take both pairs as equivalent). The precise version is preferred when a path is shown) and its precision makes the second pair more used in formal situations.

aquí/ahí are used when pointing or on sight of the object; there's even a whole defective verb -or an abnormal inflection of haber- that is used just with this pair: "he aquí", "hete allí", "heme aquí"

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

"Aquí" points at a specific place, right where the speaker is.

"Acá" is somewhere in the proximity of the speaker; somewhere "over here".

"Ahí" shows a place that is not so close to the speaker, but it's not far away from him/her. It can be accompanied by a gesture with the index finger to point at the place one is talking about, and which the listener might actually see.

"Allí" is farther than "ahí"* and closer in meaning to "allá".
*Please note that in many regions "ahí" and "allí" are perfect synonyms.

"Allá" is close in meaning to "allí"* and the difference is similar to that between "aquí" and "acá"; "allí" is a specific place and "allá" is a wider area.
*Also note that when "allí" is a synonym of "ahí", "allá" is way farther than "allí".

I hope you'll find this useful.