Blogging off for Xmas

As we have no shows on over the Christmas period – despite frequent calls from people asking us what time Aladdin will finish on Boxing Day (answer: try the Everyman on 01242 572573) – the box office will be closed from now until 10 am Monday 5 January 2009. The theatre isn’t empty, as there are drama workshops, parties and maintenance work taking place most days over this break. In the meantime, we wish all our patrons a very Merry Christmas and look forward to seeing you all in the New Year.

Notes from The Railway Children (1)

January 2009 sees the return of Cheltenham Operatic & Dramatic Society to the Playhouse stage as one of the first handful of companies to present a new musical version of a classic novel and film. Here, to tell us more, is production director Jill Mico:

“When E. Nesbit wrote her stories of The Railway Children in the early 20th century, she probably never imagined it would be transformed into a musical in the early 21st; a modern musical, which captures all the charm and poignancy of the original story.

Directing any musical is a challenge and The Railway Children has been no exception, with 36 in the cast – many of them, as the title suggests, children. As is the way with modern musicals there was considerable doubling up in the original production (the constraints of budgets on the modern professional musical theatre). Happily that is one restriction we do not face, our actors do not get paid, and therefore we have been able to develop a traditional ensemble cast and give many more their opportunity to shine.

Rehearsals, which got underway in early October have proved challenging for two reasons. Firstly, the structure of the show itself imposes its own restrictions. When one finds principals in both dialogue scenes and the big production numbers, finding the time to rehearse all the elements and keep all your cast productively occupied is challenging. This has been further complicated by the limited time one can work with the children in the evenings - having to let them go around 9pm - which means we've had to squeeze the maximum out of the time we have. The main problem this presents is finding time for relationships between the various characters to develop and gel.

There’s just over a month to go until we move into the theatre and we have an awful long way to go in shaping scenes and knitting all the aspects together, although some of the more challenging close harmony musical numbers are taking shape. With several different locations to portray, often in a single scene, our set designer Michael Barwick is developing a series of magical watercolour backdrops that will be projected onto the back cyclorama - we hope!”

THE RAILWAY CHILDREN
Sat 24 – Sat 31 January (no Sunday performance)
Evenings at 7.45pm, 31 January matinee at 2.30pm
Tickets £13 (£10 concessions on Mon eve and Sat mat)

Please note that tickets for this production will not be available from The Playhouse until Monday 5 January. Prior to this date, tickets are only available through CODS’ private mailing list and company members. There will be a second set of Notes from The Railway Children in the New Year.

A private production

January, according to our autumn/winter brochure, commences at The Playhouse with The Railway Children. In actual fact, there is another show sneaking in before this when the pupils of Christ College present their annual drama performance.

Only, we can’t tell you what it is. This year’s production was Bugsy Malone, and we were able to tell you about that. But we can’t say anything about this one.

Seriously, we can’t! The school has been given special permission to stage a shortened version of a current West End musical but only on the condition that it isn’t advertised.

Even now, the pupils are in one of our rehearsal rooms, going through the dance routines and practising a few of the songs (I heard them – they were excellent). We always like them to come in before Christmas so that they can have a good look around the place, have a rehearsal, and generally get some of the excitement out of the way so that when they return for the show, they are already familiar and comfortable with being here and can concentrate on the production.

Performances take place at 7.30 pm on Thursday 15 and Friday 16 January 2009. Tickets are priced £5 for adults and £3 for pensioners, children and students, but the Friday performance is already sold out.

However, there are still quite a few seats left for the Thursday performance, so do give the box office a ring on 01242 522852 if you would like to support local schoolchildren in their latest endeavour.

Notes from Alice in a Non-PC World

Christmas is always hectic down at The Playhouse as assorted performers prepare for our annual alternative panto for childish grown ups, presented under the auspices of Friends Theatre Company (or, as they are now known, Friends: The Next Generation, having last year reached their 21st production).

This year’s show takes Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland as its starting point but gives it a technological spin. In this version, Alice is drawn inside her laptop and encounters all sorts of computer-related entities such as The Mad Hacker, the Google Bird, CD Ron and Auntie Virus. At, the same time, the script takes a well-earned swipe at political correctness and health and safety legislation, so you don’t have to be a computer-whiz to understand all the jokes. And there’s plenty to keep your toes tapping with some catchy tunes and fabulous dance routines with the usual background of a fascinating set.

Speaking of the set, Mike Kingston and Phil Hopkins seem to be spending every waking hour in the workshop building it and designing a weird array of props and creatures including the previously seen flamingos (as used to play croquet, obviously), hedgehogs and several strange green flying creatures that are slightly reminiscent of Martians from an episode of the classic BBC series Quatermass.*

Rehearsals have been directed by Caroline Young who once again has worked her wonders with a great script courtesy of several Playhouse stalwarts. Time has just flown by and it now feels like we have a great show for those who venture out on these cold nights. We just need to keep the energy up, as it’s all pretty fast moving.

The show runs for six nights – Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week and next – and Thursday performances don’t start until 8.30 to coincide with Cheltenham late night shopping (you can never get parked until 8pm, even if you aren’t shopping). There are still tickets available for all performances, although we’re down to under a dozen for the last night and not many more for the second Friday. We really do urge people not to leave it to the last minute for this show.

* Theatre joke for those of a certain age: Why are musical directors often known as Quatermass? Because they are always found in The Pit

Pretty flamingo (?)

While many birds fly south for the winter, a flamingo has decided to make the theatre foyer its home for the next month. This is just one of several weird and wonderful creatures that will be making an appearance in ALICE IN A NON-PC WORLD, this year’s alternative panto for childish grown-ups. Some people have even asked if Denzil the Donkey is making a reappearance after his star turn last year (answer: no)!

We don’t stage a traditional family panto – with our friends at the Everyman so close and always making such a fantastic job of it (last year’s was voted ‘the best in the west’), there would be little point in trying to compete. Ours is not an ‘adult panto’ of the sort staged by Jim Davidson for some years but something silly, occasionally suggestive, occasionally politically incorrect, and ideal for those people who just want a good laugh in the run up to Christmas. It wouldn’t be suitable for children, but teenagers usually lap it up.

It always proves extremely popular, particularly with office parties, and on Thursday nights we don’t start the performance until 8.30 to make allowance for late night shopping. This year, ticket sales are up an incredible 60% on this time in 2007 and the final Saturday performance is rapidly approaching sell-out status! You’ll be able to read a bit more about ALICE in next week’s ‘Notes From…’

Notes from A Strange Kind of Hero

Each December, we are always pleased to welcome Jacob's Well Productions to the theatre. This year is something of a landmark for the group, members of whom come from churches across the Cheltenham area. Here, to tell us more about this year's show, is producer - and no, we don't mean director - Libby Wall:

"This is our tenth year at the Playhouse and so we thought we should mark the occasion with something memorable. We have chosen 'Paul: Strange Kind of Hero' as our musical. Last year's production 'Noah' (rather ironic given the circumstances of last summer but chosen before the floods, honest!) was a fun show full of colour, dance, humour and a whole bunch of animals. This year we decided to go in a completely different direction so we have gone for something which is strong and dramatic. It is the story of Saul, a fanatical murderer and persecutor of early Christians, who sees the light on the road to Damascus and becomes Paul, a passionate leader of the new church.

This musical, written by Sue Pomeroy and Chris Eaton, has been produced on the professional stage several times but this is the FIRST amateur production, so for our tenth year we have gone for.............a world premiere!!! This show was produced by Sue Pomeroy, in Cheltenham in 2001 and two of our company were in the chorus. It was put on in a big top at the racecourse, starting its run during the Greenbelt Festival and continuing afterwards with a total of 17 performances. Chris Eaton, who composed the music for the show, has written for many professional singers and this music is brilliant.

Anyone who has produced a show knows that it is at the same time an exciting and completely stressful experience!! As far as this show goes our two main problems have been the resources and the lead actor. When the show was produced by a professional company there was no printed score and the script has been altered many times which has meant that we have had to receive both of these in a 'drip feed' fashion, the last of which arrived last week!!! Four different actors agreed to take the lead role, one after the other, and then pulled out! It is obviously very frustrating for a director to try and run rehearsals without the main character. Having said this, we are sure that we have the right person now.

Our musicals always support a local charity and this one is in aid of St George's Association, a Cheltenham based charity which provides residential care and many other services for adults with learning disabilities. In order to boost these funds we held a Jacob's Well concert evening in the Playhouse Green Room in October. We had various acts ranging from a number from the show to a vocal duo who accompanied themselves on the guitar and the didgeridoo. I would recommend this type of event as it raised a good sum of money but required no company rehearsal time at all. Rehearsals are going well now and we do hope you can come along to see the finished production and support the charity."

PAUL: A STRANGE KIND OF HERO Weds 3 - Sat 6 December at 7.45 pm

Matinee on 6 December at 2.30 pm

Tickets £7 (Weds eve and Sat mat) otherwise £9

PS The shoes have been claimed!

Lost property

We don't get a lot of lost property at The Playhouse - occasionally a coat, but more usually an umbrella or pair of spectacles, the sorts of things that are small enough to be easily forgotten (and while the item is discovered missing the next day, it generally takes the best part of a week before people realise where they left it).

This morning we found something we've never had left behind before. There, in the front of house bar, a pair of men's black SHOES, neatly placed under a chair! We have to assume someone merely changed their footwear, as I can't believe someone would have walked home barefoot and not realised!

Last night's packed audience for Epsom Downs contained a lot of racegoers here for this weekend's Open meeting, so it is possible that the owner of the said shoes is unlikely to read this blog. Just in case they do, however, please give the box office a call on 01242 522852.

Children In Need Jazz Party

This coming Sunday, 16 November, our friends from Cheltenham Jazz Arts are hosting a Jazz Party in aid of Children In Need in the theatre Green Room. The event starts at 7.30 pm, everyone is welcome and admission is FREE! There will be plenty of live music and anyone can make a donation to either play or sing along with the band. In addition, there will be a ‘bring and buy’ second hand CD stall and the bar, of course, will be open! For more information, please contact Sara Espley on 07947 676112.

Another scary thing

Following Friday’s Hallowe’en special – which brought in another instance of a disembodied voice – I wanted to post a picture of what many people think is the scariest thing in the building (other than me). The lighting board.

It’s amazing how few people will go near this equipment. I don’t think it’s a question of being afraid of an electric shock, just an assumption that it will be extremely hard to get to grips with. In fact, operating the lighting board is the easy bit as, once programmed, each lighting cue is achieved simply by hitting the button marked ‘go’. It’s the programming that needs a little more knowledge, along with setting the lights themselves into position.

But it can be an awful lot of fun and very rewarding. The designer and/or operator are an extremely important part of the production team – without them, the show does not go on. Yet, so few people seem to want to undertake this side of things and, as a theatre, it is starting to become harder to find enough people to light all the shows during the year.

If there is anyone out there who would be interested in getting involved as one of our technical volunteers – whether you’re an existing member of the theatre or not – do please get in touch on 01242 522852. We can put you in touch with one of the regular ‘techies’ and put you through an apprenticeship!

Hallowe'en Hauntings

Hallowe’en has become much more ‘Americanised’ in the UK since I was a nipper, but as most theatres have resident ghosts, it’s probably in our interests to observe the festival – just to be on the safe side. We are supposed to have three – a man, a woman and a little girl – although they have never been seen at the same time and aren’t believed to be a family. The man has been seen in the rehearsal room known as the dungeon while the woman and little girl have only ever been seen in the auditorium as far as I am aware, with the woman usually seen on the sound balcony. She has, however, been seen at least once on stage during a performance, whispering in the ear of a musician in a band.

People do say that major building work in old premises like ours can disturb the spirits and increase the likelihood of ghostly activity. While this didn’t seem to happen here, there have been several slightly spooky goings-on over the last 12 months in the part of the theatre known as No 47, which consists of a ground floor committee room, an office and costume store on the first floor and a rehearsal room on the second floor. There is also access into the cellar.

Last summer, an electrical tester was working in the top rehearsal room and was convinced he was being watched. Every time he looked round, he saw nothing. He mentioned this to me afterwards while he was testing the wiring in the swimming pool area and said it was probably his mind playing tricks from hearing someone moving around the room below…except, of course, there was no one else in that part of the building at the time. Mary never left the box office and I was in the back alleyway spraying the weeds!

Last year, I was in the office in No 47 and thought I heard my name being called by a woman’s voice. I guessed it was merely noise from outside or next door, until I heard it a second and third time. I went down the stairs, assuming it was Mary. Perhaps the intercom between the box office and admin office wasn’t working, so she’d had to come across and find me? No, the intercom was working and Mary had again never left the box office and had actually been on the phone for some time. Added to that, only a fortnight ago, I heard the sound of chairs being moved around in the committee room beneath the office several times over the course of a morning – on every visit downstairs, there was no sign of anything having been moved and no one else around.

Were these all noises from outside merely sounding as if they were coming from within the theatre, or genuinely ghostly goings-on? Happy Hallowe’en!

Notes from Epsom Downs

We now go over to the racecourse and a commentary on the soon-to-be-run Epsom Downs – not from Sir Peter O’Sullevan but the play’s director, Steven Rayworth:

“And as we approach the final two furlongs…

Yes, indeed, Deep End Theatre Company’s production of Epsom Downs is just two weeks away and you bloggers out there may just like to know how it’s going.

Howard Brenton’s play is a theatrical treat. It is also a bit of a challenge: the staging of a day at the Derby in Silver Jubilee year. Forty-odd characters converge on the downs for the great day. Originally, as performed by Joint Stock Theatre, the company comprised nine actors with multiple role-playing in the true Brechtian style. Here, I’ve expanded it to 22 actors with some multi-various role-playing. The result, I think, is a theatrical entertainment of sustained variety throughout. By opening out the play in order to absorb more actors, I’ve been able to achieve an age range appropriate to the idea that Derby Day (and, indeed, racing in general) is for everyone.

Mike Kingston has designed the set that will convey the undulations of the Downs; he has also assured me that the special effects which I imagined difficult won’t be! Martin Oakes is gearing up on the lighting and sound front and there are already a couple of effects planned which will add a frisson of verisimilitude to the production.

Forty-odd characters to contend with has meant some pre-occupation with costumes: some easy to get hold of, others less so. Liz White is on board to help although many of the cast have been rooting amongst their own clobber. One way or another, the play will look colourful – as Derby Day should.

And what of the actors? Some I knew beforehand, others I have encountered for the first time. Some of them are acting out of their skins! We have been able to move forward considerably with the play because much line-learning has been done prior to rehearsals and what a boon that is! And oh boy, have we had a laugh!

Epsom Downs is both extremely funny and poignant; there are a number of personal stories to follow throughout the play and a rich revelation of character along with identifiable social types. I defy you not to have a good time when you see this marvellous play. Howard Brenton can be regarded as a political playwright of some renown and Epsom Downs is, arguably, his most accessible play. I’m enjoying it as much as I’ve ever done. Rehearsals have confirmed that you can have a laugh (my number one aim) and be creative. At the time of writing this blogette, the ‘vibe’ is extremely positive and a feeling that we’re close to doing this play justice.

Oh, and I have deliberately not mentioned the company’s research trip to Cheltenham Races on 18 October (courtesy of Edward Gillespie – a BIG thank you). My wallet is still reverberating from the pounding of losing bets it received…”

EPSOM DOWNS 12 – 15 November at 7.45 pm
Tickets £9 (£6 concessions except Saturday)

Notes from The Gut Girls

Dave Wheeler is one of several members who trod the boards at The Playhouse as an amateur and eventually decided to go and train and turn professional. He still keeps his hand in down here when time permits – he was last seen as Chairman/Charles Warren in Jack the Ripper and his last stint in the director’s chair was for the musical Kiss of the Spider Woman – and, at present, he is directing The Gut Girls, the next production from The Playhouse Company. Here, he tells us a little about the play:

“I first came to know this play through hearing a monologue from it and I was immediately hooked. That was eighteen years ago and now I finally have the chance to direct the piece. There are ten roles for women and six roles for men and, never having directed a play about women with just a few men involved – the majority of plays require more men than women – I have got the men to double up and play more than one role each.

Set at the end of the nineteenth century the Gut Girls themselves are a group who love the financial freedom their job gives them even though they are considered one step away from whores. Their job is sorting the livers, lungs, kidneys, hearts and various other bits of animals' insides! At the end of the day, go for a drink or three and generally have a great time. The men do not mess with the Gut Girls!

With the play’s theme of female independence, her contemporaries have considered Sarah Daniels a feminist playwright – although she herself denies the allegation – for championing the cause of female emancipation and equality with men, the progress of which has been painfully slow and is a struggle that continues into the present day.”

THE GUT GIRLS, SAT 1 - SAT 8 NOVEMBER at 7.45 pm
(No Sunday performance)
Tickets £9 (£7 concessions Mon & Tues)

Off to the Races

In 1977, Howard Brenton was working on a play that would eventually be titled Epsom Downs, providing a glimpse of the state of the nation in Silver Jubilee year through a day at the races (Derby Day, in fact). As research, the cast were invited down to Epsom so they could get to see the various character types that Brenton was reproducing in the play and help their understanding of what a busy race meeting is like. Among the younger members of staff at Epsom racecourse then was one Edward Gillespie.

Fast forward some 30 years and Edward Gillespie is now managing director of Cheltenham racecourse and he well remembers the visit from the original Epsom Downs cast. With extraordinary generosity, Edward invited the cast of our forthcoming production of this play (all 20 of them), to spend last Saturday at the first meeting of the season as his guests.

“Many of the actors had, surprisingly perhaps, never visited the races before and found it enormously useful,” says the play’s director Steven Rayworth. “And while 30 years have passed since the play was written, it was fascinating to see that most of the character types in the play are still with us! Our actors playing the bookies seem to have got it spot on and a lot of racegoers are as ‘larger than life’ as we’ve been portraying them in rehearsal.”

All had a fantastic day and almost the entire cast had a winner or two – or at least won some money on each-way bets – with the exception of the director himself, while Deep End treasurer Rod Holliman was the most successful punter of the day. Obviously the right man to be in charge of the finances! And no, John Roberts doesn’t normally go round with a hanky on his head, he’s just getting into character as Grandpa, a cross between Alf Garnett and Uncle Albert Trotter!

Young musicians

Just over a week ago, our green room was filled with some ninety teenagers enjoying the music of three local young bands. Now we turn our auditorium over to the talented youngsters of the Cheltenham 'branch' of Clive's Easylearn Pop Music School.

Run by Nick and Ceri Smee, who may be known to people through their performing experience with Cheltenham Operatic & Dramatic Society, Clive's provides weekly lessons in learning and performing in a rock band, with tuition on guitar, drums, bass, keyboards and vocals. These lessons take place at nearby St Luke's Church Hall and twice a year the kids present a showcase in our auditorium - the next of which is this coming Sunday, 19th October.

The details have been changed slightly from the published brochure, with doors opening at 6.15pm for a 6.30pm start. Tickets are available on the door at £5 but can be purchased in advance for £3.50 by telephoning Nick or Ceri on 01452 530683 (the box office does not tell tickets for these showcases).

Anyone interested in joining Clive's - especially after seeing the show on Sunday night - may like to know that if you sign up this month, your first four lessons will be absolutely free! More information can be found at http://www.clivesmusic.com/

Email problems again

Yet again we find ourselves with internet access but no email service. This is due to our ISP and not our internal servers. This is apparently affecting Virgin customers across the UK and the anticipated fix time is 16.00. Time to switch provider, I think! We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. Please call 01242 522852 if your enquiry is urgent.

Pro vs Am

It is true to say that there has always been a slight ‘snobbishness’ surrounding amateur theatre (hence why many of us try to use the term ‘non-professional’ or ‘community theatre’, although the latter is something of an Americanism). In fact, I know of a case whereby the chairman of a local Cheltenham society refused to countenance a move to holding their meetings here because they didn’t want to be aligned with ‘the amateurs’! What a dreadful lot we must be!

Now we all know standards in non-professional productions – whether here or in any other venue – vary considerably. We often have to ‘make do’ and certainly aren’t able to have intensive rehearsal time. But most of us have also gone to see professional shows that have left much to be desired. The general blanketing of non-professional as sub-standard is both unhelpful and often untrue.

And while we may not be getting paid for taking to the stage, many groups spend a considerable amount of money on their shows here – sometimes as much as £12-£15,000 for a one-week run of a musical – and the venue itself is now anything but ‘amateur’. In fact, I have just given a guided tour to a lovely couple that thought the theatre deserves an award for the successful transformation.

We are now hosting some professional productions and we hope to increase the number further in 2010 and beyond – NOT because professional is necessarily better, but because we want to bring to Cheltenham performances that might otherwise pass our town by and host these alongside the best in locally-produced drama.

However, the tide may perhaps be turning slightly. It seems that some professionals are now rallying to the defence of what we do – including Michael Boyd, artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company no less, who in a recent article in The Stage said he wants to “take away the crucifix and garlic that we have held up in the profession against the non-professional theatre movement in this country.” You can read the full piece by clicking on the link to The Stage newspaper on the right and searching the ‘News’ section.

Notes from the Beautiful Girls

In the first of our series of "Notes from...", Paul Scott talks about next month's production of BEAUTIFUL GIRLS, a revue of the songs of Stephen Sondheim, the composer-lyricist of musicals such as Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Into The Woods and Company.

"A lot of people have asked: ‘What is Beautiful Girls about?’ and ‘Where does the title come from?’

The answer to the first question is that it is basically a cabaret of 27 of Stephen Sondheim’s best songs, all on a theme of women. When we decided to mount an evening of Sondheim, it quickly became clear that the women nearly always have the best songs - and the best of the men’s songs are about women! In fact, it’s fair to say that his musicals contain unusually good roles for women. So, we found ourselves some unusually good women to perform this fabulous material and who could be said provided the title (it’s actually a number from Follies): Judi Allan, Juliet Ascroft (formerly Wills), Kate Bennett, Rachel Prudden, Joan Self and Jackie Adams on piano, along with myself as token male.

The more you rehearse it, the more you realise what an incredible talent Stephen Sondheim has. No one else can write such an honest lyric and haunting tune as ‘Not a Day Goes By’ one minute and the wonderfully witty innuendo-laden ‘Never Do Anything Twice’ the next. It is exceptionally rewarding material to work on; actors who can sing usually adore it, possibly because the lyrics are often one-act plays in miniature, revealing more about the character, situation or plot than preceding dialogue.

Generally, the majority of the songs haven’t caused too much concern, but there are one or two pieces that are deceptively tricky, such as the trio ‘You Could Drive a Person Crazy’ from Company, written as a pastiche of an Andrews Sisters’ song. Some of the harmonies are very intricate and take a lot of practicing and I suspect Jackie will be quite pleased never to play that one ever again. Actually, Sondheim uses pastiche quite often, and there are several songs in this revue that point this up, including the Gershwinesque ‘Losing My Mind’ and a very funny spoof of ‘The Girl from Ipanema’.

Some people feel that Sondheim doesn’t write memorable tunes. The truth is, he writes music to fit the character and situation for that scene and doesn’t set out to write hit songs and bang them into your head by reprising them umpteen times in the course of a night. We think he is the best theatre composer and lyricist alive today and hope our show proves the point!"

BEAUTIFUL GIRLS, THURSDAY 9 - SATURDAY 11 OCTOBER at 7.45 pm
All seats £8

Production Notes

There will be a new feature on the blog this season, whereby the directors of productions will be making a posting concerning their specific production and the rehearsal process. We hope this will prove interesting to those of you who attend the shows, so you can see exactly what work takes place to bring a play or musical to the stage. These musings, which will be entitled “Notes from….”, will generally be posted here on Wednesdays, two or three weeks before opening nights, thereby whetting your appetite to book your tickets (assuming you have not already done so). I am opening the batting this week on the Sondheim revue Beautiful Girls. See you here Wednesday!

Winter season announced

With the CODS’ production of See How They Run opening this coming Saturday – and the stage having been converted to a wartime vicarage somewhere in Oxfordshire – attention turns to the launch of our winter brochure which will start distribution next week. OK, strictly speaking, winter doesn’t officially start until December, but with the next brochure detailing the productions from October to the beginning of February, I think we can get away with calling it our winter season.

Theatres often say: “this season has a wide variety of productions catering to all tastes” when it isn’t really true, and we’ve been guilty of that ourselves in the past. But this time it is fair to say we have an excellent balance of dramas, comedies and musicals (bucking the trend of the West End and many other theatres which are almost exclusively musicals at present).

The box office is now taking bookings for all the productions listed below, with the exception of The Sorcerer and The Railway Children, which are subject to the company’s own advance booking arrangements. Sorcerer will commence booking on Monday 27 October and Railway Children on Monday 5 January. Full details are available on our main website.

PLAYS
We have two contrasting dramas in November, kicking off with the Victorian-setting of The Gut Girls, followed by the 1977-setting of the very funny Epsom Downs, while the season closes with a professional touring production of Talbot House, the true story of a refuge for soldiers in WWI.

FAMILIES
There are two shows definitely aimed at family audiences. In October, for one night only, we have The King of Spain’s Daughter, presented by the professional Fabulous Old Spot Company – and children and students can attend for just £6! Then, in January, CODS will be in residence for a week with a new musical version of The Railway Children.

MUSICALS
Next month, Ad Hoc present their cabaret revue of the songs of Stephen Sondheim, Beautiful Girls; in November, Cotswold Savoyards return to their roots with a staging of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Sorcerer; and in December, Jacob’s Well Productions will be bringing us the amateur premiere of Paul: Strange Kind of Hero.

CHRISTMAS
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without our annual alternative to pantomime for childish grown-ups, which this year owes a nod to Lewis Carroll while taking a swipe at political correctness – Alice in a Non-PC World.

Tourist Information Box Office

You may be forgiven for thinking that, in the box office, all we have to deal with are people wanting to purchase seats for shows, book a rehearsal room, or possibly enquire about hiring the auditorium. In fact, we also double as an unofficial tourist information office and directory enquiry service.

We regularly receive visitors or deliverymen asking for directions to the Town Hall, the Queens Hotel, the Ladies College, somewhere that repairs watches and, most regularly, the Everyman. Occasionally, we do have people thinking that we are the other venue and suddenly fly out of the doors when they realise they’ve come to the wrong place and they have five minutes to rush round for curtain up. Yesterday, a very nice lady came to the box office in person to tell us that she had tried to get into the theatre via the Regent Arcade entrance only to find it locked and that we might like to do something about it.

A fair proportion of our telephone calls used to come from people wanting to book seats at the Everyman but rang us because the Everyman weren’t in the Yellow Pages - an omission they finally rectified in the most recent printing, resulting in fewer people wanting us to connect them. However, we now appear to have yet another string to our multi-faceted bow, as this conversation from yesterday morning will prove:

Box office: Good morning, Playhouse Theatre, can I help you?
Voice on phone: Hello my love, can you tell me the time please?
Box office: Yes, it’s five-to-ten.
Voice on phone: Thank you, love.

And the gentleman rang off. Yes, apparently we are now also The Speaking Clock.

Credit crunch?

It’s still too early to say whether the ‘credit crunch’ is affecting theatres in the UK. Several shows have posted early closing notices in the West End, but the summer is always the slowest time of the year – people want to be out enjoying the lovely weather (there’s irony) – and many regional theatres have said that, so far, they have noticed no unexpected slowdown in ticket sales. CCTA’s recent production of Beauty and the Beast produced their best result in terms of ticket sales in six years.

We, of course, don’t operate in quite the same way as a major touring venue and our ticket prices are considerably lower. The vast majority of our shows are presented by local non-professional companies, although we regularly welcome local professional outfits like Focus (http://www.focustheatre.co.uk/) and Dreamshed (http://www.dreamshedtheatre.co.uk/). We are certainly looking at increasing the number of professional performances here – witness The King of Spain’s Daughter – but the best way of keeping audiences interested is in presenting a wide variety of productions so that there is, to use the old cliché, “something for everyone”.

To this end, on Thursday 11 September we are hosting a visit from two extremely well-respected local mediums, Anna Galliers and Carol Green, both of whom have featured on television. On their last visit to Cheltenham they sold out the Pillar Room at the Town Hall and they are much in demand both on a one-to-one and group level. Anna and Carol will present an evening of Clairvoyance and Spirit Communication where they will endeavour to bring messages and proof from our loved ones of a continued existence beyond the physical world. You can find more information at http://www.annagalliers.com/ and http://www.carolgreenmedium.co.uk/

King of Spain's Daughter...

It’s all kids at The Playhouse at the moment. Last week, CCTA celebrated their 50th anniversary and I believe there may be some photos in the Echo’s Weekend supplement this Saturday of the former members meeting the current members (this on top of the Central News piece broadcast at various times last Friday and an honourable mention in The Stage newspaper). This week, Theatre Studio are hosting their annual summer school, with over 100 young people working to stage FIVE different productions this coming Saturday.

We’ve also just arranged for a visit this October from The King of Spain’s Daughter. Not real royalty, of course, but the title of a 'theatrical entertainment' from the Fabulous Old Spot Theatre Company, a professional touring troupe based in our own county. Old Spot have a fantastic style all their own, involving music, masks, high drama, low farce and jokes for the kids the adults won’t get (and vice versa). We’re very pleased to be hosting this show for just one night only on Thursday 23 October and tickets go on sale from tomorrow. Further details will be found on our main website and in our forthcoming brochure, which goes to print at the end of this week.

Playhouse on TV...

Now, please do not take that heading to mean that, in future, we’re going to broadcast our productions onto television or via the internet to save you coming out to the theatre on a dark, wet August night (it is August, apparently). Aside from that would miss the whole point about experiencing the magic of a live performance, there are convoluted copyright issues to be taken into account.

What it does mean, however, is that The Playhouse will this week feature on Central News West (I do realise that Cheltenham is one of those places where half the town gets Central News West while the other half gets Central News Midlands – or, rather, Birmingham – but I can’t do much about that).

Reporter Richard Franklin spent yesterday morning with us to do a combined feature on the refurbishment of a flood-stricken theatre and the 50th anniversary of Cheltenham Children’s Theatre (CCTA). Several of the kids were filmed undertaking jobs in the lighting and sound boxes, doing a spot of performing and being interviewed about what they get out of CCTA. The piece will be shown at some point during the 6pm news programme one evening this week, so those of you with the right reception may wish to keep an eye out.

Yours truly was also interviewed and I have no doubt that the kids will come out of it far better than I. They will appear wonderfully natural and interested whereas I will be stilted and dull (and before Steve Evans says it, no change there then). I never feel happy doing those things, despite the fact that I used to work in public relations and received media training! I guess it’s that old chestnut about only feeling comfortable when playing a role and hating being seen as yourself.

The CCTA show Beauty and the Beast opens this evening at 7.30 and we are still trying to encourage ex-members to attend on the Friday evening performance and attend a reception afterwards. In the meantime, we wish the kids all the best for their 50th anniversary.

We're back...

Just to say that we FINALLY have full access to send and receive emails. I dread to think how many I have to get through to catch up three working days' worth...

Email problems...

Technology is a wonderful thing. Until it decides to play up. Since 8 am yesterday morning, the theatre has been unable to send or receive emails, either via Outlook Express or Webmail, although we do have access to the internet. I hasten to add that the problem is with our ISP and is not a fault at our end. If you have sent an email to us and have yet to receive a response, we're not being rude, we are simply unable to do so at the present time. If you are awaiting an urgent response, please call us via the box office on 01242 522852.

Hopefully, what passes for normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. In the meantime, please accept our apologies for any problems this is causing (and it is causing plenty as far as I'm concerned).

Val Barker Tribute...

Ron Carroll is currently organising an evening in memory of Val Barker who died earlier this year. He writes:

“Val Barker was, for 44 years, a great performer, director, writer and friend of The Playhouse and the tides of people who have been washed into and away from its precincts during that time. She took a hand in more than 100 productions, and the archives show that she would accept any kind of role, however anonymous, but of course she was responsible for great performances and great shows never straying too far from her love of music.

“Her friends are putting on a show in the Green Room on Saturday 6th September. The programme will be whatever her friends feel fits best with the memories they have of Val, so we will not know until nearer the time what the items will be. However, we already know that it will be a full programme.

“It should be a fun night and all are welcome, performing or not. Do come and enjoy the new facilities from 7.15 pm onwards. Anyone interested in taking part, either singing a song, reading some prose, or performing an excerpt from a production, can email me at ron.carroll1@googlemail.com or contact the box office for my telephone number.”

New acquisitions...

Anyone who has rehearsed a musical here in recent years has been well aware that some of our pianos have, to put it mildly, been past their prime for quite some time, while one was wrecked in the floods last year. There is good news on this front, as we have recently taken delivery of a brand new upright piano for the dungeon and an electronic piano for the auditorium. The latter does all sorts of weird and wonderful things and will be kept under lock and key unless required for a production.

Two of our busiest members, Keith Swinford and Sally Norman, tied the knot on Saturday 2 August. A large circle of friends were present at the evening celebration, causing someone to remark that if a bomb had been dropped on the hall in question, amateur dramatics in Cheltenham would probably cease to be! We all wish Keith and Sally our heartiest congratulations and look forward to seeing them on their return from honeymoon.

Three of our autumn shows - The Gut Girls, Epsom Downs and The Sorcerer – all of which will be on the main stage in November, have now been successfully cast. Epsom Downs, in particular, saw a very high turnout of people and even with a large cast required director Steven Rayworth had to turn down over a third of those who auditioned. The next show up for audition will be Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, possibly in a brand new translation, although one role has already been filled. Meet Phoebe, who will be playing the part of ‘governess’s dog’.

Both Epsom Downs and The Gut Girls are about to go into rehearsal here, which means that the green room will be open with a bit more frequency than of late. However, we are not quite back to six-days a week operation and will be closed during August on the following days: Thursday 7, Saturday 9, Monday 11, Thursday 14, Saturday 16, Thursday 28 and Friday 29. Don’t forget that you can add your name to the bar rota, or check which night you are ‘on’ by visiting the theatre website, which webmaster John Roberts has recently redesigned. It’s at the same address, or you can simply click on the link at the top right corner of this blog.

Reopen and then go quiet?

Just because there are no shows in the auditorium for a month does not mean there is nothing going on at The Playhouse. The green room bar will be open on those nights when readings and auditions are taking place (see previous posting) and the contractors are going through the snagging list – those small tweaks that need making as we get used to the new layout and facilities in both new areas of the building.

With school holidays now underway, CCTA have started rehearsals during the day for their production of Beauty & The Beast (19-23 August). CCTA – the convenient acronym for Cheltenham Children’s Theatre Association – was founded by members of The Playhouse 50 years ago, and a production has been staged here every summer since then. Even when the auditorium was out of bounds due to the collapsing foyer, the show still went ahead in the green room!

All members of CCTA have to be aged 18 or under and they handle every aspect of the production – acting, directing, lighting and set building. Many members have gone on to become performers in the various ‘adult’ companies here and, occasionally, into the professional theatre industry.

We are very proud to have formed this company - which we believe is still the only company of its kind in the UK – and with this being its Golden Anniversary Production, we would love to have as many ex-members attend the performance on Friday 22 August and meet up with old friends in the green room afterwards. Tickets are on sale from the box office now priced £7 for adults with concessions at £5 for all performances.

Green room and auditions...

You're impatient to see what we've made of the green room. I know this because I've had several emails from people demanding photos. Several people had a first glimpse last night at the official reopening and the general impression was, as with the theatre, gobsmacked. John Morgan thought it was like a hotel lobby! Certainly it is now a lighter, larger and more user-friendly space and we plan to try and make far greater use of it in the coming months with poetry slams, live music etc. There are still one or two tweaks to be made to get the bar fully up and running, but basically The Playhouse is back and better than it has ever been.

The companies are now gearing up for their autumn productions and there are a number of readings and auditions coming up for those eager to tread the boards in the new auditorium.

EPSOM DOWNS is to be presented by Deep End Theatre Co this November, directed by Steven Rayworth. There have already been two readings, so the auditions will be held on Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23 July.

THE GUT GIRLS is to be staged by Playhouse Company, also this November, directed by Dave Wheeler. There will be a reading on Thursday 24 July with auditions the following Wednesday 30 July.

THE CHERRY ORCHARD is Deep End's production for March 2009, but director Steve Evans wants to cast early so he knows the line-up is in place. There will be a reading on Thursday 4 September with auditions on Monday 8 and Thursday 11 September.

ALICE IN A NON-PC WORLD is this year's pantomime for childish grown-ups presented by Friends Theatre Co this December. Caroline Young is directing and the reading will be held on Wednesday 17 September. Auditions will follow on Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25 September.

Sneak preview...

While the auditorium is receiving a few visitors and winning rave reviews (let’s hope that all our future productions will match the quality of the venue), work is progressing over in the green room. Although we won’t actually be able to install the platform lift until next month, the photo left shows that the opening has already been made through to the dungeon where the spirit cupboard used to be.

At the opposite end to this opening, and in front of the bottle store, a new partition wall has sprung up and is already plastered (how appropriate). The bar – which arrived on site yesterday – complete with optics, will be on the face of this wall as you look at it, while the glasswasher will be the other side. The bar counter goes in the opening at the very forefront of the picture. The bar area itself is smaller than it was, but the layout will mean that things are much closer to hand.

This third photo, looking from the new bar across towards the stage and dressing room corridor, gives you an idea of how much bigger and more open the green room itself will be now that the central pillar has been removed.

The Echo spent quite a bit of time here yesterday interviewing me and taking copious photos and hopefully there will be a decent splash in either tomorrow or Monday’s editions. As usual, lots of silly poses requested of yours truly and I will no doubt look full of cold (which I am, sniff). As reported earlier, I’m off for a few days’ rest. Mary is manning the fort and so please keep her busy by booking lots of tickets for The Good Doctor. It would be lovely to have a sell out so soon after reopening!

At last!

We have a new auditorium! There isn’t really much that can be said. As with any project of this size, there is a snagging list of tweaks and changes to be made over the coming days – a lick of paint here, an electrical cable there – but we basically have brand new facility.

Peter Harrison and John Cogzell are coming in later today to get the lounge bar fitted up again and Dave Deeley of Tivoli Glass has already arrived to put back the three glass panels that have been missing for restoration from the lounge for over a year. They were finished some time ago, but I didn’t dare get them brought back until the building work had finished.

The green room has been boarded off from the rest of the building while work continues in that area, and in two weeks that, too, will be returned to us and that will be the end of the current stage of our refurbishment. There remains other work to be done over the next few years as and when money allows, but the most significant part will have been completed.

Which leaves us with this here blog. I have to say that, when I started, the thought was merely to document the refurbishment for members who might be interested and possibly keep it going afterwards if enough people had been bothered to log on. I have been absolutely astonished at the amount of interest there has been – not just from members and local theatregoers but also from a much wider area (even the US!) – and would like to thank all those people who have been in touch to say how interesting and enjoyable they have found these pages over the last nine weeks.

The blog will go into abeyance next week while I have a few days off but I am planning to keep it going with a weekly posting about what has been, or will be, going on down The Playhouse. This will hopefully include little snippets from directors and cast members about productions that are going into rehearsal, showing something of what goes on down here of an evening in areas other than the auditorium.

This theatre owes its existence to the efforts of its members over the last 50 years. Hopefully, we have laid the groundwork for another 50 successful years. Welcome to the new Playhouse!

And now, the end is near...

For those of us who have been living with this project for the last two months, it’s been a fascinating experience throughout, although the last few weeks have perhaps been slightly less exciting than the initial ‘opening up’ phase with all its discoveries. Now, as we enter the final stage (no pun intended), there is a definite buzz in the air – and just a little tension – as everyone realises that the handover deadline is rapidly approaching.

Light fittings are being fixed into place, final touches are being made to the paintwork and the seats are going in. The auditorium looks like a theatre again, albeit a somewhat different animal than it was at the end of April; it feels much more like a genuine playhouse rather than a converted swimming pool. The rear section of seating is finished, minus a few tweaks, and by lunchtime tomorrow, the front section ought also to be completed. Carpet has also been laid in the lounge bar and vestibule and the committee room is next on the list (the entrance to the green room will have to wait until the work in the green room itself has been finished).

A reminder that the box office is open and selling tickets for our summer season of productions. After Theatre Studio presents its end-of-term showcase next week, the Playhouse Company presents Neil Simon’s comedy The Good Doctor from 16 – 19 July. Members of the theatre can attend the opening night of The Good Doctor for FREE on presentation of their membership card – and as there are more members than available seats, I suggest you book now!

The famous five...

Today, after eight weeks, site foreman Craig (second from left) leaves us, along with the rest of the gang that have been responsible for the construction of the new auditorium. The theatre is still a building site for another week and there is still a fair bit still to do – some plastering, some painting, quite a bit of electrics and the installation of the seats - but all the building work has now been completed. These guys have done a really incredible job; I can’t recommend them highly enough and it’ll seem very strange not having them around now after two months. Craig is now off to do a quick stint in Bristol before heading to London to spend a few days on the Odeon Leicester Square ahead of a major film premiere! However, he will be back during the final stages of the green room alterations. And if you’re wondering why the photo is a bit ‘speckled’, that’s all the dust still floating round in the air and being picked up by the flash!

The carpeting of the auditorium is nearly completed – just as well, for on Monday we take delivery of the new seats (which will take two men four days to install). Incidentally, for those of you who have sponsored a seat, you might like to know that your plaques won’t be fitted for a few weeks yet. Fitting nearly 100 small plaques using 6mm screws takes rather a lot of time and with the seats only going in as the last stage of the project – they’ve only actually finished making them this week – this is something that will have to be done when we have a dark week or two, probably early-September. There is also some additional signage that will start to appear over the summer, always our quietest period. Our aim is to have all these aspects completed in time for the autumn season, and there may be other little finishing touches and amendments to be made as we become familiar with the new structure.

The doors are now all in place and just need a lick of paint and the fixing of handles to finish them off. The photo shows one of the new sets of entrance doors on either side of the auditorium that separates it from the new corridor. These doors have been made to match the existing foyer doors (which you can see in the background). The corridor will be light blue, as it is a connecting link from the blue foyer to the predominantly blue lounge bar, with a white ceiling to keep it as bright as possible. The ceilings under the balconies once you enter the auditorium will remain black.

Finally, for those suffering withdrawal symptoms from lack of drama in their lives, Deep End are holding a reading of the enormously popular play ART on 24 June at St Luke’s Church Hall. All are welcome, even those not already members of the company, and it starts at 7.30 pm.

Edging ever closer...

Next week, it will be 12 months since Mary Newman and I arrived at the theatre to find four inches of water in the lounge bar and green room. This was the first of Nature’s attempts to make us reopen the swimming pool and is generally referred to as Flood Minor. Fitting, then, that Robin Shapero confirmed yesterday that he will be here next week to fit the remaining Floodwalls – one airbrick, the vestibule door and the cellar hatch. This means we will be as protected as we possibly can against similar disasters. We’ll be running brief training sessions in how to operate the system in a couple of weeks’ time and will be inviting all those people we feel ought to know how to use them in due course.

On the inside, most of the activity is at low-lying levels. The dressing rooms and corridors have now been finished – painted throughout, plastered where necessary, and completely re-carpeted in a nice warm red. All that remains before the actors can make use of them is a quick running over with the vacuum cleaner.

In the auditorium, doors have been attached to the lighting and sound boxes and all that remains for them to be completed are the installation of the curved glass panes, as the frames are already in position. Underlay has been fixed to the raking while holes have appeared in the smaller set of steps – not through poor workmanship but deliberate design, as these will hold lights to ensure people can safely ascend or descend the rake.

The balconies have now acquired their new appearance and the pool area is completely boarded and painted. Electrical work is still ongoing and Ian Chandler is popping in every night to keep an eye on things. Ian – who should henceforth be known as ‘Our Hero’ – has spent an incredible amount of time down here liasing with contractors, electricians and the architect and I’m not sure what this place would do without him.

In the lounge bar, gripping strips are being laid around the edge of the room in preparation for new carpet while the front of house bar and kitchen are about to receive new vinyl flooring. The lounge, corridor and auditorium will be fitted with the same carpet, as in the photo (left). The flash on the camera makes this look a much brighter red than it actually is - it is very much a claret red - but you get the idea.

No hanging around...

There was a lot of noise emanating from the green room during Monday morning. We’d got used to loud banging (as the actress said to the bishop) in the early stages of the project but of late it’s been much quieter. The cause of the cacophony was the demolition of the green room bar, and a sturdy construction it was too! It now lies in a heap on the floor, awaiting the arrival of a skip to cart it away.

As we suspected, the delivery time for a platform lift is 4-6 weeks, so this won’t be installed at the same time as the rest of the green room work. All the arrangements will be made in advance, however, so that the disabled lift can be fitted quickly and easily in mid- to late-August.

Yesterday, with only two weeks to go until the auditorium reopens, things suddenly seemed to move up a gear. There were more people on site than at any time since the project began, including five contractors, four plumbers, three electricians and two painters – not to mention the arrival of several rolls of underlay and carpet, some of which already appears to have taken up residence in the dressing rooms.

Lyn Morgan dropped by again yesterday and revealed what was, to me at any rate, another new fact. I knew that in the early-1950s, a fire destroyed part of one of the balconies and part of the stage area after the opening performance of a play on a Saturday night. What I didn’t know was that the balconies themselves were then used as dressing ‘rooms’, as this was before the formation of the Theatre & Arts Club and the acquisition of the rest of the complex. Although the theatre remained shut for some considerable time for restoration – far longer, in fact, than the current refurbishment is taking – the play that was being staged at the time of the fire simply moved to Pate’s Grammar School for the rest of the run, without, we believe, missing a single scheduled performance!

More originality...

You can never have enough original features in a listed building. Just when we thought everything was settled, we realised that we had an opportunity to both restore another aspect of the building’s history and give the auditorium a fresh look. It’s long been known that the balconies had balustrades running along most of their length. They never actually went away; they have been visible to anyone working on the balconies as long as anyone can remember. However, they have been obscured from the audience’s view by the red wallpapered panels that ran along the balconies and which held the house lights.

Two of these panels had to be removed for wiring purposes and the balustrades looked so impressive that a decision has been made to reinstate them. They will be cleaned and painted a slightly brighter colour and black panels placed behind them both to enhance their appearance and obscure the equipment stored on the balconies. Incidentally, these balconies were built as viewing platforms from which to watch the swimmers below, and underneath were a series of individual changing cubicles (but we can’t really reinstate those).

The pool storage area is almost completely fireboarded and the new stairs installed allowing access from the rear corridor, which now just needs plastering, painting and doors attached to be finished. The recesses formed around the columns certainly give the corridor a better appearance, not to mention providing a passing place for anyone encountering John Shirley zooming through to the bar! And is that one of the ghosts, peering down into the pool and caught on camera????

Any colour, so long as it's...

The smell of paint lies heavy in the auditorium at present, with plenty of Playhouse Black being liberally applied to the steppings, the orchestra rail and sound and lighting boxes (which now have ceilings). The architectural feature at the rear of the auditorium, however – known variously as ‘the dome’, ‘the bell’ or ‘the curve’ but actually called ‘the hemisphere’ (apparently) – is now white.

Yes, you read that correctly, white. Or, more accurately, Victorian 13, which is the slightly creamy white used in the triangular areas at the top of the red (sorry, Crimson) arches. Having been used to it being black for so many years, it was quite a shock at first, but Ian Chandler informs me that in show conditions it will be washed with a straw-coloured light to reflect into the back rows of the rake. This was a necessary choice to help overcome the house lighting issues associated with the new raked seating. You’ll remember that the house lights used to run along the side panels of the balconies, but now much of the seating is either at or above this level and the ceiling is still a very long way up!

The stairs from the new corridor into the pool storage area are being fitted as I type and columns are also being constructed around the steels at the rear wall of the corridor to add a touch of character and interest to what could have been just a very boring flat tunnel. And speaking of tunnels, the plumbing guys have been in the tunnels again in connection with the raising of the radiators from ground floor level to behind the back row on the new raking. Which reminds me…

Lyn Morgan, one of my predecessors here, popped in on Tuesday to say that she recalls a time when the council (who own the property) used to send guys into the tunnels beneath us to catch rats. He said that it was possible to get all the way to the ABC Cinema (long since replaced by Royscot House next to the Municipal Offices) in The Promenade if you really wanted to, but that it wasn’t very pleasant.

One or two people have asked whether there have been any ghostly goings-on over the last few weeks, as building work can often – if you believe in such things – disturb resident spirits. I have to report that, so far, no one has yet seen, heard, or smelt anything suspicious during the build, although many of us have interesting tales to tell. Lyn says that the lady that has been seen in the balcony – whom I hasten to add everyone regards as friendly and watches over the place - is probably very pleased to have a little house there now to live in (well, not exactly LIVE in...)

Green room alterations approved...

We received confirmation this morning that consent has been granted to our plans for alterations to the green room members’ bar! We’re pressing forward for this to commence as soon as the contractors have finished in the auditorium. The wall facing you in the photograph (left) will be knocked through (with head height matching that of the purple wall) and most of the existing bar area will become part of the overall green room. The new bar will occupy the space adjacent to the snug – the door at top right will still be the door into the bar.

In addition, the current spirit store at the other end of the existing bar will be removed to allow the installation of a platform lift, allowing disabled access into the sunken rehearsal room known to all and sundry as ‘the dungeon’. This will be sited where the settle is in the photo (right) while the existing entrance will remain for the rest of us.

In the auditorium, the other wall to the front of house corridor is almost finished, the underside of the new steel and wooden floor down in the pool is being fireboarded and a new permanent orchestra rail (complete with removable central section) has been installed. Most of what’s left to be done is either cosmetic (plastering and painting), installation (seats and carpet) or electrical. Rumour has it that carpeting may commence this time next week…

Less than one month to go...

Last week, someone asked me what would happen to the acoustics in the auditorium by building up into the dome. Those ‘in the know’ often preferred to sit in old rows M backwards – particularly for musicals – because the sound would travel to the back wall and bounce back off the dome. Well, again, it’s hard to be certain until the auditorium is full of seats and people, but it appears that the acoustics are just as good and possibly better. The guys had the radio playing from the stage yesterday and couldn’t believe how loud it sounded halfway up the new raking because of the bouncing effect.

So what’s happened since Friday? Both sound and lighting booths now have plasterboard walls and the electricians have obviously been around as there are suddenly lots of recesses appearing for plug sockets. The second tier of steps has been built and fixed into position, enabling a gentler ascent of the raking, which is now completely finished right up to the very back.

There are also two small walls built at either end of row F – this is because row E is shorter than row F by two seats and there is effectively no seat in front of F1 and F13 to break a fall onto the floor! I have the feeling these two seats may end up being referred to as ‘the boxes’. One wall of the front of house corridor has been built and you can now appreciate that the height of the raking not only allows the creation of said corridor but also greatly improves head height down in much of the furniture store (the pool).

What you probably most want to see is the view from the top. So here it is – although this was taken at standing head height, not sitting head height, during our get-in and morning cuppa at 7.30 today. Scott is very kindly standing on the stage to give an idea of scale. I’m not sure how well this shot really comes over, as all that wood has the effect of blending together rather than clearly outlining the steps. I suspect once the seats are installed it will have more impact.

Almost at the summit...

This is the view from the window of the lighting box on one balcony across to the sound box on the other. There are just two seating platforms to be fixed in place before we can show you the view from what will be the back row of the auditorium, albeit without the seats. Suffice it to say, however, that as a significant number of patrons will now be sitting above stage level, choreographers will be able to indulge in more Busby Berkley-style dance routines and lighting designers will be able to project pretty patterns on the floor (that’ll keep Alex Lewer happy at least). I suspect that, from row G backwards, it may feel a bit like sitting in the dress circle at the Everyman while remaining close to the stage.

One or two readers of the blog have said they can’t quite make out from the photos the height of each row, so hopefully this close-up will help. This pillar was located alongside the old row G, which was the back row of the front section, and the level of the old floor at this point is clearly shown where the paint changes from brown to red. The lower of the two steps shown in the photo will be the new row E, the front row of the rear section. The higher of the two steps will be the new row F. Don’t forget, there will also be a riser between the two rows – you won’t actually be walking up 13-inch treads!