Light, sound and water...

With the majority of the overhead ceiling work near completion, attention has shifted to the two balconies. Both balconies have sloping ceilings that, as with the main roof area, need new insulating boards and then painting. The old sound box on the stage left balcony has been demolished and work has commenced on building a new improved version with, for the first time, a matching lighting box on the opposite balcony. These boxes will have some degree of soundproofing, so that the technical guys can exchange lighting and sound cues and, during those lulls when no effects are required, discuss how much better so-and-so is acting/singing/dancing this evening – or not, as the case may be – without the audience hearing a word. As long as they don’t SHOUT, that is.

The other work being carried out today is the draining of the heating system to allow four radiators to be disconnected and moved. Two of the radiators on the walls are being shifted approximately two feet towards the stage to allow for the new pairs of auditorium doors, while the other radiators – previously located at the rear of the seating – can be raised some seven feet in height up the rear wall to the level of the new back row. A new radiator of identical style will also be placed in a recess in the new front of house corridor.

Site manager Craig Ingham tells me that the steels for the new floor are due to arrive on Thursday and these will be brought into the theatre via the workshop double doors (with some traffic control needed, as there are some quite lengthy steels involved). Does this mean that the 1945 wooden floor will start coming out on Monday, revealing the pool?