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!