Member Article

Work begins on major backstage makeover at Theatre Royal

Plans to refurbish the backstage areas of Newcastle’s Theatre Royal will take shape this week, as work on the Green Room and dressing rooms begins.

The £530k worth of work is due to be complete by September 2015, and will mark the first makeover of the backstage area in 26 years.

Following the Theatre’s £4.9 million auditoriam restoration in 2011, the works will focus on stars’ dressing rooms, rehearsal rooms, Company Manager’s Office, Stage Door reception and Green Room (the area where performers wait before they are called onstage).

There will be some rebuilding work where the ground floor will be opened up to increase space, but mostly major redecoration to drastically improve comfort, accessibility and facilities for visiting companies and their performers.

Newcastle architect Will Mawson of Newcastle-based Mawson Kerr, will work on the project. His works include the high profile £1.6 million Sunbeams music therapy centre in Penrith and the Friar House Apartment Hotel in Newcastle. Newcastle City Council’s construction team will manage the build itself, led by Project Officer Mark Preston.

The project has been made possible thanks to a generous legacy left by a longstanding Friend of the Theatre, Joyce Thwaites, with some of the Theatre’s own savings

Theatre Royal chief executive Philip Bernays said: “We’ve wanted to refurbish our Back-of-House for a long time now, but as we are a charity it’s been a question of waiting until we had enough money to do a good job. When we were left a generous legacy we were delighted to be able to allocate it to this.

“Companies love visiting us but do often complain about the facilities in the backstage areas, so it’s great to be able to finally help them.

“We are carrying out the work in floor-by-floor phases to minimise disruption, working our way down from the top floor dressing rooms and stopping work during our biggest shows such as the RSC, Opera North and our world-famous Pantomime, for all of which we need every inch of space.”

Will Mawson of Mawson Kerr said: “We are delighted to be able work on this project – the Theatre Royal is a stunning building and a fine example of a Matcham Theatre and so naturally we were excited to play a part in enhancing it for the enjoyment of future generations.

“We believe the general enhancements will provide a modern, comfortable and inspiring backstage area befitting the high calibre of performers who reside there.”

Cllr Stephenson, Cabinet Member for Communities at Newcastle City Council, added: “We are delighted that Newcastle City Council is able to provide the construction service for this refurbishment. This is a fantastic project which will go a long way in sustaining one of the North’s most treasured and well-loved theatres.”

During the refurbishment process, all shows will appear to schedule as normal and other Theatre functions will continue undisturbed, including the Learning programme, Bars and Box Office.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .