Matchamise the magic

STANDING 45 feet up, right under the ceiling of Newcastle Theatre Royal on some loose scaffolding planks, I felt uncomfortably closer to the gods than any critic would normally admit.

This area of the North-East’s most beautiful of buildings last saw such activity back in 1901 when Frank Matcham refurbished the fire-damaged shell.

I could touch the gold leaf being applied to the ornate ceiling where original cornice lighting will again twinkle – modern LEDs replacing the bulbs that proved impossible to replace, meaning the fittings were abandoned.

Behind me, the lighting rigs and old bench seats – where up to 500 of the hoi polloi once crammed into the heat and smoke, taking the theatre’s capacity to 2,000 – have all been ripped out.

“The benches are not being brought back. The upper gallery was the most unpleasant place to sit in the building. We’re having fewer seats, with better sight-lines, which will be fixed and not tip-up,” explains theatre chief executive Philip Bernays. He uses the splendid term “Matchamise” to explain the £4.75m process being carried out by Newcastle’s SURGO Construction under the watchful eye of architects Sansome Hall and the world’s leading authority on Matcham-designed theatres, Dr David Wilmore.

Stripping the Grey Street structure back to its Edwardian features doesn’t restrict the luxury additions of new air-conditioning, disabled access to the stalls and grand circle and the first revamp of the gents’ toilets in 25 years. This is Grand Designs with gold trimming.

“We do a lot of audience surveys and they complain about the comfort of the seats and the toilets. The gents are terrible,” explains Bernays who is proud of the fact that £4m has been raised from ticket sales with £750,00 coming from grants and Lottery funding.

Wilmore says that the marbles, metalwork, seating, carpets, wallpapers, tiling and woodwork are being based on Matcham’s 1901 plans for the building, “despite them having been scattered to the four corners of the globe. We found some in America”.

His starting point was the 1985 fire at the nearby Tyne Theatre when Wilmore’s company Theatresearch became involved in the other Tyneside venue’s conservation. As a result, Wilmore got his hands on Matcham’s 110-year-old trade catalogue which gives the dimensions and details of theatre fittings.

Perhaps the greatest find of all by SURCO was uncovering an original ceiling in the grand circle. The builders alerted Wilmore and the architects and now other parts of the building can be restored to the same design. More puzzles were solved by Wilmore visiting Matcham’s theatre on the Isle of Man which still has a lot of original features.

“I knew I’d seen them before somewhere, but it took me a while to remember it was the Isle of Man,” he admits.

Bernays adds: “Matcham was a genius but he did build 150 theatres in 20 years or so. This meant it was a production line process.”

But not all the great builder’s ideas are worth retaining.

Architect Peter Hall says: “There’s been an awful lot of stripping out of things that were no longer required and to see what Frank Matcham originally did. Currently its steelwork and old concrete and looks pretty shabby, but we can go back and use this matrix and build on it.

We have another agenda of customer comfort and ease of access.

We are sweeping away the idea of a small foyer with double doors.”

In the stalls there will be enough room behind the seating to allow a wide disabled ramp to bring theatregoers impressively towards their ticket positions. Someone standing by the Grey Street pillars will be able to see the stage when the doors are open in future.

“We might have to sell tickets to passers-by,” jokes Bernays.

Hall’s vision is to reinstate arcade areas at the side of the grand circle which will allow the addition of four boxes for four or five wheelchair users and families.

“All the sight-lines and the rake (slope) will be more sympathetic and along the lines of Matcham,” he says.

The theatre will be doing its bit for the environment with photo-electric cells being placed on the roof to try to off-set some of the building’s massive electricity bills.

The unused bar in the upper circle (gallery) will house a theatre museum display as part of the Theatre Royal’s 175 anniversary celebrations next year.

There’s uncertainty about the eventual total of 1901-style seats that will be available. The current capacity of 1,243 might just sneak up by seven once every vantage point has been covered and carpeted.

So perhaps it’s fitting that the reopening production at the Theatre Royal on September 12 will be Alan Bennett’s The Madness of George III starring David Haig. Before he went mad, we’re assured, the monarch gave the venue its royal licence in 1788.

􀁧 The Madness of George III, September 12-17. Tickets: £9-£30.

Box Office: 08448-112-121 theatreroyal.co.uk