The New Wimbledon Theatre celebrated its centenary this year during its major refurbishment programme. Managed by the Ambassador Theatre Group and owned by the London Borough of Merton, which is also funding the work, the theatre is benefiting from a refurbishment that includes re-carpeting and decorating the public areas, adding a green room, improving the dressing rooms, enlarging the pit and refurbishing the stage and stalls.
Performance venue architects Foster Wilson called on Theatreplan to solve one simple but knotty problem: the renovation of the backstage area included the addition of a new stage wing. Room was found but there was no access from the stage, owing to the fact that the counterweight frame obstructed the only possible way into the wing.
Roger Fox, a Partner at Theatreplan, was asked to advise and found that the New Wimbledon Theatre was one of those venues where the flying system had never been fully installed. He explained, “The frame structure was complete, but 16 of the counterweight sets were missing.” Through some careful planning and reorganisation of the flying system, Roger and contractors Delstar Engineering moved 8 of the flying sets to spare spaces upstage to open up the stage wing access required. At the same time, the wall frame was modified so that an additional 16 double-purchase flying sets could be installed over the opening to the new stage wing.
Roger explained that although this was a fairly small commission, it was a typical example of the work Theatreplan offers through its ‘Theatre Doctor’ service. “We have plenty of experience in solving one-off puzzles like this one at Wimbledon,” he continued, “where the work doesn’t involve the full theatre consultancy role, but is more akin to the services of a family doctor. We work with clients, or other professionals on assessing and then solving problems in planned or existing venues for a fixed fee per call-out.” Details of Theatreplan’s ‘Theatre Doctor’ service are available on its website: www.theatredoctor.co.uk.
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