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Theatreplan Technical Consultancy for Michael Croft Theatre
With a theatrical tradition that is traceable to Elizabethan times, Alleyn's School in Dulwich, South London, has completed its four-year project to create a multi-purpose theatre and concert hall.
The Michael Croft Theatre is named after the previous Head of English who founded the National Youth Theatre in 1956. The school's pupils have their own independent theatrical company, the Bear Pit, a name which refers to the founder's entrepreneurial interests: Edward Alleyn was a wealthy Elizabethan actor with several theatres, brothels and bear pits in his portfolio. Several notable alumni developed careers as well-known actors.
The connection with the National Youth Theatre continues to this day, especially outside term time, but the new building was not to be limited to the activities of the school's and NYT's theatrical interests. The initial concepts, formed back in 2004, were to provide 'an adaptable theatre with sufficient volume for use as a concert hall'.
Theatreplan were appointed to provide technical consultancy and planning advice, and the design - led by architects van Heyningen and Haward - started in 2006.
The key to the flexibility of the space is the versatile seating arrangement. The courtyard-style auditorium has three levels of fixed seating, with moveable stalls seating.
Theatreplan's Peter Ruthven Hall explained: "We designed a shallow raked stalls which gave not only a good sightline but also integrated a means to provide different acting arrangements." By moving the stalls seating and resetting adjustable platforms, the theatre can be transformed from a proscenium end stage, to a thrust stage as well as theatre-in-the-round.
Although it is essentially a school theatre, the level of design and equipment is more in keeping with a professional venue. A tensioned-wire grid has been installed on which technicians can walk safely to adjust the lighting located over the audience; during a performance, the light projects through the grid as though it is transparent. A motorised forestage elevator was also included in the £8m+ project. This lowers the forestage area to provide extra seating accommodation or lower still for a small orchestra pit. Overstage suspensions are provided by hemp sets and winches driven via a drill.
Technical consultant John Whitaker said: "The decision to include lighting and sound installations to professional standards was proven correct when we saw it being put through its paces by the ambitious drama department."
19th February 2009
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