Phase 1 of the comprehensive refurbishment programme included a new roof, new exterior cladding, additional reinforcement for the building's foundations and redevelopment of the front of house areas. Theatreplan's team of Clive Odom, John Whitaker, Peter Ruthven Hall, Charles Wass and Mathew Smethurst-Evans were tasked with bringing the auditorium in line with modern disability access standards, and to replace the flying, lighting and sound systems. Previously, the team had completed the stage refurbishment with an ingenious modular solution in time for the World Snooker Tournament in April 2008.
Key elements of this phase of the project were to integrate wheelchair positions within the existing auditorium shell, but this was not a trivial exercise, as theatre planner Peter Ruthven Hall explained: "We worked closely with the building's access consultant and user groups, and to achieve the best result we needed to cut into the pre-cast concrete tiers, which was fairly complicated."
The seating capacity was adapted to 944 to allow for up to 11 wheelchair positions located on either side of the snooker central wall, with an additional 40 chairs in the Juliet balconies. Theatreplan specified a new auditorium seat to match the heritage design (The Crucible was awarded Grade II listed status in 2008), with Braille labelling, and a higher back and slightly elevated seat pan for improved comfort. New loop rails were added along the aisles, along with adjustments to the 45° corners of the tiered rows.
The original stage equipment included nine counterweight sets, and these were directly replaced with electric hoists located in the same positions, but with the capacity increased from 250kg to 350kg and variable speed control up to a maximum of 500mm per second. The Crucible's egg-box grid extension above the thrust stage has been designed to rig up to three 'point hoists', each with four suspension lines that can be run with 1, 2, 3 or 4 lines rigged to a maximum SWL of 350kg and with a variable speed of up to 500mm per second. A new computer control was installed for the flying systems that can group any combination of the electric bar hoists and point hoists together.
The control system allows preset positions (deads) to be recorded for each hoist and group, and cues may be recorded and saved for specific shows. The crew of The Crucible found the new facilities easy to use and to set up, and are said to be 'very happy with the flying system' that now allows flying in any performance to be reproduced exactly as it was rehearsed, at the touch of a button.
A new location was found for the sound control within the auditorium, and a patch system added with audio tie-lines running to facility panels positioned around the stage and auditorium areas. The lighting installation was updated with new ETC dimming and 16A CEE17 sockets throughout.Project leader Clive Odom said of the recent test previews: "The theatre's management devised a wide range of different events during the week to thoroughly test the auditorium and technical facilities, and everyone was delighted with the results."
Phase two of the project which includes the refurbishment of the studio theatre will start work on site as soon as the Snooker World Championship 2009 ends. Theatreplan have designed the new seating for the studio, as well as the replacement lighting and sound installations within the studio theatre.
(Lee Baldock)
