Originally a variety house designed by the renowned architect Frank Matcham, the Coliseum has been home to the English National Opera since 1968. This restoration is the first major programme of repair since it opened in 1904: the venue has undergone several face-lifts in the past, some of which have eradicated many of the theatre's beautiful original features.
Responsible for implementing the theatre's restoration was The Arts Team @ RHWL Architects. Intricate details have now been reinstated and the original colour scheme of imperial purple, Italian reds and shades of gold and cream have been brought back to life.
Working alongside the Arts Team was Yorkshire-based theatre drapery manufacturer J&C Joel, providing all the drapes in the auditorium, Coliseum room, rehearsal space and Royal retiring room. The company manufactured and installed everything from the ornate tympanum, with its intricate embellishments and golden eagle, to the front-of-house tabs, drapes and pelmets for the boxes, decorative windows and doors around the auditorium.
With the brief to re-instate the theatre to its original glory, Rob Bridges, ENO's restoration and technical coordinator, explained: "We had to ensure the technical elements were developed to work in harmony with the heavy tabs, taking into account that we stage four productions in daily rep (three performances and one rehearsal), the tabs certainly get put through its paces!"
Mark Taylor, contracts manager at J&C Joel, pointed out: "What people won't appreciate is the enormous scale of the project: the pelmet is more than 18m wide by 10m long and weighs almost half a ton, the tassels measure a metre and weigh nearly 20kg each."
The auditorium has been repainted to reflect its original colours; all seating has been changed from dark green to red and the orchestra pit has been enlarged, now forming a curve with the stalls seating following the same line.
The restoration budget was allocated with the intention that ENO would be returned to its former Edwardian splendour while giving it the standard of comfort demanded by a 21st century audience. Although backstage facilities and the orchestra pit did get face-lifts, the budget to upgrade lighting and sound did not come from the restoration budget. Initially a one-off sum was requested, but a continuing five-year plan was subsequently agreed.
Lighting manager Kevin Sleep has only been with ENO for two years and for much of that time - 10 months - the building has been dark. One of the main problems for the lighting department prior to the shutdown had been that the lighting battens were condemned last summer and had to be replaced with new lighting bridges. The hope is they will now help to speed-up turnarounds and, in theory, technicians will no longer have to squeeze tallescopes into the set during the afternoon change-over - that is assuming LDs will be happy with a fixed position lighting rig and don't start hanging special bars all over the place which then require a 'scope to focus them!
Total Fabrications built the bridges based on a former design for service access platforms for building sites and motorway construction - ENO couldn't afford to develop an entirely new design, so various modifications were made, including making the walkways slightly wider, inserting pull-up access panels in the floor, raising kick boards and welding a lighting bar below it.
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