People's Theatre

Externally the building remains largely as originally conceived by Marshall & Tweedy in 1936 with one notable exception. When the building was acquired for conversion in 1962, the stage house was added, its curious shape emphasizing that the hard curved cyclorama was regarded as more important than the facility to fly scenery. Positioned on a corner site, constructed mainly of brick with a small amount of Art-Deco detailing. The pitched roof has distinctive green pantiles. Internally the auditorium was little altered in 1962, retaining the original stalls and balcony installed by Marshall & Tweedy of 1936. An art gallery was however created with financial support from the Gulbenkian Foundation. Additional FOH stage lighting positions were inserted on the flank walls on either side of the proscenium, the lanterns being concealed behind doors. By 1982 the auditorium seating (918) was too large for the People’s Theatre and so they embarked upon a scheme of alterations. This involved creating a single tier of seating, continuing the circle rake down into the stalls, and the physical removal of the balcony front. This in turn created additional space for FOH, which had been the rear stalls, underneath the balcony. A demountable forestage was also created at this time. The theatre underwent a refurbished in 2004 which included new carpets, new seating, new auditorium toilets and painting.