Courtyard

A modern, sleek approach to theatre design with attention to detail within which the café, Mezzanine Restaurant and bars have a great feeling of informality. The building is rectangular and of glass with the rear stage wall and fly tower cladded. The foyer is open, extending to three floors and contains the box office, café/bar and restaurant areas and galleries, giving an exciting sense of space. The auditorium is flat-floored with retractable seating and a raked balcony with three storeys of side boxes, giving the effect of an Elizabethan courtyard plan. Above is a 140-seat studio theatre. Both auditoria double as cinemas.

The front of house areas on three levels are fully glazed, but the sunlight is modulated by external American white oak louvers fixed with stainless steel pins to the steel frame. The back of house access is also clad in oak, so that the separate activities of this building identified by glass, stone and wood can be clearly read from the outside.

A flexible auditorium seats 400 in straight rowed stalls and balcony with some loose seats on three levels of ‘boxes’ up each side. There is very little overhang above the stalls and the balcony seats appear a long way from the stage. The stalls seats can be taken out for flat-floor use and the galleries linked to the stage house.

The proscenium arch stage has 10 counterweight flying bars and 20 hemp sets. The orchestra pit can accommodate 20 musicians. There is a good workshop space. The Studio is a flexible space with retractable tiered seating.

The building replaced the 1979 Nell Gwynne Theatre which was converted from a former swimming baths. The theatre gave significant problems to the architects as they were required to maintain the footprint of the earlier theatre yet increase the capacity, keep the height of the building to the minimum and create a cultural centre which would accommodate a whole range of activities. However, the end product is an extremely robust theatre building with warmth of character and a great sense of place.