Tron Theatre

The church that had existed on this site from 1529 was destroyed by fire in 1793 leaving only the Tron steeple, a blue-faced clock tower. This was incorporated into a new church designed by James Adam. The Glasgow Theatre Club took over the building in the late 1970s and converted it to a theatre. Most of the interior was lost at this point. A major redevelopment in 1999 demolished outbuildings to the south of the theatre to allow a rationalised complex of bar, restaurant, dressing rooms, studio theatre and administration wing. The box office was inserted behind the Victorian Baroque stone wall that was originally built to screen an air shaft to an underground railway tunnel, and a frameless glass flank wall. Inside, bold planes of sandstone, slate, render and mock-timber laminate spread across walls and floor, all tied together by the scarlet band that forms the main counter. Further along the street, the stone screen reappears as a modern stone wall enclosing a bar with two storeys of offices above. On the upper storeys, the stone wall gives way to a window wall veiled by slatted timber brises-soleil. On the ground floor, a pair of enormous sliding timber windows open up the cafe to the pavement and street. The refurbishment juxtaposes the historical elements of the Tron building with new spaces such as the flexible Changing House studio theatre which can seat 70. The steeply raked formerly fixed auditorium is now more flexible, having been remodelled to improve contact and sightlines. A tensioned-wire grid over the space fits the geometry of the domed roof. Horizontal lighting bars are supported from the sub-frame as the dome ceiling above could not be disturbed. This allows safe high-level access to technical positions and maintains views of the dome from the auditorium. Off-stage, some counterweight and simple rigging has been installed.