Shades of Grey

(Sorry the formatting is a bit loopy- I haven’t worked out how to do buffer space round thumbnails properly yet)

Today, I visited The Brindley Theatre in Runcorn. I have never been there before so didn’t know what to expect, other than a probably declining Cheshire market town. I expected it to be near a Canal, assuming the Brindley was James (yes it was, and yes it was).
My route in to Runcorn was over a humongous bridge- the Silver Jubilee Bridge over the Manchester Ship Canal. Despite the name, it was opened in 1961, replacing a transporter bridge made famous by Meccano. Having a bit of spare time, I wandered down to the bridge, finding a promenade complete with ducks. It was a rather dull day so my photos are similarly lacking in contrast.

 

 

 

I also found a closed bingo hall called La Scala where the roof was in a perilous state. (You can see the sorry state of the interior from some recent UrbEx visits at this link.)

 

 

 

The Brindley is three years old and still looks very new, unless you start to look too closely where the inevitable wear and tear of a working theatre shows up. It is a local authority ran venue with a 420 seat proscenium theatre, a 108 seat adaptable studio, a gallery and a cafe/bar. The cafe has a pleasant terrace space overlooking the canal, although it was not in use today.

 

 

 

The building public spaces wrap around the main auditorium, which is known as the Transporter Theatre. It is a tall, narrow space with a glazed roof, giving a good vista of the copper clad roof above. It has seating on two levels with a stalls and circle, although the circle sweeps down to stalls level either side in a similar manner to the Milton Keynes Theatre. There are six boxes, although they are a fair way back and the last to be sold. (The Edwardian Box positions are taken up with technical galleries either side).

 

 

 

The auditorium feels welcoming, even without an audience and under working lights. The seats are a light purple colour, as are the house tabs. The walls are a light grey colour, relieved by curved light ash wooden panels which aid sound reflection.

 

 

 

The stage house is of decent proportions and has a counterweight flying frame for 48 bars, 27 sets which have been fitted so far. It is well equipped with technical systems and the prompt corner is down stage right. As it is a community theatre, Stage Left and Stage Right are used rather than PS and OP, previously blogged about. Backstage, there are five dressing rooms (all with sinks and showers) and a soundproofed music room. Cutbacks are obvious though, mirrors have not been fitted in one of the upstairs rooms (although the mirror lights have). Surprisingly, there is no sub-stage but there is a crossover passage behind the back wall. There is an orchestra pit (which can be covered or made into a forestage) but no Pit Lift yet (although there is electrical provision for it at a future date).

 

 

 

At right angles to the main house is the studio theatre which is an adaptable space. This has 108 seats on bleacher seating which was folded back into the wall on our visit. Access to lighting is from access equipment only but there are 96 circuits available.and it it also doubles as a Cinema with projection from a large control room at the rear.

 

 

 

Either side of the stage tower in the upper part of the building are glazed stair wells which lead up to the grid, plant room, dimmer room and the lighting bridges above the auditorium. There is a perimeter walkway which leads onto a forestage grid area, the two lighting bridges and the follow-spot position. All of the lighting is new, apart from twelve older 2kW profile lanterns which the Chief bought from the Liverpool Empire for £120 each.

 

 

 

The fly floor is stage right and all counterweight sets are worked from here, apart from the house tabs which can be worked from stage level as well. The equivalent gallery stage left has a few hemp sets for occasional use.

 

 

 

One building quirk- the dimmer room for the main house was obstructed somewhat by a diagonal girder. To get round this, the door was split horizontally like a stable, presumably to remind you when you came out again.

 

 

 

Technical control for the main house is from a control room suite at the back of the stalls and there is also a glazed room next door for simultaneous translation. Both lighting and sound can be worked from the auditorium if necessary and the building is bristling with technical panels, even in the art gallery room.

 

 

 

After the visit was complete, we were served tea, coffee and biscuits in dressing room 1. Here was a sign saying “Please respect the theatre” and underneath, someone had added a smidge of irony, with the words “its award winning” below .

 

I was also amused by the taps…

 

 

 

 

 

As we left the building, the sun picked out the bridge over the town. I was into the red zone with my second battery but was pleased to take this final snap and not get drizzled on.