Shades of Grey

Continuing on this guided tour of the London Prince of Wales Theatre, here is the Auditorium. Reds, browns and golds predominate. The theatre is wide in a fan shape, with one, rather steep balcony. The seats at the front are bright in the photograph because the crew were testing out the lighting rig and some bright beams had swept into the audience (no doubt for Super Trouper) .

The theatre has had a very elaborate, very scientific, acoustic treatment to ensure that every seat has a good sonic view as well as a visual one. This is why the wall surfaces are the shape and materials that they are. The stalls side walls have this very rich metal fretwork with precisely shaped curved panelling behind. It seems that the original wall decoration is still beyond these demountable structures, as it is a listed building. (It wasn’t very elaborate though).

Near the proscenium (which is obscured by a blue false proscenium as part of the Mamma Mia set) the panels are mainly reflective, but there is decorative detailing at chair rail (dado) level. The doorway to the left is the front stalls entrance, which also leads to the (normally locked) Pass door into the backstage area.

There are a number of original ceiling coves at stalls and circle level. This photo is a close-up of one of the stalls ones, note the reflective paint.

Upstairs, this is the view from the back row of the Circle (which is new, it was originally a cross-aisle. As the set is copyright and bits of it were in view at the time, I have obscured it in the interests of respecting their photo policy. (It wasn’t anything too exciting, just a piece of curved 3D wall. If you really want to see it, the Beeb have a snapshot.

The boxes are called Loges in this theatre and the upper two were added in the restoration as an essential way of filling the otherwise bland proscenium area with people. Like all boxes, the view is so-so unless you like seeing into the Wings (like me!) Getting to this one on stage-left was via an unexpected very narrow staircase from Circle front level. (Ignore that bit of scenery you can see sticking up…)

The theatre was originally dedicated by Gracie Fields in 1936, who, after laying the foundation stone, climbed a ladder to sing to the workmen. (I’m told she was very like Ken Dodd, hard to get off). You can see the lines of the original Prince’s Theatre balconies behind her to the left. Notice the hard hats, hi-viz jackets, safety lanyards, risk assessments… The theatre was constructed in ten months back then, you would be lucky to even get planning approval in that time these days.
There is an online view of this photo (and a good article) here.

There is a famous line of John Lennon’s from a Royal Variety performance:

Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you’ll just rattle your jewelry.

That actually took place in this very theatre in 1963. This photo shows the Band meeting the Queen Mother in the traditional Royal Line-up after the performance. The photo was in a frame on a wall of a private staircase right at the top of the building but we were allowed to go up and have a look. As our tour guide pointed out, the QM doesn’t appear to have a clue who they are…

The other famous photo to me was of Juliet Prowse (I think it was her, daughter of Keith Prowse, a well known name in London from the ticket Agency) and I have seen this shot before but don’t immediately recall where (possibly a book on stage lighting). On closer examination, you could see the damage sustained to her tights from this extreme high kick. If you examine this image closely though, all you will see is the reflection of your Shadester taking the snap.

Whilst the Prince’s theatre is no more, some gilded mirrors were saved from the building and re-used in the interior. The building is also commemorated in some of the VIP (& Disabled) toilets. Backstage, the corridors are narrow and very utilitarian, like nearly every theatre I know.

We were taken through the pass door down to the under-stage area, where all of the costumes were laid out on racks along with a quick-change room for the lady members of the cast. (The men are just expected to get on with it.) We could see the costumes used for the Finale’, which we were assured had every diamante hand sewn by a blind seamstress in the pitch black…

Well, we can’t finish off a visit to this theatre without a mention of ABBA, so I’ll leave you with the video of Super Trouper. I’d like to point out, however, that the Follow-Spot featured in the video is not a real Super-Trouper from the Strong Corporation of America, but a Silhouette CSI with a 15 degree lamphouse from CCT Theatre Lighting of Mitcham, a Company I am well acquainted with in a previous life.