What we know of New Theatre history is really only hearsay passed down from past generations of students, and we’d really like to keep that knowledge growing.
The New Theatre itself was converted from the Engineering block in 1969. Originally, the auditorium was levelled but raked seating and a proscenium arch stage were in place by 1972. The New Theatre’s colours are currently orange and purple – then, the auditorium was meticulously finished with kingfisher blue paintwork and matching canvas curtains. Classy stuff. The very first refurbishment of the auditorium occurred only one year after this, in the summer of 1973, when students installed a new lining of timber slats, a cloakroom area at the rear and locations for fire extinguishers. They also alterted the colour scheme to chocolate brown…arguably not a refreshing change from kingfisher blue, but no doubt much more practical!
As far as tech goes, there have, unsurprisingly, been many changes in this department. The technical rig consisted of a FURSE 24 channel resistance dimmer bank with mechanical mastering; the control room swiftly turned into a sauna when anything other than full output was required. A Rank Strand thyristor dimmer board was installed in the summer of 1972 – apparently the committee at that time got a good price for it, as it was their last design using Germanium semi-conductors and was wired to about 48 channels. At the same time, the control room was rebuilt by members of Tech Committee with a new sound system and twin reel-to-reel tape recorder decks.
In autumn 1999 tech underwent a massive refurbishment: old lights were resurrected and the kit available to the New Theatre was more than doubled. This was also the time when the smoke detectors were replaced with heat sensors to allow the use of smoke effects during productions.
The new foyer was probably built around 1996, but looks to have had a makeover in 2001 after an appeal and a large donation from a fellow called Wallner. Before the foyer existed, tickets were sold to people from the small box office window, which was the main office at the time, and then the audience stood outside in the cold or heat and waited for the doors to open. This system was so inefficient that only a few years after the theatre was opened, advance tickets were being sold from the Portland building instead, taking the control away from The New Theatre where it belonged. The current auditorium door was accessed by a steel fire escape.
If anyone would like the job of researching New Theatre history please e-mail our Secretary, Lizzie: secretary@newtheatre.org.uk.
Note to alumni
Please send in any information you have about New Theatre history for a timeline that will eventually be published here. Information about plays, committees, major decisions / changes / renovations / moments you consider to’ve been historical.
Sincere thanks to Tony and Lynn Ireland (Business Managers of DramaSoc, 1972-74) and Adam Godden (NT member 1999-2002) for their contributions to this page.
Send e-mails to secretary@newtheatre.org.uk
