Theatre News

Summer Restoration Works 2007

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• Outside the building, the Eastern side elevation of the theatre that is hidden behind the shops will also be restored and repaired, in the same way that the rear elevation was done in 2005 and the Exmouth Road elevation was done in 2006. In order to spread the work out and make it more manageable, this repair and restoration work will be done in Spring 2008. It will involve the same sort of work as the other elevations, namely: brickwork, pointing, parapets, windows, gutters, slates, etc. All the work will ensure that the fabric of this side of the building will be brought up to a good sound condition. Luckily, it has been fairly sheltered over the years, so is not in too bad a condition.

But that's not all, as a few other smaller projects will also be going on, which will also help make the theatre a better and better place:

• We are very grateful to Southsea Town Council for a £12,000 grant that will be used to help with the restoration of the Stalls, and also the improvement of the Level Access entrance into the stalls on Albert Road. This will make this important entrance much more welcoming, and with better accessibility for everyone.
• We are very grateful to the King Cullimore Trust for a £25,000 grant that will be used to redecorate and restore the Dress Circle Bar. Although the actual full restoration of the bar will be in the summer of 2008, two jobs will be done this summer to make the task easier next summer. Firstly, the marble bar top will be repaired and restored, and the missing section replaced. Secondly, the 4 doors into the bar will be stripped and restored to their proper mahogany finish, as we have done with other internal doors over the last few years.
• We are very grateful to the John and Ruth Howard Trust for a grant of up to £5000 which will be used to restore a further two pairs of internal doors in the dress circle of the auditorium.
• We are very grateful to Mr John Fowler from the University Fine Arts Course, who has not only assisted Hayles and Howe with some preparatory work for the main auditorium restoration, but has also kindly offered to recreate the coving that is missing in the Stage Bar and re-install it for us. This is most generous of him, and will add so much to the ambience of the Stage Bar. John has also been awarded a first class honours degree, and has been offered a position with Hayles and Howe, so will be working on the project at the Kings with them this summer.
• We are particularly grateful to Portsmouth City Council, whose grant of £238,000 forms the main part of the funding for all this work.
• And above all, we are hugely appreciative of all the public fundraising from the many supporters of the theatre, whether they put some coins in the bucket collection after a show, or attended a fundraising event, or came to see a show. There are no shareholders for the theatre to pay, so every penny that comes in is re-invested in the theatre itself, and that can be seen this summer more than ever. And to the countless volunteers who have spent many hours of their time helping out, that has been brilliant as well, as it has really made the funds go much further with the volunteer effort. Many, many thanks to everyone who has contributed in whatever form over the last 8 years, it has all counted, every single little bit - what a team effort.

And that's all we are doing this summer during the 15 week shutdown!! It is going to be a very busy time, but hugely rewarding for all the people who have worked so hard over the last 8 years to save and restore this beautiful theatre for the local community.

Just a few words of explanation of what we are not doing, though. I said at the beginning that we are doing far more than just the ceiling, but we still won't be doing absolutely everything, mainly because of time constraints, as much as the funding. As you will appreciate, we cannot risk not finishing by 30 September, as we cannot delay the Centenary itself, so we have taken two main steps to de-risk the programme.

Firstly Hayles and Howe did some significant repairs to the sides of the Gallery Ceiling in January and February, and I am sure you will have seen the scaffolding on the sides of the gallery for this work. This did some thirteen and a half "man" weeks of work early, and eased the summer programme.

Secondly, we have concentrated on the work that needs to be done at high level, so we make the most of the "birdcage" scaffolding. Therefore, the things we will leave will be in the lower down parts of the theatre. There will be several technical items to be done later, most noticeably to tidy up and improve the lighting bar in the centre of the Dress Circle. For this reason, we will not be re-decorating the Dress Circle balcony front either. We will also be leaving the redecoration of the side dress circle corridors until later as well, and the stalls house lighting and ceiling will also be done at a later date. The lower parts of the Scagliola will also be deferred until later. All these items, plus a few others will all be programmed in for later projects, and all can be easily reached without having to build a huge "birdcage" scaffolding.

If you wish to get involved with the volunteer working parties, please contact the Trust office on 023 9285 2228 or trust@kings-southsea.com

Ian Pratt
Vice Chairman
Kings Theatre Trust Ltd