Theatre peels back the centuries

Jun 23 2007 By David Whetstone, The Journal

One of the North-East's most popular theatres is nearing completion after undergoing a multi-million-pound expansion and refurbishment programme.

Management at Live Theatre are hoping to gain possession of their newly extended building in about four weeks - in time for a planned September opening with a new play by Lee Hall, creator of Billy Elliot.

Tours of the site were offered this week to small groups as part of Architecture Week and The Journal joined one of them, led by Live's chief executive, Jim Beirne.

While a lot of work still has to be done, it is clear that the new Live Theatre is a vast improvement on the old. While the auditorium will retain its famous intimacy, with seating for a maximum of 190 people, the other public areas have been much extended.

Despite the addition of a modern lift and staircase and the removal of the bar from the auditorium into a neighbouring room, none of the building's character has been lost. If anything, it has been brought to the fore.

Live Theatre has been at Broad Chare, near where the law courts now stand, for more than 20 years.

In the early days, in keeping with the area's down-at-heel appearance, the theatre was a rough and ready affair. Nevertheless it forged a national reputation for nurturing new writing and acting talent.

Subsequent revamps have made the best of the current circumstances, but those closely involved with the theatre have always regarded it as a work in progress.

This final redevelopment, further extending the original Live Theatre into a former bonded warehouse at 29 Broad Chare, looks like the real deal.

Clearly costs have risen since the builders first moved on site. While two years ago Jim was describing it as a £4.3m project, on Thursday he said the work would cost £5.3m.

Our tour began where the new entrance to Live Theatre will be, in what was once an internal street where carts used to load and offload.

Some cutting edge work will be presented at Live Theatre when it reopens, but there will never be any escaping the building's rich past. This became clear as Jim led us into the warren of rooms and corridors, still with dangling coils of flex.

"These are beautiful buildings, but they're utilitarian, just basic," he said as we threaded between modern glass and venerable brickwork. "Our approach to reviving them and making them fit for use again is to use the same simple materials."

He stressed that this was a project involving not one building but four - all listed, all ancient and all presenting their own unique challenges to the architects (Waring & Netts) and builders (Stephen Easten Building Ltd), all based in the North-East. While much of the new Live Theatre dates from Georgian and Victorian times, Jim said some of the buildings were recognisable on maps of 1505.

29 Broad Chare was originally three mariners' cottages in the early 1600s but was converted into a warehouse in the 1800s.

He showed us brick and stonework dating back centuries which will be a visible feature when the theatre reopens. One wall had collapsed during the conversion work, spilling grain which had been used as an insulating material in centuries past.

Under the eagle eye of historic building inspectors, 16th Century flagstones had been raised and then lowered again after the insertion of a membrane to help insulate the premises for 21st Century use.

One ground floor area in the new complex is to be taken over by restaurateur Terry Laybourne for a 70-cover Italian restaurant while an upper floor may be let to the North-East craft organisation Designed & Made. Negotiations are in progress.

At the top of 29 Broad Chare, where tall people previously had to stoop, a floor has been cut out to create a theatre studio.

The work, for which grudging approval was given, has resulted in an attractive space where the acoustics are still unproven.

At the heart of the new Live Theatre complex is a glass-covered atrium which includes the new lift and staircase. At the moment, it offers a view of the river although, sadly, this will go when UK Land develops the vacant space behind.

Jim explained that without the atrium, occupying what had been a small, landlocked courtyard, the development could not have worked.

The all-important auditorium is shaping up nicely. We stood on the stage to get an actor's eye view and then at the back of the balcony. Nobody is going to be very far from the action when Live reopens.

Pillars which previously restricted the view of the stage have been removed and the floor has been lowered by a metre. "There has been some major engineering done here," said Jim.

People will still be able to sit with their drinks at tables, cabaret style, although the fixed seating behind will be more comfortable than in the past, he promised.

Live Theatre looks set to be a winning blend of ancient and modern, a place where writers will work on new scripts next to early 19th Century winding gear, retained in honour of the building's past. They may also be watched by the ghost of an ancient mariner or two.