Architect |
Elizabeth Scott |
Date
Built |
Opened on 23 April 1932 |
Location |
Adjacent to
Bancroft Gardens beside the River Avon |
Description |
|
The Royal Shakespeare theatre was
designed by Elizabeth Scott, the
great-niece of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the
architect of such industrial buildings as
Battersey Power Station and Bankside Power
Station, now the Tate Modern. It is
perhaps understandable that I once heard the
RSC described as looking like a power
station. However, it is important to
note that the RSC was the first public
building in the UK to have been designed by a
female architect. When it was built the RSC sat beside the Avon between the Victorian Swan Theatre and Bancroft Gardens. It was a proscenium Arch Theatre with many beautiful Art Deco features. It accommodated 1,400 people in a tiered arrangement of stalls, circle and balcony seats. It was a Grade II listed building when in 2007 it closed for the last time to undergo a four year reconstruction that saw the proscenium arch theatre demolished and rebuilt as a thrust stage. A new restaurant was added on the roof and a viewing tower added on the " Waterside" end of the building. Inside is a 1000 seat auditorium in which no one is more than 15 metres away from the stage. The project, designed by the architectural practice of Bennetts Associates, cost £112 million. Bennetts say of the project that, "The transformation of the Grade II* listed home of Shakespearean theatre was won through an international competition and opened in November 2010. At its heart, a new 1000-seat thrust-stage auditorium has revolutionised the way audiences experience live theatre. Its public spaces are accessible and welcoming, and its relationship with the town of Stratford-upon-Avon has been reinvigorated by the creation of the tower, new external spaces and routes." |