4th January 2016 and so it started, the old stage covering comes up ready for a new skin. The new covering will require 53 sheets of 6mm MDF & 2kg of wire nails, all hand nailed by hammer as the use of a nail gun is out due to the minimum depth of the original flooring.
The stage floor was last recovered some 28 years ago, and extended outwards into the Auditorium by around 4ft in the mid Nineties.
You will see the original lower stage wall fascia panels revealed in the image, also revealed are the recesses (Troughs) for the original Footlights on the outer edge of staging; these will have to be re-hidden & recovered as with the fascia panels during refurbishment.
The original Oak flooring can be seen now that the old covering has been removed, using the stage in its original form is not ideal due to the Oak being slippery underfoot especially on a raked angle such as the case at Shanklin.
Also, due to lighting and technical issues the flooring, back drop and side curtains all have to be in matt black to prevent glare and shadows during shows and productions.
A more revealing shot of the “Trough” for the Footlights; these are now hidden under the new stage covering. Before they were called Footlights they were known as “Floats” in the distant past.
Before gas lighting took over, the Trough was filled with oil in which Wicks were floated and lit. Not many cues were possible back then, but a hell of a lot of theatres came to grief from this form of lighting.
The old Hardboard covering has now been completely removed and de-nailed, the old Footlight Troughs see their first light for many years, and this will be the last time we see these dip traps for a while.The right hand Limb has now been removed to improve the selling space in the auditorium.
It’s all change at the Shanklin Theatre, it will now look a little different to the visitors and customers, and will improve the flight case storage on-site now that the under-thrust area has been improved & enlarged.
The stage has now been recovered and fully nailed down, next job was to move onto the new fascia frontage. All the stage legs have been spirited to upright and the packing pieces attached.
Time to start cutting the fascia doors in ply, the final area of the auditorium floor has also been diamond coated ready for the seats to go back. There is a lot of paint to go on yet too.
The first coat of “Black Out” being applied to the new floor covering by Rebecca. New flip top electrical sockets have been installed into stage floor for ease of access for performing acts stage equipment etc.
Meanwhile, our friends TD Decor were busy redecorating the back stage stairwells, once completed the stage fascias were repainted to match the existing auditorium decor.
A couple of images of the fully redecorated back stage stairwells by TD Decor, the two tone grey gloss paintwork matches the already redecorated front foyer, front left & right balcony stairways, box office & side entrance hallway.
The new stage floor covering is now complete; all the blackout coating has now been applied and finished. The new facia frontage & storage doors have now been re-painted to match the existing colour of the auditorium.
The next future job will be to affix decorative architrave to the front stage facia to tie in with the theatre’s existing decor.
Michael Beston
