Readers may believe that the future of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre was secure. However, the present plans would require the Elizabeth Scott auditorium to be completely destroyed. Players and patrons will be aware of the flaws in the present design (particularly the remoteness of the galleries) but it is still a remarkable art deco building.
Michael Boyd gave me permission to develop a design that re-configured the galleries and stage to form a flexible theatre with a demountable, deep thrust stage and avoiding pillars, while reinstating much of the original decorative finishes. Sadly the RSC has now refused to look at my scheme, so I have now submitted it for “Listed Building Consent” with Stratford-upon-Avon District Council.
I ask your readers to support my scheme. If the RSC are allowed to demolish so much of the original building, a few “listed” theatres will be safe from destructive “improvements”. Will their proposed courtyard theatre (similar to a larger version of The Swan) be better than the Barbican Theatre? That was built to the RSC’s specification yet they have been abandoned in favour of conventional West End playhouses - who is to say my flexible auditorium would not be better for their future needs?
If the RSC built my scheme, they would have enough money left over to lease and refurbish the London Hippodrome as their London home. (It is likely that they plan to move their temporary Stratford theatre to an undisclosed site in London, thus sealing the fate of the Hippodrome and Elizabeth Scott’s flawed masterpiece). If my scheme gets approved then there is an alternative to demolition in the planning process and the RSC may take a more enlightened view to conversation.
John West
Theatre designer
Abbotswood Close
Winyates Green
Redditch
Worcestershire
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