Theatre and Studio Theatre

The new University Theatre has a large stage area and an audience capacity of 280 seats. In addition it provides a sizeable black-box studio theatre which will be central to the delivery of practical courses. It is also a useful facility for warm-up and preparation prior to performance on the main stage.

Other facilities include generous dressing room space with en-suite showers, catering facilities and a scenery workshop reserved solely for student productions.

A state-of-the-art environmental control system will ensure that correct environmental conditions are maintained for theatre activity in accordance with ABTT guidelines, while a substantial data and control infrastructure will provide the capacity to make use of current and future performance technologies.

Recognising the fact that contemporary theatre often demands unconventional lighting design the new venue’s technical infrastructure has been designed to be flexible. Using a Socapex based patching system, dimmable lighting circuits can be quickly redistributed to wherever they are needed in the auditorium – replacing the pre-conceived layout typical of small-scale venues with an entirely fluid lighting structure that can support and enhance both conventional and experimental theatre performance.

The theatre’s extensive lantern and equipment stock is comparable – or better – than most of the small-scale theatre venues in the UK. In addition to the existing equipment, the University has recently approved a substantial investment in dedicated ‘high end’ video projection equipment for exclusive use in the theatre space.

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Theatre and Studio Theatre