Afternoon:
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Theatre Royal too hot to handle as audiences walk out
Louise Jury24.04.09
Audiences at one of London's oldest theatres are staging walk-outs and demanding refunds amid claims it is "insufferably hot".
Temperatures in the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, currently home to Oliver! with Rowan Atkinson as Fagin, have soared because of hi-tech equipment and lighting being used in musicals.
Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group, which owns the theatre and has hosted productions from Miss Saigon to Lord Of The Rings, today admitted people are regularly demanding refunds.
It wants to solve the problem with a £1.5million air conditioning system for the Grade I-listed building, which is nearly 200 years old.
Papers lodged with Westminster council reveal the scale of discomfort.
Mike Fitzgerald, for Lee/Fitzgerald architects working for the group, said: "The auditorium suffers severe over-heating. The balcony level in particular becomes insufferably hot, resulting in regular demands for refunds."
The rise in temperatures has been caused partly by the technical complexity of modern productions. The demand for stage lighting has increased dramatically, the architects explain, generating more heat.
The consequences are particularly unpleasant in the balcony where used air circulates upwards.
"Unbearable" levels of hot air cause theatre-goers to walk out mid performance, particularly during the summer and matinees, the application said.
The application is being considered by Westminster council.
Mark Price, planning and architecture adviser for the Theatres Trust, has urged planners to back the new ventilation system at the Theatre Royal. But, he said, overheating was a costly problem to solve with other theatres, such as the Garrick, badly affected. An all-new air-conditioning system for a theatre would cost about £6million.
Ventilation, uncomfortable seats and inadequate numbers of lavatories were identified as audience bugbears in a trust report in 2003.
Nica Burns, co-owner of five theatres including the Garrick, said: "The Theatre Royal is the worst theatre in London. They have to give out water and fans in the top two levels."
Reader views (5)
it was so hot that i moved from the balcony to sit next to my mate (seat was empty, but much cheaper) during the break. i thought that was just me overreacting...
- Leslie, london, uk
Blue Baby is right, people could walk in off the street but then people could more easily walk out as well (to the pub over the road)
- Jack Spratt, Richmond, England
And if the doors were opened, what's to stop people walking in off the street? It would require ushers permanently staffing the doors.
People should remember when going to the theatre that they're indoors and there will be lights and dress accordingly. Also take water.
- Blue Baby, London
Many of the older theatres suffer with similar problems and it can be a difficult act to get to the end of a production during the really hot summer weather.
- Mike M, Bedford England
Can't see how the huge capital cost of air conditioning can be justified. The future running costs would also be a burden not to mention the ecological nightmare. Most old theatres are blessed with fire exit stairwells opening out at street level. If the doors were opened after the performance started there would be a pleasant breeze wafting up !
- Jack Spratt, Richmond, England
