Meet the people saving London's theatres from crumbling

‘Everyone was shocked when that happened because it was a wake-up call,’ explains Sir Cameron Mackintosh, the famed theatre producer and owner who has spent more than £125 million refurbishing his numerous West End venues, including the Victoria Palace Theatre, currently home to Hamilton. ‘Even though people were regularly checking, you’ve got to delve into the old buildings,’ he stresses.

He recognises the importance of the public’s need to feel safe and reassured after such incidents, especially given the boost to the UK economy that theatre provides. More than 15.5 million people attended shows in West End theatres in 2018, according to figures from the Society of London Theatre (Solt) and UK Theatre, bringing in a record box-office revenue of over £765m and generating more than £127m in VAT for the Treasury. But beyond feeling safe, Mackintosh is aware audiences also need to feel comfortable. He is renovating the auditorium of the Sondheim Theatre (formerly the Queen’s Theatre), which will reopen to the public next month. A central aisle has been removed, allowing for more room on the sides of each row, while redundant spaces are being reimagined. There will be extra toilets for theatre-goers and modern showers in the dressing rooms for the actors.

Architect Steve Tompkins, who this year was named by The Stage as the most influential person in British theatre, is another man who understands the demands of old theatres and the challenges of renovating for a modern audience. ‘These theatres were built in the late 19th century when audience expectations were different,’ he says, sat in the offices of Haworth Tompkins, the award-winning architectural studio he founded in 1991 alongside business partner Graham Haworth. A vast architectural model of Theatre Royal Drury Lane, on which his studio is currently working, is displayed behind him. ‘Quite rightly people expect differently these days,’ he says, describing how theatres need to transform in a number of ways in order to remain contemporary, relevant and commercially viable if they don’t want to risk being frozen in time as if they were a museum. In fact, he explains, many of these old theatres were not really built to last. ‘They were treated, in some ways, as disposable, temporary spaces. Almost like a series of pop-ups. So in a way, there’s a certain irony that at some point these auditoria become ossified as heritage objects.’

Requirements for theatres have changed over the decades. Segregation by class, cheap wooden seats and a lack of toilets have been replaced by a need for more legroom, better views and accessibility. But strict regulations and protections, as well as demands for preservation, also throw up challenges. Striking the balance between maintaining the historic legacy of a theatre and pulling it into the modern day is tricky, yet Tompkins doesn’t seem fazed. ‘The idea is to agree on where the line of balance is because it’s probably never right to obliterate a beautiful piece of historic architecture for the sake of audience comfort, for example, any more than it’s ever right to make the audience suffer because the historic theatre is so important.’

Then there’s the matter of expense: restoration of a listed building in the West End is an eye-watering undertaking. Alongside the now £60 million cost of Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber’s restoration of Theatre Royal Drury Lane, the project has meant that the venue, which closed its doors earlier this year, will not reopen until autumn next year. ‘Operating theatres in the West End is an enormous responsibility,’ explains Lloyd Webber. ‘They require conservation and continual improvement. Modern productions are bigger [and] theatre-goers are more discerning.’

Richard Howle, director of ticketing for the NEC Group and former commercial manager of Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Theatres (now LW Theatres), is keenly interested in the debate about how best to support the West End’s theatres. Although he admits that calling for state funding for commercially owned buildings would be difficult to justify, he wonders if some form of recognition, such as business rate relief, could help with the astronomical costs of running and maintaining a theatre in the West End. ‘We’re really lucky we live in an age when we have people like Cameron and Andrew, who are prepared to put their own money in for the love of those buildings,’ Howle says. ‘I know that for both of them, it’s their gift back. But they aren’t going to be around in 20 or 30 years’ time. Who’s going to be investing those huge sums of money into our theatres for the love of it?’

Mackintosh agrees that he is in a fortunate situation when it comes to restoring his theatres. ‘I’m very lucky that I’ve earnt enough money with my shows that I can afford to do this. It’ll be my legacy to London,’ he says. Similarly for Tompkins, theatres are his life’s passion. He was surrounded by theatre from a young age — although often ‘the one out the back making the set’ — and his passion for theatrical architecture has seen him compared with Frank Matcham, who designed the London Palladium and Coliseum. His and co-director Roger Watts’ approach is to first listen to as many people as possible who know about the space and craft of the theatre in which they will be working to really absorb what is needed for the project. From chatting to the person on the stage door to discussions with actors and attending performances, it all forms a rich part of the research for their eventual plans.

A central element for Tompkins, who has a background in social housing, is looking at the community aspect of a theatre. ‘Theatres have such an important role to play as places of public meeting and congregation,’ he enthuses. In the Bridge Theatre, for example, it’s striking that as much detail has been paid to the experience for a packed house congregating in the foyer and enjoying the bar as there has been to making it a welcoming space for a handful of people meeting over coffee on a quiet morning.

The reality is, Tompkins argues, that certain productions are suited to a historic theatre while others suit the modern interiors and space of new buildings, although he does believe that historic theatres should strive to have the capacity to make truly contemporary art at a technical level. While buildings such as the Bridge Theatre may not fit, or even be located, in the traditional West End, he thinks it is important to acknowledge the effect different types of artistic venues can have on each other. ‘I think one influences the other so much. I think more and more there is an overlap.’

In the end, the objective is to maintain historical elements of the theatres, while at the same time always being mindful that tomorrow’s enthusiasts will most likely want to make their own alterations. This, says Tompkins, is important, and the reason why his work leaves a little breathing space for future generations: ‘We always try and leave our buildings in a state where there is potential for many future versions to happen.’