Reasons for Designation
Theatre auditorium, stage and fly-tower of 1964-8 by A J Ward of Elder and Lester, of great architectural ingenuity and technical accomplishment. The historical form of the auditorium, based on that of traditional Italian opera houses, marked a new departure in theatre design that looked at past designs for theatres as a source for modern theatre architecture.
Details
396/0/10020 THE CAUSEWAY
01-OCT-04 Billingham
The Theatre auditorium, stage and fly-
tower at The Billingham Forum Leisure
Complex
II
Theatre auditorium, stage and flytower. 1965-7 by Elder and Lester, job architect A J Ward, with Michael Warre theatre consultant and Blyth and Blyth structural and service engineers. The first performance was on 16 August 1967, although the theatre was not formally opened until 1968 when the workshops were completed. Brick and concrete structure. Semi-circular auditorium with rectangular stage and flytower, making a horseshoe composition. Fan-shaped stalls in three blocks, surrounded by three shallow tiers and side stepped boxes; total capacity 631 seats. Large stage 11.73m deep by 19.5m, proscenium width 13.4m, with orchestra pit possible by removing forestage. 75ft fly-tower with a 59 ft grid. Steel-clad fly-tower and red brick drum of the auditorium visible externally, with scene dock to side having large steel shutter. To rear is the brick-faced fire exit.
The interest of the building is in the novel auditorium and well-equipped stage. Curved brick walls with two openings per level separate the theatre auditorium from the rest of the structure and give on to inner circulation corridor. From this there is access to the stalls, in two sections - there is a traditional style pit at the rear - and on the upper levels to three tiers of boxes. Auditorium has exposed red brickwork, behind stepped boxes forming a horseshoe on three levels faced in timber and with timber side panels. No seat is more than 60ft from the stage. Large canopy in front of stage, which has a canted ante-proscenium with concealed doors but no true proscenium arch. The first 20ft of the auditorium can be removed manually to create an orchestra pit, and rostrums can be added to create an apron stage if required.
Fly-tower with flyfloors, hemps and counterweighted flying. Under the stage is a wardrobe store, bandroom and workshops. Fletton brick scene dock with two roller doors leads directly to stage.
Not included in this listing are the foyers and dressing rooms, which while unusually copious for a theatre are structurally separate from the auditorium and form a physical ensemble with the attached sports centre, also not of special interest.
Billingham UDC was the first town to build a sports centre and theatre on a common site, blowing its rates revenue in advance of it being incorporated into Teeside CB in 1967. Since 1990, however, the theatre has been separately run and made physically separate from the sports centre.
A number of local authorities began to build experimental theatres in the 1950s and early 1960s, reacting against the closure of Victorian and Edwardian variety halls and the onset of television with repertory programme that was dynamic, youthful and local. This coincided with a revival of English playwrighting, led by talents such as John Osborne and Harold Pinter. By the mid-1960s more and smaller theatres were being built, and most were assuming an orthodox form of a single tier of seats within a rectangular or fan-shaped auditorium, and had a wide, shallow stage without a proper fly-tower. An alternative form of design was suggested by the growing interest in the history of theatre to 1914. Theatres traditionally aimed to 'paper the walls with people' so that the actor feels enveloped by his or her audience. Billingham is contemporary in date with the restoration of the Georgian theatre at Bury St Edmonds and the beginning of the theatre conservation movement. While later theatres, already listed like the Christ's Hospital Theatre, Sussex, and Swan at Stratford-upon-Avon, looked to the post-medieval courtyard theatre that Shakespeare might have known, Billingham Forum turned to the horseshoe form of Italian opera houses as a source for something that was nevertheless entirely modern. The Barbican, built in 1971-82 and already listed, borrows something of this form, but Billingham is unique for its date. It is also a well-detailed auditorium, and is theatrically well-composed, being well-equipped with backstage facilities and a traditional fly-tower (then becoming rare) and good sightlines. The provision of so many boxes was also intended for families, the ethos of the Forum being that it should provide for a 'family day out'.
In 1967 the Architects' Journal described the theatre as 'a success¿ which with its warm colours, timber panelling and intimate lighting is very reminiscent of the best of the Edwardian music halls: yet which almost at the drop of a hat can be transformed into a conference hall or cinema complete with projection room and screen.'
The rest of Billingham Forum, while innovative in its range of provision, does not have the sustained architectural imagination and quality found in the theatre, and is not included in the listing.
Sources
Architects' Journal, 22 November 1967, pp1313-27
Architects' Journal, 27 August 1969, pp.523-33
Billingham Forum Opening Programme
Tabs, December 1967, pp.18-24
Ronnie Mulryne and Margaret Shewring, Making Space for Theatre, British Architecture and Theatre since 1958, Stratford, 1995, pp.132-3.
Information from Mrs A J Ward, the architect's widow.
