Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1977 - 13

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Lyttelton Theatre: Plan.
orchestra lift on the auditorium side of the safety curtain. This familiar method has an unhappy way of landing the management with extra rows of seats down front
at the very time they do not want them. The extra seating
is only there in an attempt to conceal the gap caused by
the absence of an orchestra or a forestage for that show.
However all is not completely well in this area with the
Lyttelton arrangement either as we shall see. There are
three front elevators 5 feet 3 inches deep in line across the
stage to give a total width of 44 feet 7 inches. In addition
to the usual things one expects of them they can be raked
in conjunction with the main stage to give any incline
from flat to 1 in 8. Normally they are set to give a riser
of 3 feet 5 inches but the whole lot can be made to begin
the incline at the level of the stalls floor itself.
A nice toy; but in the theatre it is difficult to see who
except for the front two rows and the front row of the
'circle' will really see the result of any variations, be they
major or minor. Of course they will look fine on the scene
designers' models - especially when exhibited among the
other scenography in a Prague Quadriennale! A certain
amount of adaptability is of course legitimate in this
area - especially as the Lyttelton is intended on occasion

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to take visiting companies "from the regions of Britain
and from abroad as well." But breaking the stage front
Iine means that the safety curtain has to have something
to drop onto so that a seal is formed.
This has been done by making the safety curtain in
two parts - one of two-thirds drops to meet the other
third which rises from below. This latter may, according
to the conformation of the stage front at the time, form
either the stage riser or be at stalls floor level. Regulations demand that on pulling the release the safety curtain
must descend in free fall and close the opening in 30
seconds. What.is more it must be demonstrated doing this
once in every performance with the audience present.
No private tests before and after the show, as in Germany,
are permitted to us as a substitute.
Since alarm bells are not allowed to herald this particular part of a performance (a curtain dropper?) and as
this is likely to be for the members of the front row their
first experience of an earthquake zone, attendants or firemen have to parade first. They then cajole and exhort
everyone in tones both of anguish and reproof to 'stand
clear' before the iron curtain proudly bearing the words
'Safety Curtain' can be allowed to function safely.

THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

SUMMER,1977

13
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