Browse content similar to 04/01/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Tonight, raising the curtain on the spruced up Jewel in the Crown on | :00:08. | :00:13. | |
Britain's favourite street. It's played host to some of the nation's | :00:13. | :00:19. | |
best loved actors. It's the great grandeur of the Victorian theatre. | :00:19. | :00:24. | |
Newcastle's probably got the best in the world. It's played a part in | :00:24. | :00:29. | |
every northerners history. One of the plays that sticks in my mind | :00:29. | :00:33. | |
was hamlet starring Richard Burton and Claire Bloom. This is a set | :00:33. | :00:37. | |
that needs more than a touch of stage paint. People have been | :00:37. | :00:43. | |
coming up to me saying, "What are you doing to our theatre?" That | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
makes you realise how important it is to the people of the city. | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
Tonight, inside out follows the year when the Theatre Royal becomes | :00:51. | :01:01. | |
:01:01. | :01:17. | ||
Was going on here? I don't believe it, after all these years. The poor | :01:17. | :01:21. | |
bairn. Do you think I've made a mistake? Yes! Do you think I've | :01:21. | :01:26. | |
made a mistake? They've been putting on panto here for more than | :01:26. | :01:31. | |
147 years -- 100 years. It's a building that means so much to so | :01:31. | :01:36. | |
many. I remember going to panto there. That was my introduction to | :01:36. | :01:40. | |
theatre. I couldn't afford the entrance money. I used to hang | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
around the entrance to the gods and latch onto the pack of any party | :01:43. | :01:47. | |
going in with it, with a chunk of tickets and hope that the usher | :01:47. | :01:52. | |
couldn't count the number. It's the ideal show-off place. I love it | :01:52. | :01:56. | |
when I have friends coming to stay. I always try to see if there's a | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
show to see. I know they'll walk through the doors and be wowed by | :02:00. | :02:03. | |
this amazing place. There's a smell in this place. That's important in | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
a theatre. If you had a blind fold on, you would know you were in the | :02:07. | :02:10. | |
Theatre Royal Newcastle. Every actor wants to go to Newcastle. | :02:10. | :02:15. | |
It's had the RSC there for years. The audiences are wonderful. | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
They're very intelligent. They enjoy the theatre. They appreciate | :02:18. | :02:22. | |
the theatre. It's a place of sad times. We've lost a general manager | :02:22. | :02:27. | |
here in the time, who sadly died in the theatre. As one we stood on the | :02:27. | :02:32. | |
theatre with heads bowed and cried over, that you know. It was such an | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
emotional thing. Of happy events. It's a massive part of my life. I | :02:36. | :02:41. | |
married the flyman. This is my son who was created from Theatre Royal, | :02:41. | :02:46. | |
you know. It has lots of fond memories. And falling in love. | :02:46. | :02:51. | |
theatre is very special for me. I came to do pantomime in 2007. I | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
liked it so much here in Newcastle, I actually met my husband here and | :02:55. | :03:05. | |
:03:05. | :03:07. | ||
like today so much that I stayed. This year's panto is just as | :03:07. | :03:11. | |
romantic, Sleeping Beauty, a timeless classic just like the | :03:11. | :03:15. | |
theatre itself. Princess, I want to snog the face off a roufty tufty | :03:15. | :03:24. | |
man. No, what I meant was... On New Year's Eve 1901, it was The Forty | :03:24. | :03:29. | |
Thieves. It was the first show here after the inside of the theatre was | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
completely rebuilt following a devastating fire. For the next | :03:33. | :03:36. | |
century, the North East public converged in their hundreds of | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
thousands on this Geordie cultural temple for their dose of romance, | :03:39. | :03:45. | |
passion and laughter. An iconic building, a theatre for the stars. | :03:45. | :03:52. | |
One of the highlights for me was when I got toint view Jack Lemmon - | :03:52. | :03:58. | |
- to interview Jack Lemmon on stage. I called him "Mr Lemmon." He said | :03:58. | :04:05. | |
"Jack." I explained it must be three minutes. We did this | :04:05. | :04:09. | |
wonderful interview with this great guy, so lovely. The producer | :04:09. | :04:14. | |
clicked his stop watch exactly three minutes. What a pro that man | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
was. This is the first time that I played outside the London, you know. | :04:19. | :04:24. | |
And it's fun. It's great. 21 years since Jack's visit, and outside, | :04:24. | :04:30. | |
the theatre has barely changed. Inside, the auditorium, beautiful | :04:30. | :04:37. | |
though it is, is now beginning to look a little tired. The theatre | :04:37. | :04:45. | |
needs a serious makeover. For the last five years, the country's | :04:45. | :04:48. | |
leading theatre restoration expert has been planning the face-lift of | :04:48. | :04:54. | |
the old lady of Grey Street. It's an scieding time. We've been | :04:54. | :04:58. | |
talking about this for the best part of five years. Here we are | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
stood in the foyer at the Theatre Royal. It's all just about to | :05:02. | :05:06. | |
happen. You can never go back to a purist sense of 1901 or whatever | :05:06. | :05:10. | |
date you're working to. I always say to people, we're contaminated | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
by the 21st century. What we have to do is to respect the heritage, | :05:14. | :05:19. | |
move on, provide things that people expect today, like disabled access | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
and elements of that kind and integrate them sensitively into | :05:23. | :05:28. | |
this fantastic building. It's tight. We've always known it's going to be | :05:28. | :05:30. | |
tight. Everybody's going to have to put the shoulder to the wheel to | :05:30. | :05:36. | |
deliver this fantastic project. theatre is raising almost �5 | :05:36. | :05:41. | |
million to spend on the refit. Most of it is being paid for by theatre | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
goers themselves through a small levy on each ticket sold. The | :05:46. | :05:52. | |
building will only be shut for six months. It's a huge task. It has to | :05:52. | :05:58. | |
be on time. We have sold tickets for September, The Madness Of | :05:58. | :06:01. | |
George III. It's a big moment, a very exciting moment. There's a | :06:01. | :06:05. | |
point of no return now. It's going to happen. It just has to happen on | :06:05. | :06:15. | |
:06:15. | :06:16. | ||
time. For David Willmore there's a wider importance. It has two Grade | :06:16. | :06:22. | |
I listed theatres. This one is fantastic. In 1914, there were 1200 | :06:22. | :06:26. | |
theatres in the British Isles like this. Today, there are just over | :06:26. | :06:32. | |
100. That gives you an idea of the losses that the theatrical heritage | :06:32. | :06:35. | |
has suffered since the First World War. We have to protect what's left | :06:35. | :06:40. | |
and we have to make sure that it's fit for purpose for the next 100, | :06:41. | :06:50. | |
:06:51. | :06:53. | ||
soo years. -- 150 years. We start with a run of 18 seats... The first | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
job to flog off the unwanted fixtures and fittings to raise | :06:57. | :07:02. | |
extra cash for the project. We have seats. We've got curtains from the | :07:02. | :07:08. | |
boxes. We have some signs. They may seem like ordinary things, but it's | :07:08. | :07:14. | |
an auction of memories. These seats have witnessed all sorts of | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
productions. They've been sat in by all sorts of people. They buy you a | :07:17. | :07:22. | |
piece of history. There are 1200 seats to sell, including some | :07:22. | :07:25. | |
sponsored by celebrities who've performed here. Ian McKellen, what | :07:25. | :07:33. | |
shall we say, �50 for his seat? 70, your bid. Are we all done at �270. | :07:33. | :07:43. | |
:07:43. | :07:44. | ||
Thank you. Some celebs, it seems, can command more than others. | :07:44. | :07:53. | |
Denise Welch, �50 anywhere? �30, come on. Done at �30. Sold. Ridley | :07:53. | :08:02. | |
Scott's seat. �70 here. �75 thank you. At �80 - sold to you Madam. | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
I'm quite excited because he's my favourite director. That's why we | :08:06. | :08:11. | |
came to the theatre hoping to get it. That or Ian McKellen. She's | :08:11. | :08:16. | |
bought me the chair. So thank you honey, I love you. The auction | :08:16. | :08:21. | |
raises more than �5,000. The success of the sale is proof the | :08:21. | :08:25. | |
building has a special place in the hearts of many. I think the thing | :08:25. | :08:31. | |
you notice about Newcastle and the Theatre Royal is just the grand | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
architecture, the walk way up Grey Street, there it is, in the middle, | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
like a Colosseum. It is stunning. It's beautiful from the outside and | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
beautiful on the inside. When you first go on the stage, it is quite | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
daunting, and it's awesome. It's beautiful and you think, oh, my | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
heavens are they going to hear me here. It's almost like an opera | :08:49. | :08:56. | |
house. Whu tillly do a play, you feel as if the audience are close | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
and friendly. You don't feel as if you're isolated miles from the | :09:00. | :09:06. | |
audience. It has to be the most beautiful building in Newcastle, if | :09:06. | :09:11. | |
not the North East. It stands and it says - I am a theatre, come in. | :09:11. | :09:17. | |
The tingle starts when you see the pillars. You get into reception, | :09:17. | :09:21. | |
for me, when you get into the auditorium, the buzz of the | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
audience, building and building, I get as excited as the actors back | :09:25. | :09:35. | |
:09:35. | :09:38. | ||
Alice, you're very late you know. Come on inside. Before everything | :09:38. | :09:43. | |
is ripped out and taken away, there's one last performance, it's | :09:43. | :09:50. | |
a charity variety show. I knew you were from Newcastle. It's famous | :09:51. | :09:52. | |
for two things - football and beautiful women. | :09:52. | :09:56. | |
CHEERING What position do you play? | :09:56. | :10:06. | |
:10:06. | :10:16. | ||
# This was the last thing on my mind # | :10:16. | :10:21. | |
And the curtain goes down for the very last time before work begins. | :10:21. | :10:31. | |
:10:31. | :10:38. | ||
The task is to clear the entire auditorium of all the fittings that | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
get in the way of the builders, so when the builders arrive it's an | :10:42. | :10:45. | |
empty shell. Everybody from across the building is playing their part | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
today. The stage crew are here unscrewing the seats. The marketing | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
staff are carrying the poster frames round and thipbgdz like that. | :10:53. | :10:58. | |
I spend almost every Christmas here because I do the pant miems. You | :10:58. | :11:03. | |
spend more time in here than you do at home. You have pictures of your | :11:03. | :11:13. | |
:11:13. | :11:14. | ||
family on the walls. We found a Malteseer. But franc sucked it | :11:14. | :11:23. | |
before I got hold of it. Four weeks later,... The scaffold | :11:23. | :11:30. | |
is to get us all the way up into the centre of the auditorium, to | :11:30. | :11:32. | |
the main ceiling level. There's a lot of restoration to be done on | :11:32. | :11:42. | |
:11:42. | :11:46. | ||
that. We have up to ten demolition contractors in there. There's up to | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
ten scaffolders. It's a very labour intensive job, getting the material | :11:50. | :11:53. | |
here, there's no mechanical way of getting it in. Everything you see | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
has had to come in through a single door, handed up, hand over hand, to | :11:57. | :12:03. | |
get it into place. We have five, six electricians, stripping out, | :12:03. | :12:12. | |
isolating electrical works. It's dirty, dusty. We just want to get | :12:12. | :12:20. | |
the muck out of the way. Then we can start putting back in. The most | :12:20. | :12:23. | |
challenging thing as far as the fabric of the building is concerned | :12:23. | :12:29. | |
is the historical features in the auditorium. Really the ornate | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
ceilings, balcony fronts and the last thing we want to do is damage | :12:32. | :12:42. | |
:12:42. | :12:50. | ||
The builders' brief is to restore the interior to the way it was in | :12:50. | :12:56. | |
1901, the classic Edwardian design by one of the greatest theatre | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
architects Frank Matcham. Born in 1854 Matcham was a pioneer, thought | :13:00. | :13:04. | |
to have designed more than 120 theatres and music halls around | :13:04. | :13:10. | |
Britain. He was famed for his opulent intier yorz. He was loved | :13:10. | :13:15. | |
by actors and audiences alike. Matcham theatre has wonderful | :13:15. | :13:19. | |
acoustics. That is such a joy, really good acoustics are, you know, | :13:19. | :13:23. | |
they've built new theatres where they're using throat mics. People | :13:23. | :13:28. | |
can't be heard in modern theatres. It's tragic, isn't it. Whereas the | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
Matcham theatres, everybody's heard, even at the back of the gods. | :13:31. | :13:35. | |
Pretty much every actor in the country that goes on tour would say | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
that the Theatre Royal in Newcastle is probably one of the top two or | :13:39. | :13:44. | |
three most beautiful. Often it's the Georgian ones in Bath and Bury | :13:44. | :13:49. | |
St Edmunds and what have you that stay in the mind. But Newcastle are | :13:49. | :13:54. | |
in the top two or three. To stay true to the design, old drawings | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
and photographed were studied during painstaking research. | :13:58. | :14:04. | |
have two drawings by the Matcham office, 1900 and 1901. They are for | :14:04. | :14:09. | |
the same level, the pit or stalls level. It's about understanding the | :14:09. | :14:12. | |
construction of the building as it is about the pure restoration as | :14:12. | :14:18. | |
well. By understanding these drawings, it helps us mitigate | :14:18. | :14:23. | |
unforeseens when we get onto site and start to carry out various | :14:23. | :14:28. | |
demolitions. Sometimes you ask the question - why has that been done | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
like that? There seem noes logic of it. The rule now is quite obvious, | :14:31. | :14:34. | |
don't question it and then reject it. It's been done usually for a | :14:34. | :14:39. | |
reason, so put it back the way it was, if you can. Otherwise it may | :14:39. | :14:46. | |
come and bite you laterment Later. Nine weeks to go, Simon and | :14:46. | :14:52. | |
his team are working flat out. There was a lot of dust and mess in | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
the deconstruction of it. We've gone a long way now to putting | :14:56. | :15:01. | |
everything back in. It is extraordinary the way it has come | :15:02. | :15:06. | |
on and it's incredibly exciting. You're beginning now to get a sense | :15:06. | :15:12. | |
of actually just how beautiful it's going to be when it's all finished. | :15:12. | :15:16. | |
It's also a little bit terrifying. It's starting to make it feel more | :15:16. | :15:22. | |
intimate. The amphitheatre barriers going on, plaster being restored. | :15:22. | :15:26. | |
Carpets going down already. I do wake up in a cold sweat. I just, | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
just hope that it all happens. I have, equally, I have complete | :15:30. | :15:34. | |
confidence in the builders. My biggest concern, I think, is that | :15:34. | :15:41. | |
the seating won't quite match everybody's expectations. I suppose | :15:41. | :15:44. | |
that's impossible. It's actually the bum on the seats, that's the | :15:44. | :15:49. | |
fundamental of theatre. It's the day before the Tyne-Wear derby. | :15:49. | :15:52. | |
Simon, a Newcastle United fan has big concerns about the colour | :15:52. | :15:56. | |
scheme for the walls. The red and white stripes, we have a few lads | :15:57. | :16:00. | |
from Sunderland, who thought it would be funny to put them in. | :16:00. | :16:04. | |
However they will be covered over with the maroon wall paper, so you | :16:04. | :16:09. | |
won't see them. Long before Newcastle or Sunderland had kicked | :16:09. | :16:13. | |
a ball for the first time, the Theatre Royal was dominating | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
cultural life in the north-east. The building we know today dates | :16:17. | :16:20. | |
from 1837, replacing the old Theatre Royal off Moseley Street. | :16:20. | :16:25. | |
It became the iconic centrepiece of Richard Grainger's grand design of | :16:25. | :16:29. | |
the city centre. Through the Twentieth Century it was a mecca | :16:29. | :16:35. | |
for the true stars of stage and screen. Hollywood greats like | :16:35. | :16:45. | |
:16:45. | :16:46. | ||
Vivien Leigh, Michael Redgrave, Laurence Olivier, geel geel geel -- | :16:46. | :16:51. | |
John Geilgood, Judi Dench with the Royal Shakespeare Company. All the | :16:51. | :17:01. | |
:17:01. | :17:03. | ||
perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. There was Orson | :17:03. | :17:09. | |
Welles and Charlton Heston, the legendary Ian McKellen. And all our | :17:09. | :17:14. | |
yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Richard Burton | :17:14. | :17:19. | |
and Claire Bloom in Hamlet. For a 16 or 17-year-old would-be actor, | :17:19. | :17:25. | |
can you imagine the thrill of seeing these two greats on stage? I | :17:25. | :17:31. | |
have to confess, my first thought, when Richard Burton walked on stage | :17:31. | :17:40. | |
was "he's only about my height. "And I loved him ever more! Because | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
neither of us grew any further, never mind. I remember seeing | :17:44. | :17:48. | |
Laurence Olivier and Michael Redgrave doing uncle Vanya, which | :17:48. | :17:53. | |
sticks in the mind. And Tim West playing king leer when he was about | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
30. He did it again 30 years later. In modern times, it continued to | :17:58. | :18:03. | |
attract some of the country's finest performers. Everything from | :18:03. | :18:09. | |
drama to comedy, to dance. Back at the restoration, the builders are | :18:09. | :18:15. | |
focused on the frent. There are just two weeks to go. The central | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
lighting system, called the sunburner, is hoisted into place. | :18:18. | :18:22. | |
Before we started the restoration, there was a chandelier hanging | :18:22. | :18:29. | |
there. It was incorrect. We wanted to put back the original 1901 | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
sunburner. It's also an architectural function as well as | :18:32. | :18:36. | |
vents laigs function. It forms the centrepiece of the ceiling. I hope | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
you agree, it looks splendid. a bit like a cherry on top of the | :18:40. | :18:49. | |
cake. The big day is here. 1200 people are expected for the opening | :18:49. | :18:54. | |
night. But there is still loads to do. It's a busy day. Five hours to | :18:54. | :18:57. | |
go before curtain. It's an exciting time now. We have the show in. | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
They're about to start lighting rehearsals. Works going on in front | :19:01. | :19:05. | |
of house and outside we have a bit to do. The paint will be dry by | :19:05. | :19:11. | |
7.30pm, rest assured. It's mad today. Four hours to go, non-stop. | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
Everyone is flat out, cleaning, polishing, moving this and that. | :19:15. | :19:18. | |
It's terribly exciting. We can't wait for the audience. Partly | :19:18. | :19:22. | |
because it will be over. We can sit down and have a cup of tea. I'm so | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
looking forward to that. The team running the new theatre restaurant | :19:26. | :19:33. | |
are serving something stronger than tea. 6.30pm we have VI pifr drinks. | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
In the interval 180 people being served drinks, as well as serving | :19:37. | :19:43. | |
the other patrons. After the show, at 10pm, we're serving 180 people | :19:43. | :19:49. | |
can pays and drirchings. At 11 o'clock we are doing a supper for | :19:49. | :19:56. | |
the chief exec and the architects. Whilst the work goes on, there's | :19:56. | :20:00. | |
potential disaster waiting in the wings, many of the cast on their | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
way from London are stuck, because of the high winds. There's some | :20:04. | :20:08. | |
power lines down, which means some of the trains have had to go back | :20:08. | :20:11. | |
to Darlington. They got stuck part way. We've had actors going up and | :20:11. | :20:15. | |
down the line for the last two or three hours. We're trying to get a | :20:15. | :20:22. | |
taxi for them. They should all be here in time to do the show. What | :20:22. | :20:27. | |
is lovely about this is it's bright, it's sharp with its texture of | :20:27. | :20:32. | |
colour and I think it's a wonderful monument to Frank Matcham, the man | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
who designed all these theatres and various build gdz around the | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
country, all those years ago. These monuments are being restored and | :20:40. | :20:43. | |
will be left for generations to come, because they don't build them | :20:43. | :20:48. | |
like this any more, they really don't. I suppose my only gripe is | :20:48. | :20:51. | |
they spent all this wonderful money on the theatre, but they always | :20:51. | :20:56. | |
forget us poor souls back there, you see. That never changes. I'd | :20:56. | :20:59. | |
love it one day if they thought of the actors and the people would | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
work in the theatre. Today's opening is a big news event. | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
Welcome to the restored Newcastle Theatre Royal. It looks spectacular. | :21:09. | :21:15. | |
It should do, six months of work. It's literally glittering. 37,000 | :21:15. | :21:18. | |
pieces of gold leaf were used in the restoration. The new look gets | :21:18. | :21:23. | |
the thumbs up from a familiar face, guest of honour on the big day. | :21:23. | :21:28. | |
is incredible. I don't know how they've done it. They raised so | :21:28. | :21:34. | |
much money. The place is quite beautiful and it's the grandeur of | :21:34. | :21:39. | |
the Victorian theatre. Newcastle's probably got the best in the world. | :21:39. | :21:46. | |
I'm still getting my breath really. I played here three, four times. I | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
played Richard III here and of course King Lear, I was really | :21:50. | :21:54. | |
moving in that. It was wonderful to play a theatre like this. But now, | :21:54. | :22:00. | |
now, I have to try and get a job! I'll have another go and try to get | :22:00. | :22:05. | |
it right, love. This is the moment they've been waiting six months for. | :22:05. | :22:11. | |
The first play stars David Haig in The Madness Of George III, an | :22:11. | :22:14. | |
appropriate title for a Theatre Royal. It tastes not good, Sir, | :22:15. | :22:19. | |
this idleness, that is why you are fat. Do not be fat Sir. Fight it. | :22:19. | :22:29. | |
:22:29. | :22:32. | ||
Fight it! We're here doing the madness of King George III and | :22:32. | :22:36. | |
George III gave the theatre the original license which is more | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
appropriate, as we come here with the play. It looks terrific, it | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
really does. It's rich, opulent, welcoming for the audience. I think | :22:44. | :22:52. | |
it's going to be great. I told you we'd be here on time. The show | :22:52. | :22:56. | |
would go on. Nobody would believe me. Everybody wanted to say oh, you | :22:56. | :23:01. | |
have a lot to do. Sure as eggs is eggs we're here. I think | :23:01. | :23:06. | |
everybody's enjoying it. The way they've refurbished it to the | :23:06. | :23:09. | |
original setting, it's gorgeous. You can feel as if you were there | :23:09. | :23:14. | |
at that time. It's been so sensitively restored. They've | :23:14. | :23:18. | |
managed to recreate the theatre of 100 years ago without losing any of | :23:18. | :23:24. | |
the 21st century comforts. It's such a relief to see that many | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
people in there enjoying it and get the atmosphere of a play, which is | :23:28. | :23:33. | |
what it's all about. It's a relief to get to that stage now and see | :23:33. | :23:37. | |
something going on in what I think is, actually, a delightful interior. | :23:37. | :23:44. | |
So, I'm very pleased to see it. Newcastle, you've got a beautiful | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
theatre here. I'm sure that the theatre will be enjoyed by many | :23:47. | :23:53. | |
generations to come. We are a Theatre Royal, we are one of the | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
greatest theatres in the country. We have some of the greatest shows | :23:57. | :24:01. | |
in the country is just perfect. A wonderful end to six months of hard | :24:01. | :24:08. | |
work. It's back to business for the staff. What do they think of their | :24:08. | :24:12. | |
new theatre? Words can't describe it. It hits you. It's opulent, rich | :24:13. | :24:18. | |
and it's got that atmosphere and all the actors say the same "wow". | :24:18. | :24:24. | |
We have a carpet on the floor in here. They have gone to town with | :24:24. | :24:27. | |
us. We have a nice ceiling and air conditioning, all the comforts you | :24:27. | :24:31. | |
would expect. Being a local lad, there's nothing better than coming | :24:31. | :24:37. | |
here and seeing such a fantastic example of a Matcham theatre in my | :24:37. | :24:43. | |
home area and seeing this view, it's quite astonishing really. It | :24:43. | :24:49. | |
took my breath away. Now comes the new-look theatre's biggest test, | :24:49. | :24:53. | |
the Christmas panto. Failure for Sleeping Beauty would be a | :24:53. | :25:00. | |
nightmare. It's 80,000 people. It's �1.5 million. It's huge. One of the | :25:00. | :25:05. | |
biggest pantos in the country. It's gruelling work. The pantos box | :25:05. | :25:08. | |
office income is fundamental because a lot of people are | :25:08. | :25:11. | |
introduced to the Theatre Royal through coming to the pantomimes. | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
It's the very first panto of the run. There's less than an hour till | :25:15. | :25:21. | |
curtain up. The boys back stage are pulling out all the stops. We could | :25:21. | :25:25. | |
be working right up until begin ers call, repairing the scenery or in | :25:25. | :25:29. | |
some of the props in the show. Everybody's got their role to | :25:29. | :25:33. | |
fulfil. We know how each other works and how we fit into the | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
bigger picture. Show must go on, even though it's just a Tuesday | :25:37. | :25:44. | |
matinee, it's a sellout. Come on everybody, hey! | :25:44. | :25:54. | |
:25:54. | :25:57. | ||
ALL: Hey! My name's His Majesty his Clive I. His name's muddles. | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
not called muddles any more. What are you called now? The sports | :26:02. | :26:09. | |
direct comedian. Muddles is an idiot. I'm not an iriot. He gets | :26:09. | :26:14. | |
all his words muddled up. I don't get my words puddled up. He thinks | :26:14. | :26:21. | |
he's a real smart fella. I am a real fart smeller. It's a show for | :26:21. | :26:24. | |
the family. It's like a West End show, the size, the scale, the | :26:24. | :26:29. | |
special effects, the comedy. It's just phenomenal. We have a lot of | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
West End people here. One of the cast, when she finishes here, goes | :26:33. | :26:38. | |
into Sweeney Todd in the West End. We go into the Jobcentre. Yes! | :26:39. | :26:44. | |
average child now from six to 16, the audience we have, are all on | :26:44. | :26:49. | |
the Xbox. They see all the films with CGI and special effects. We're | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
trying to put those special effects into the theatre, which again has | :26:53. | :26:56. | |
never been done. But they're not afraid to get back | :26:56. | :27:00. | |
to real old-fashioned slapstick from time to time. Even throwing in | :27:00. | :27:05. | |
a gag or two about the theatre's restoration. Shall I throw it over | :27:05. | :27:15. | |
:27:15. | :27:15. | ||
this side? All the people at the front? This is the theatre manager, | :27:15. | :27:22. | |
we've just spent �5 million on a restoration and �19,000 on a pair | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
of curtains, don't throw that bucket over the audience. | :27:26. | :27:30. | |
theatre looked back for its inspiration for the refit. Now it's | :27:30. | :27:35. | |
looking forward by making plans to market its 175th anniversary next | :27:35. | :27:40. | |
month. This is one of the finest theatres in the country. It's not | :27:40. | :27:43. | |
often you're 175 years old. We want to make sure people remember this. | :27:43. | :27:48. | |
It's very special. People will always love theatre, because it | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
takes you out of this world, no matter what play you're seeing, | :27:52. | :27:56. | |
whether drama or comedy, you've gone there to get rid of whatever | :27:56. | :28:01. | |
worries you might have during the day. The theatre and the Theatre | :28:01. | :28:05. | |
Royal in particular gets rid of those worries for you, for a couple | :28:05. | :28:09. | |
of hours at least. You can't ask for more than that, can you? This | :28:09. | :28:12. | |
is the Jewel in the Crown of arts in the North East. We've got to | :28:12. | :28:17. | |
look after it and protect it and keep up these fantastic standards | :28:17. | :28:22. | |
that have been achieved, because generation after generation will | :28:22. | :28:25. | |
come here, hopefully to see a pantomime, and then want to come | :28:25. | :28:28. | |
back to see something else. It's really important. We would never | :28:28. | :28:32. |