04/01/2012 Inside Out North East and Cumbria


04/01/2012

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Tonight, raising the curtain on the spruced up Jewel in the Crown on

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Britain's favourite street. It's played host to some of the nation's

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best loved actors. It's the great grandeur of the Victorian theatre.

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Newcastle's probably got the best in the world. It's played a part in

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every northerners history. One of the plays that sticks in my mind

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was hamlet starring Richard Burton and Claire Bloom. This is a set

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that needs more than a touch of stage paint. People have been

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coming up to me saying, "What are you doing to our theatre?" That

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makes you realise how important it is to the people of the city.

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Tonight, inside out follows the year when the Theatre Royal becomes

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Was going on here? I don't believe it, after all these years. The poor

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bairn. Do you think I've made a mistake? Yes! Do you think I've

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made a mistake? They've been putting on panto here for more than

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147 years -- 100 years. It's a building that means so much to so

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many. I remember going to panto there. That was my introduction to

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theatre. I couldn't afford the entrance money. I used to hang

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around the entrance to the gods and latch onto the pack of any party

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going in with it, with a chunk of tickets and hope that the usher

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couldn't count the number. It's the ideal show-off place. I love it

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when I have friends coming to stay. I always try to see if there's a

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show to see. I know they'll walk through the doors and be wowed by

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this amazing place. There's a smell in this place. That's important in

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a theatre. If you had a blind fold on, you would know you were in the

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Theatre Royal Newcastle. Every actor wants to go to Newcastle.

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It's had the RSC there for years. The audiences are wonderful.

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They're very intelligent. They enjoy the theatre. They appreciate

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the theatre. It's a place of sad times. We've lost a general manager

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here in the time, who sadly died in the theatre. As one we stood on the

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theatre with heads bowed and cried over, that you know. It was such an

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emotional thing. Of happy events. It's a massive part of my life. I

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married the flyman. This is my son who was created from Theatre Royal,

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you know. It has lots of fond memories. And falling in love.

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theatre is very special for me. I came to do pantomime in 2007. I

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liked it so much here in Newcastle, I actually met my husband here and

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like today so much that I stayed. This year's panto is just as

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romantic, Sleeping Beauty, a timeless classic just like the

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theatre itself. Princess, I want to snog the face off a roufty tufty

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man. No, what I meant was... On New Year's Eve 1901, it was The Forty

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Thieves. It was the first show here after the inside of the theatre was

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completely rebuilt following a devastating fire. For the next

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century, the North East public converged in their hundreds of

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thousands on this Geordie cultural temple for their dose of romance,

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passion and laughter. An iconic building, a theatre for the stars.

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One of the highlights for me was when I got toint view Jack Lemmon -

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- to interview Jack Lemmon on stage. I called him "Mr Lemmon." He said

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"Jack." I explained it must be three minutes. We did this

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wonderful interview with this great guy, so lovely. The producer

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clicked his stop watch exactly three minutes. What a pro that man

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was. This is the first time that I played outside the London, you know.

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And it's fun. It's great. 21 years since Jack's visit, and outside,

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the theatre has barely changed. Inside, the auditorium, beautiful

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though it is, is now beginning to look a little tired. The theatre

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needs a serious makeover. For the last five years, the country's

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leading theatre restoration expert has been planning the face-lift of

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the old lady of Grey Street. It's an scieding time. We've been

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talking about this for the best part of five years. Here we are

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stood in the foyer at the Theatre Royal. It's all just about to

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happen. You can never go back to a purist sense of 1901 or whatever

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date you're working to. I always say to people, we're contaminated

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by the 21st century. What we have to do is to respect the heritage,

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move on, provide things that people expect today, like disabled access

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and elements of that kind and integrate them sensitively into

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this fantastic building. It's tight. We've always known it's going to be

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tight. Everybody's going to have to put the shoulder to the wheel to

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deliver this fantastic project. theatre is raising almost �5

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million to spend on the refit. Most of it is being paid for by theatre

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goers themselves through a small levy on each ticket sold. The

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building will only be shut for six months. It's a huge task. It has to

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be on time. We have sold tickets for September, The Madness Of

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George III. It's a big moment, a very exciting moment. There's a

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point of no return now. It's going to happen. It just has to happen on

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time. For David Willmore there's a wider importance. It has two Grade

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I listed theatres. This one is fantastic. In 1914, there were 1200

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theatres in the British Isles like this. Today, there are just over

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100. That gives you an idea of the losses that the theatrical heritage

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has suffered since the First World War. We have to protect what's left

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and we have to make sure that it's fit for purpose for the next 100,

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soo years. -- 150 years. We start with a run of 18 seats... The first

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job to flog off the unwanted fixtures and fittings to raise

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extra cash for the project. We have seats. We've got curtains from the

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boxes. We have some signs. They may seem like ordinary things, but it's

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an auction of memories. These seats have witnessed all sorts of

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productions. They've been sat in by all sorts of people. They buy you a

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piece of history. There are 1200 seats to sell, including some

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sponsored by celebrities who've performed here. Ian McKellen, what

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shall we say, �50 for his seat? 70, your bid. Are we all done at �270.

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Thank you. Some celebs, it seems, can command more than others.

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Denise Welch, �50 anywhere? �30, come on. Done at �30. Sold. Ridley

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Scott's seat. �70 here. �75 thank you. At �80 - sold to you Madam.

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I'm quite excited because he's my favourite director. That's why we

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came to the theatre hoping to get it. That or Ian McKellen. She's

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bought me the chair. So thank you honey, I love you. The auction

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raises more than �5,000. The success of the sale is proof the

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building has a special place in the hearts of many. I think the thing

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you notice about Newcastle and the Theatre Royal is just the grand

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architecture, the walk way up Grey Street, there it is, in the middle,

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like a Colosseum. It is stunning. It's beautiful from the outside and

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beautiful on the inside. When you first go on the stage, it is quite

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daunting, and it's awesome. It's beautiful and you think, oh, my

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heavens are they going to hear me here. It's almost like an opera

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house. Whu tillly do a play, you feel as if the audience are close

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and friendly. You don't feel as if you're isolated miles from the

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audience. It has to be the most beautiful building in Newcastle, if

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not the North East. It stands and it says - I am a theatre, come in.

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The tingle starts when you see the pillars. You get into reception,

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for me, when you get into the auditorium, the buzz of the

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audience, building and building, I get as excited as the actors back

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Alice, you're very late you know. Come on inside. Before everything

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is ripped out and taken away, there's one last performance, it's

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a charity variety show. I knew you were from Newcastle. It's famous

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for two things - football and beautiful women.

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CHEERING What position do you play?

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# This was the last thing on my mind #

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And the curtain goes down for the very last time before work begins.

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The task is to clear the entire auditorium of all the fittings that

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get in the way of the builders, so when the builders arrive it's an

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empty shell. Everybody from across the building is playing their part

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today. The stage crew are here unscrewing the seats. The marketing

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staff are carrying the poster frames round and thipbgdz like that.

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I spend almost every Christmas here because I do the pant miems. You

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spend more time in here than you do at home. You have pictures of your

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family on the walls. We found a Malteseer. But franc sucked it

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before I got hold of it. Four weeks later,... The scaffold

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is to get us all the way up into the centre of the auditorium, to

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the main ceiling level. There's a lot of restoration to be done on

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that. We have up to ten demolition contractors in there. There's up to

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ten scaffolders. It's a very labour intensive job, getting the material

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here, there's no mechanical way of getting it in. Everything you see

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has had to come in through a single door, handed up, hand over hand, to

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get it into place. We have five, six electricians, stripping out,

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isolating electrical works. It's dirty, dusty. We just want to get

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the muck out of the way. Then we can start putting back in. The most

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challenging thing as far as the fabric of the building is concerned

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is the historical features in the auditorium. Really the ornate

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ceilings, balcony fronts and the last thing we want to do is damage

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The builders' brief is to restore the interior to the way it was in

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1901, the classic Edwardian design by one of the greatest theatre

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architects Frank Matcham. Born in 1854 Matcham was a pioneer, thought

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to have designed more than 120 theatres and music halls around

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Britain. He was famed for his opulent intier yorz. He was loved

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by actors and audiences alike. Matcham theatre has wonderful

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acoustics. That is such a joy, really good acoustics are, you know,

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they've built new theatres where they're using throat mics. People

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can't be heard in modern theatres. It's tragic, isn't it. Whereas the

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Matcham theatres, everybody's heard, even at the back of the gods.

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Pretty much every actor in the country that goes on tour would say

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that the Theatre Royal in Newcastle is probably one of the top two or

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three most beautiful. Often it's the Georgian ones in Bath and Bury

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St Edmunds and what have you that stay in the mind. But Newcastle are

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in the top two or three. To stay true to the design, old drawings

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and photographed were studied during painstaking research.

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have two drawings by the Matcham office, 1900 and 1901. They are for

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the same level, the pit or stalls level. It's about understanding the

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construction of the building as it is about the pure restoration as

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well. By understanding these drawings, it helps us mitigate

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unforeseens when we get onto site and start to carry out various

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demolitions. Sometimes you ask the question - why has that been done

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like that? There seem noes logic of it. The rule now is quite obvious,

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don't question it and then reject it. It's been done usually for a

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reason, so put it back the way it was, if you can. Otherwise it may

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come and bite you laterment Later. Nine weeks to go, Simon and

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his team are working flat out. There was a lot of dust and mess in

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the deconstruction of it. We've gone a long way now to putting

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everything back in. It is extraordinary the way it has come

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on and it's incredibly exciting. You're beginning now to get a sense

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of actually just how beautiful it's going to be when it's all finished.

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It's also a little bit terrifying. It's starting to make it feel more

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intimate. The amphitheatre barriers going on, plaster being restored.

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Carpets going down already. I do wake up in a cold sweat. I just,

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just hope that it all happens. I have, equally, I have complete

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confidence in the builders. My biggest concern, I think, is that

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the seating won't quite match everybody's expectations. I suppose

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that's impossible. It's actually the bum on the seats, that's the

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fundamental of theatre. It's the day before the Tyne-Wear derby.

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Simon, a Newcastle United fan has big concerns about the colour

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scheme for the walls. The red and white stripes, we have a few lads

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from Sunderland, who thought it would be funny to put them in.

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However they will be covered over with the maroon wall paper, so you

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won't see them. Long before Newcastle or Sunderland had kicked

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a ball for the first time, the Theatre Royal was dominating

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cultural life in the north-east. The building we know today dates

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from 1837, replacing the old Theatre Royal off Moseley Street.

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It became the iconic centrepiece of Richard Grainger's grand design of

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the city centre. Through the Twentieth Century it was a mecca

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for the true stars of stage and screen. Hollywood greats like

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Vivien Leigh, Michael Redgrave, Laurence Olivier, geel geel geel --

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John Geilgood, Judi Dench with the Royal Shakespeare Company. All the

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perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. There was Orson

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Welles and Charlton Heston, the legendary Ian McKellen. And all our

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yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Richard Burton

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and Claire Bloom in Hamlet. For a 16 or 17-year-old would-be actor,

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can you imagine the thrill of seeing these two greats on stage? I

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have to confess, my first thought, when Richard Burton walked on stage

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was "he's only about my height. "And I loved him ever more! Because

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neither of us grew any further, never mind. I remember seeing

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Laurence Olivier and Michael Redgrave doing uncle Vanya, which

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sticks in the mind. And Tim West playing king leer when he was about

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30. He did it again 30 years later. In modern times, it continued to

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attract some of the country's finest performers. Everything from

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drama to comedy, to dance. Back at the restoration, the builders are

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focused on the frent. There are just two weeks to go. The central

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lighting system, called the sunburner, is hoisted into place.

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Before we started the restoration, there was a chandelier hanging

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there. It was incorrect. We wanted to put back the original 1901

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sunburner. It's also an architectural function as well as

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vents laigs function. It forms the centrepiece of the ceiling. I hope

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you agree, it looks splendid. a bit like a cherry on top of the

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cake. The big day is here. 1200 people are expected for the opening

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night. But there is still loads to do. It's a busy day. Five hours to

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go before curtain. It's an exciting time now. We have the show in.

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They're about to start lighting rehearsals. Works going on in front

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of house and outside we have a bit to do. The paint will be dry by

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7.30pm, rest assured. It's mad today. Four hours to go, non-stop.

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Everyone is flat out, cleaning, polishing, moving this and that.

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It's terribly exciting. We can't wait for the audience. Partly

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because it will be over. We can sit down and have a cup of tea. I'm so

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looking forward to that. The team running the new theatre restaurant

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are serving something stronger than tea. 6.30pm we have VI pifr drinks.

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In the interval 180 people being served drinks, as well as serving

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the other patrons. After the show, at 10pm, we're serving 180 people

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can pays and drirchings. At 11 o'clock we are doing a supper for

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the chief exec and the architects. Whilst the work goes on, there's

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potential disaster waiting in the wings, many of the cast on their

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way from London are stuck, because of the high winds. There's some

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power lines down, which means some of the trains have had to go back

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to Darlington. They got stuck part way. We've had actors going up and

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down the line for the last two or three hours. We're trying to get a

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taxi for them. They should all be here in time to do the show. What

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is lovely about this is it's bright, it's sharp with its texture of

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colour and I think it's a wonderful monument to Frank Matcham, the man

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who designed all these theatres and various build gdz around the

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country, all those years ago. These monuments are being restored and

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will be left for generations to come, because they don't build them

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like this any more, they really don't. I suppose my only gripe is

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they spent all this wonderful money on the theatre, but they always

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forget us poor souls back there, you see. That never changes. I'd

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love it one day if they thought of the actors and the people would

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work in the theatre. Today's opening is a big news event.

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Welcome to the restored Newcastle Theatre Royal. It looks spectacular.

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It should do, six months of work. It's literally glittering. 37,000

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pieces of gold leaf were used in the restoration. The new look gets

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the thumbs up from a familiar face, guest of honour on the big day.

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is incredible. I don't know how they've done it. They raised so

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much money. The place is quite beautiful and it's the grandeur of

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the Victorian theatre. Newcastle's probably got the best in the world.

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I'm still getting my breath really. I played here three, four times. I

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played Richard III here and of course King Lear, I was really

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moving in that. It was wonderful to play a theatre like this. But now,

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now, I have to try and get a job! I'll have another go and try to get

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it right, love. This is the moment they've been waiting six months for.

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The first play stars David Haig in The Madness Of George III, an

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appropriate title for a Theatre Royal. It tastes not good, Sir,

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this idleness, that is why you are fat. Do not be fat Sir. Fight it.

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Fight it! We're here doing the madness of King George III and

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George III gave the theatre the original license which is more

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appropriate, as we come here with the play. It looks terrific, it

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really does. It's rich, opulent, welcoming for the audience. I think

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it's going to be great. I told you we'd be here on time. The show

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would go on. Nobody would believe me. Everybody wanted to say oh, you

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have a lot to do. Sure as eggs is eggs we're here. I think

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everybody's enjoying it. The way they've refurbished it to the

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original setting, it's gorgeous. You can feel as if you were there

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at that time. It's been so sensitively restored. They've

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managed to recreate the theatre of 100 years ago without losing any of

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the 21st century comforts. It's such a relief to see that many

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people in there enjoying it and get the atmosphere of a play, which is

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what it's all about. It's a relief to get to that stage now and see

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something going on in what I think is, actually, a delightful interior.

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So, I'm very pleased to see it. Newcastle, you've got a beautiful

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theatre here. I'm sure that the theatre will be enjoyed by many

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generations to come. We are a Theatre Royal, we are one of the

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greatest theatres in the country. We have some of the greatest shows

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in the country is just perfect. A wonderful end to six months of hard

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work. It's back to business for the staff. What do they think of their

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new theatre? Words can't describe it. It hits you. It's opulent, rich

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and it's got that atmosphere and all the actors say the same "wow".

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We have a carpet on the floor in here. They have gone to town with

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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.

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