Our machinery is one of the only surviving examples of Victorian wooden modular stage machinery in the UK and is of huge historic importance. Prior to the theatre fire in 1985, the machinery was used regularly by fully trained volunteers in productions. Now however there is a real risk of losing historic knowledge from previous years.
Thanks to the generous support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, we now have an ongoing restoration project and have a team of committed volunteers who are trained in the maintenance and operation of this unique machinery. If you are interested in joining us on this journey, please contact [email protected]
The information below gives a timeline of the work completed through the NLHF ‘Drury Lane of the North’ project, and the ongoing restoration. The project is led by David Wilmore who has a long association with TT&OH, having worked on the original machinery restoration after the 1985 fire, and is now a renowned historic theatre consultant, involved in the conservation of theatres across the UK.
We have, to date, restored 4 pairs of the 8 sloat pairs that make up our Victorian stage machinery. The sloats are the vertical wooden bars on which the scenery is attached and which moved up and down, powered by the team under the stage. With these now working, we have commissioned scenic artist Wendy Waszut-Barett to create two sets of scenery that can be used to showcase the stage machinery in action.
Using historical drawings (such as the one on the right) as a guide, our Master Carpenter Colin has created a series of ground rows which are used as a framework to which the canvas scenery is attached. Each ground row is 26 foot long and is made in three sections. The smallest is 10 inches high with an additional 10 inches of boarding for shaping. Colin has made 4 sets of ground rows with an increase of 10 inches each time, so the fourth ground row is 30 inches high with the additional boarding bringing it’s total height to 40 inches. This means that when on stage, the scenery will rise towards the back of the stage.
Our first ground rows were fully backed with short tongue & groove slats (see video), however, as we moved on to the larger boards, we realised that the weight of the slats would cause issues for the machinery team who need to move the scenery up from the understage. This obviously was not how it worked historically! Our second thought was to add the slats to just the top of the frame where the contouring of the scenery would take place.
This worked perfectly well, however as Colin made them, we realised that if this section was created with a single piece of board, we could change the top profiles and therefore the canvases when required, without having to make extra ground rows. We think it extremely likely that this would be how the Victorian stage machinery team would have constructed the ground rows, allowing them to change scenery without having to have numerous sets of ground rows.
Following several online conversations, Wendy painted two different scenes (one seascape, and one wood/forest landscape) in her studio in America. These have been carefully planned so that they give different options on stage. For example, the tops of the forest scenery can be seen as scrub/bushes if kept low, or as trees as they are raised.
Wendy brought the scenery over to the UK in August 2024 when she came to lead a distemper painting course (see https://www.tynetheatreandoperahouse.uk/scenic-course-2024/ ) and we set about attaching them to the ground rows. Colin was able to contour the top edge of the ground rows, following Wendy’s scenes.
Each canvas was then glued to the ground rows at the top, sides, and mid-joists. Finally, the sloats were brought up from the understage by our volunteers, and the ground rows fixed to them. The scenery was then dropped again to below the stage where it will sit until required.
Thanks to our team of volunteers we were able to demonstrate some of the scenery at our conference on Friday 2 August. The short clip below shows two pairs of cuts opening, and two ground rows rising from below.
On Friday 15 September we showcased parts of the newly restored machinery to over 120 visitors from the UK, America, Europe and Canada during our International Conference. Delegates were able to watch from both above stage and below to get the full experience. Project Director David Wilmore (who worked on the first restoration after the 1985 fire) was on hand to give a full explanation of the work that had taken place and the movements as they happened. The images below show a narrow sloat cut opening up and uprights rising from under the stage. These uprights would have held scenery such as land or seascapes, and more than one could have been raised at the same time in order to give depth to the scene. If you look carefully, you can see a second narrow sloat cut just to the left of the open one. This second cut has not yet been restored – you can see the difference in the colour of the paint from the first image.
The demonstration then moved to the bridge cuts. This wider cut opens similarly to the narrow ones – the machinists below ‘unlock’ the floor by releasing the paddle and then operate ropes attached to winches on either side of the stage area to open the floor from both sides. Once the floor is opened the metal tie bars you can see across the width of the opening can be folded back under the stage. When the floor is shut these tie bars stop the stage from swaying or “racking” when synchronized movement happens onstage. The bridge platform itself rests slightly lower than the tie bars, leaving a shallow void under the stage itself. Once the ties are released the bridge platform can be raised and lowered at will using the bridge winches, bringing actors, dancers and sections of 3-dimentional sets on to stage.
From below you can see the amount of physical effort required to move the wooden machinery. Our bridges have not yet had the hardwood used in the 1986 restoration replaced with softwood flooring, so once this is done, they will be lighter and easier to move.
The conference was closed with a theatrical flourish as the machinery was used as it may well have been in the Victorian era – at the end of a scene from Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Sorcerer. Having delivered his final note, the newly restored grave trap was operated to bring David under the stage where he transferred to the demon trap in order to reappear on stage in seconds for the final curtain! The images are from the audience but do watch the video which shows the view from underneath the stage as the machinists worked in the dim work light. This is very much the experience that Victorian machinists would have had. Huge thanks go to our team below and above the floor for making this happen. We have plans for more demonstrations in the future and our volunteer team will continue to train, maintain, restore and operate our wonderful, unique machinery. If you are interested in getting involved, please do get in touch.
With our conference in mid-September and a demonstration of our machinery planned, the holiday season included restoration and training sessions for our volunteer team so that everything worked smoothly. Preparation included a lot of hoovering and repairing!
Have a look at the short video below … the first time the floor had opened for around 40 years!
We have finally got to the stage of putting all the restored machinery back together again! A structural raft has been built high above the fly floor and the 5 spoked wheels are now in place (see images). The next stage is for the ‘new’ 31ft spindle to be hung on a cradle underneath and the 2 large wheels to be slotted onto it. In the picture on the right you can see the spindle strapped against the wall, ready to be moved. The 7 wheels will be roped so that they work in sync and operators will be able to fly large sections of scenery in the same way as they did in the 1880s.
On 26 June our volunteer team came in to the theatre to help move the 31ft spindle from the corridor where it has been built. With it needing two handlers on each side, and negotiation through a narrow corridor and up stairs, it was quite some feat.
Rigging company Newtons Ladder built a frame that was used to lift the spindle above the stage, where they carefully manoeuvred it into place high above the fly floor. In a couple of weeks time we will be bringing in the other machinery pieces – including the large fly wheels – and the job of putting it all together will finally begin.
With the spindle complete, Colin has been making a new Thunder Run on the lower fly floor. The demonstration model used for tours has been dismantled for the time being, with the original hoops used for the ‘new’ historic construction. The cannon balls will be loaded in from the floor above and allowed to run down the 30 foot slope. It’s not quite complete – Colin still needs to attach a hatch over the final length so the balls don’t jump out as they did on our test run!
Our spindle is finished! This was made from the huge beam of Douglas Fir brought in to the theatre in January. In Victorian times there would have been no lathes big enough to handle a length of wood this large, so turning would have been done by hand. Using historic techniques and following the blueprint from the 1863 original (shown below in the first image), Colin has rounded the edges and then added a curved length to each side. With this completed on all 4 sides, we now have a round spindle rather than a square one!
We’re delighted that we’ve been able to start practical sessions with some of our volunteer team. The first few sessions have been focused on the slots in the stage floor which were last opened over 40 years ago. The floor was replaced after the 1985 fire with hardwood which gives it incredible durability, but it’s weight means that it’s very difficult to move. There has also been some warping over the years. Volunteers will be working to replace the flooring with softwood panels and ‘grease’ them with graphite powder, which will allow the slots and bridges to move with less physical effort.
We finally have our spindle! Many thanks to MH Southern who supplied the huge length of Douglas Fir which will be used to hold our restored fly wheels.
Interestingly, a similarly long piece of timber was delivered by Southerns in 1986 – with 18 people needed to carry that one through the stage door (see image below). Our Master Carpenter Colin Hopkins made a dolly that allowed him to bring in the new 31ft piece with help from just David the driver!
As Colin has been repairing and restoring the 18th century wheel drum, he’s found that it was built in a unique way. Originally the drum sat in the middle of a huge 31m spindle that was placed high above the fly floor. The black and white photo below shows a similar set up from the stage machinery at the Theatre Royal, Bath (credit: Theatresearch Archives). Each section of the wheel drums was fixed together with screws or dowels (there was no glue), so that they could be knocked apart and dismembered easily if they needed to be repaired without the spindle having to be moved. Clever stuff! Keep an eye out on our social media as our new 31ft spindle is expected to be brought into the theatre in early February.
One of the most exciting developments of this project has been the purchase of a section of overhead stage machinery that controls the scenic flats. During the conversion of the theatre to a cinema in 1919 this had been removed, and although the drum that controlled the main house curtain was restored after the 1985 fire, the missing overhead machinery was never reinstated. Now, thanks to our NLHF grant, we have been able to purchase historic equipment dating from 1863. This machinery (which has been in storage for over 30 years) was brought into the theatre in October 2022 and will be restored by Master Carpenter Colin Hopkins before being reinstated on the fly floor.
Images below show the machinery being moved into the theatre by our technical crew.
Funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund, Boris Karloff Charitable Fund, Architectural Heritage Fund
Sponsored by MH Southern & Company
