Theatre Royal Drury Lane refurb

Yes, just reading the article on The Stage.
I was slightly mislead by the title "Drury Lane to reduce capacity and add a restaurant in ‘spectacular’ £35m redevelopment". I initially assumed from that title that the addition of a restaurant would come from space taken away from the auditorium, however the restaurant will be located in the adjacent building recently acquired by the RUT co. And the main auditorium capacity will be reduced by improving legroom and seating layout. This is a great move, sacrificing 200 seats for the sake of an upgrade in comfort. Some rows in TRDL are quite squashed and I think this is a good move. Its also easier for a production to 'Sell out' at 200 less seats, so great for marketing, despite a 2000 seat auditorium still being a monster to fill.

www.thestage.co.uk/news/2017/drury-lane-reduce-capacity-add-restaurant-spectacular-35m-redevelopment/?utm_source=newsletter1&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter1

Oh. The restaurant is next door? I was hoping for a refurbishment as a dinner theatre venue.

The legroom and seat comfort in the stalls is absolutely hideous. It’s a damn good job it’s a great show because sitting through a stinker would be purgatory.

What is continental seating? 

Does it come with a croissant?

Thanks for the explanation daniel . 

Ugh. I hate that type of seating. So annoying - up down up down up down and some people leave it until the lights are dimming so you don't get time to sort out your bits *drink* after they've gone past. 

And, at the risk of bringing up The Topic That Shall Not Be Named.........I hope they put in more loos.😳

I don't mind the boxes personally but I think if they can be sacrificed for more seats then so be it. Perhaps have stall boxes similar to what DMT have at the Prince Edward in lieu of Boxes in the Royal and Grand.

I've looked at the plans online. It's difficult to explain just in words, but it looks like the proposal is for five blocks in the stalls - four blocks making up the side stalls (2+2), plus one continuous block in the central stalls, made up of 22 rows, rather than the 26 at present (I think).

In the royal circle, the proposal is to retain the rear boxes.

Current Vs Proposed. Stalls definitely looks intersting... not sure if legroom is gained or lost.

Looks like some of the boxes are going and they're adding slip seats

There are already some dodgy Upper Circle slips in Drury Lane. I remember not seeing ‘Miss Saigon’ from there many moons ago.

I think it simply has to be done in this day and age. They can’t be used for modern shows and you can’t have a huge musical playhouse unable to take productions that want to use sub stage. They were removed for Lord of the Rings and partially removed for Charlie..

Yes, on reflection I think its the right thing to do. Although the application says they have not been use in over 50 years, I was under the assumption some of them were used fro Lord of the Rings, I must have my wires crossed. The documents justify their removal excellently to keep the theatre competitive and inline with other receiving house along with the removal of the stage's 1:24 rake, to allow a completely flat stage.

It would be brilliant if there was a museum big enough to house the three different hydraulic lifts, or at least some of them, so the public could see them and appreciate them. Does V&A have an engineering museum?