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Dateline: 16th May, 2007
On Monday 14th May, the Theatre Royal Onward Building Preservation Trust held a public meeting at Hyde Town Hall in Tameside in which they told a packed house that the 105-year-old Grade II listed Edwardian theatre could be opened as a receiving house by the end of next year. Hyde's Theatre Royal was opened in 1902 as a 1200-seat theatre, and it added a cinema screen that could be wheeled to the back of the stage in 1914. 1974 saw its last live theatre production, after which the main auditorium became a large cinema and the stage area was converted into a second 220-seat cinema. The Royal closed completely in 1992, and has since been passed from one owner to another without anything being done with it. The Theatre Royal Onward Building Preservation Trust was formed in 2001 by a group of volunteers with the aim of raising money to obtain the building and open it as a theatre once again. The group is currently in negotiations with the current owner, a property developer who bought the building at auction for around £320,000, with a view to leasing the building for five or six years with an option to buy when the lease expires. Committee member Bob Howarth, of Denton-based theatre props hire company Howarth Wrightson, is bringing his experience of a similar campaign to reopen the Plaza in Stockport to the Royal project. He claimed that with entirely volunteer help and no wages to pay, the theatre could make £30,000 profit in its first year, based on five weeks of hire by amateur companies, a professional pantomime, around twenty one-night shows from people like Ken Dodd (who has expressed his support) and various other hirings, plus profits from refreshments and theatre merchandise. Howarth told the meeting that most elements of the former working theatre are still in place and useable after cleaning, including theatre seats, toilets, curtains, a full-sized fly tower across the whole of the stage, dressing rooms and much more, including a huge stage with a 70-foot width and a 42-foot depth. There was a problem with a leaking roof between the auditorium and the fly tower which has been repaired by the current owner, but the resulting rot in the orchestra pit will have to be dealt with. There is a problem with asbestos in heating pipe insulation and the fire curtain that will have to be removed. There has already been a full fire inspection and everything has been approved apart from one fire door that has been altered and will have to be changed. There is flat floor access to the auditorium suitable for wheelchairs, but a disabled toilet will have to be installed. It is hoped that the majority of the initial repairs and refurbishments can be carried out by volunteers, although certain specialist tasks will require outside contractors. According to Howarth, there have already been promises of free or heavily-discounted equipment from companies for stage, box office, auditorium, telephone and bar equipment. Some performers have also pencilled in possible one-night shows; he threw out the names of Ken Dodd and Roy Chubby Brown as a taster. The general impression given at the meeting is that this will be an amateur-run building for amateur societies to use, with a few other shows and films between to pay for the upkeep. Howarth answered the concern of one audience member about the Royal being next door to the Festival Theatre by pointing out that the Plaza in Stockport is only around the corner from the Garrick and they have worked together to the extent of having shared ticketing facilities. However the situation in Stockport is rather different as the Garrick is an amateur producing theatre whereas the Plaza, the Festival Theatre and the proposed Royal will all be receiving houses. The major difference between the two Hyde theatres is size. Many of the details were kept rather vague, but the meeting was told that the café would be opened as soon as possible to provide refreshments for volunteers and an early income, the ground floor would be open in September 2008 and the whole theatre would be open in December 2008, if everything goes to plan. Reporter: David Chadderton Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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