Backstage details

During our tour of Harrogate Theatre, we were allowed onto the stage and into the wings - a surprisingly constricted area full of random bits of detritus. The walls backstage are all painted black, I suppose so they can't easily been seen from the audience. It was all a bit the worse for wear, with chalk-scrawled notes and jokes, many of which seemed related to the Covid era. There was a list that was perhaps a tally of the performers who succumbed to the illness during a production run. 

Wide brooms must be for sweeping the stage - and some of the wiring and heating looked positively antiquated! 

I found the lone glass slipper rather poignant... and I've no idea what is 'Bad!' 

The area above the stage rises very high, hung with 'curtains' that can be dropped down on ropes when they want to change the scenery. There were vertiginous ladders at various points - and no, I didn't climb the 'stairway to heaven'! 

To the untrained eye, the mass of ropes looked like a real tangle but I guess the stagehands know exactly what to do, which to release and when, for each production, 

The auditorium

Harrogate Theatre's auditorium is of traditional design, with stalls, a circle and an upper circle, and some boxes at the sides. It reminded me of when I was child and my parents took our family to the theatre in Nottingham to see a pantomime. My father hired a box for us all and I felt very grand sitting there in our exclusive little pod, although you do get a rather skewed view of the stage from the side. I think boxes were originally intended not so much for viewing the performance as for the occupants to be seen by others in the audience (ie: 'the Royal Box') and for them to be able to survey the general scene from on high.  

My camera's lens wasn't wide enough to take in the full sweep of the auditorium, either from the front of house or the stage. However, these pictures give a flavour of what it is like. It was once very 'grand' and is still quite functional, if rather shabby and worn in parts.  

Harrogate Theatre

We had a camera club outing to Harrogate and a private tour of Harrogate Theatre, formerly the Grand Opera House. Its history is detailed on the plaque shown below: 

It's not a huge theatre and with about ten photographers - all with tripods - it proved a bit tricky to manoeuvre around to get the shots we all wanted. In the end, I ditched my tripod (never my favourite gadget anyway) in favour of hand-held shots, so mine are a bit less than sharp. 

The foyer is quite attractive, with an ornate ceiling and original panelling. The beautiful frieze depicting theatrical scenes was created by Frances Darlington (1880-1939), a local sculptor whose very fine work I also saw in St Wilfrid's Church (see HERE).

'Tragedy and Comedy':

'The Rehearsal of a Mystery Play':

'Fun and Frolic Mocking Time':

Any guesses as to what this (below) is?:

It's an ashtray for cigars and cigarettes. There were several dotted around, clearly a necessity at some point in the past. Now smoking is banned in public places, it's hard to remember what it was like when the air near the ceiling was foggy with smoke and the reek of cigarettes and cigars was all-pervasive in pubs, clubs, theatres and on public transport.