The Stage at the Theatre Royal, Bath in 1863

An Extract from the Builder, 7 March 1863

The wall dividing this part from the auditorium is of stone, 18 inches thick (the proscenium pillars and capitals being of freestone, moulded or carved, and left in its natural colour free from pain and any decoration, except occasional gilding). The opening is 28 feet and the height to the apex of the arch 30 feet. The stage entrance is on the left side facing the stge adjacent to the spacious magazine for scenery.

The stage staircases, two in number of Pennant stone, 3 feet 6 inches wide, lead respectively to actors' dressing- rooms and wardrobe on the O.P. side , and actresses' on the P. Side, also below to the mezzanine floor. On a level with the stage is the green-room proper. Close by the prompter are property, furniture and stage manager's rooms and three dressing-rooms for principal performers.

On the mezzanine floor, which is 8 feet high, are machinist's room, two store rooms, armoury, kitchen, musicians' room, large room for supernumeraries and numerous conveniences with doors at back, just below the level of a large yard belonging to the theatre. The whole of the mezzanine floor is boarded over on level with stage, and a pair of folding doors, 15 feet wide, opening into a yard and street at back so that scenery can be brought in and out with great facility. The beams supporting the fly floors are 22 feet from stage on underside, the fly floors being 2 feet higher, and are10 feet wide. The floors are cradled down to 18 feet, which is the height of the wings and flats.

The painting-room occupies the whole of the end wall of the stage, the whole width as at Covent Garden; the beams being supported on trussed girders. The fly floors are partly supported by iron rod from the main tie-beams of roof. There are nine main tie-beams with framed principals and collars with four iron queen-posts dividing the strain upon the tie-beams into five equal parts. The purlins and rafters support a moderately flat roof, boarded and slated.

On the tops of the main beams over the stage are longitudinal pieces, which principally support the bridges and the machinery of the gas battens. The stage floor rises half-an-inch to the foot and is composed entirely of sliders; alternately two or three narrow cuts at the wings with wide ones at the entrances. They are all worked off by windlasses on the mezzanine floor. There are also the Corsican trap, four large traps in centre, and four smaller ones at sides in first and third entrances. A large bridge, 12 feet long by 4 feet wide, rises in the fifth entrance. The whole depth under the working part of the stage sinks to a depth of 16 feet, with a cement floor.

Fire plugs, always charged from the city mains, are taken inside the building, with hose, spanner and jet always attached.

The above article was first published in 'The Builder', 7th March 1863, and is an extract from a larger article on C. J. Phipps' 1863 alterations to the Theatre Royal, Bath which can be seen here. The article was kindly sent in by the Architectural Historian Görel Garlick.