The inside of the Abbey Theatre's main auditorium has been demolished. There were holes in the floor yesterday where the seats had been ripped out, the interior structure of the balcony was rudely exposed and there were metal frames all over the place. On the plus side, this was all good news.
The public seating area of the national theatre's auditorium is being overhauled in a radical €730,000 plan to give the audience better "sight lines" of the stage and to create a better connection between audience and actors. However, it will also involve the loss of up to 136 seats.
After Julius Caesar ended at the weekend, the builders moved in at midnight on St Patrick's Day to start the work, which will take about 10 days, before previews of Billy Roche's The Cavalcaders begin on April 10th.
The reconfiguration of the theatre, whose acoustics and atmosphere have been criticised, is led by John Keogan of Keogan Architects, renowned theatre design consultant Jean-Guy Lecat and Tony Wakefield of the Abbey. The main contractor is London company Steeldeck.
The plan involves erecting a huge "raked" platform above the existing floor. It will have a steeper slope, which will rise to meet the existing balcony, creating a single, more intimate space. The audience will be able to enter either via the foyer or upstairs.
At present the balcony and stalls are separate and there is a large area of dead space between the two - which also happens to be an actor's eyeline from the stage.
The plan will involve the loss of seats, as capacity will reduce from a maximum of 628 to 492, plus two dedicated wheelchair spaces. "We'll lose the bad seats," Mr Lecat said.
The integrated auditorium, described as a temporary project, is designed to improve the experience for theatregoers and actors, and to extend the range of plays that can be staged.
The Abbey is due to move to a new, purpose-built theatre at George's Dock, but with an international design competition not yet under way, it will be years before the new theatre is built.