add the new stage and fly tower, in main entrance to the whole Princes, being infill, is to be fur­ are some 14 metres deep and the case of the Princes the stalls area complex. The foyers which stretch nished in a contemporary idiom. provide an impervious "dam" has given way to Bar and Foyer from Acutt Street to Albany Grove Structurally there were few around the and to a space, etc, the stage give access to both auditoria. problems regarding the existing considerable depth below them. being elevated to first level. The In addition to the Opera and although the trusses The of the are very former entrance to the Playhouse Drama Theatres and the Grand had to be strengthened due to thick monolith ic slabs restrained (off Smith Street) is to become a Foyer, there is a basement additional loads being imposed. against upward pressure by tension Grand Foyer for productions and Rehearsal/Recital for music However, the deep basements piles. exhibitions, the restaurant to seating 300 and an which had to be provided to The complex is to have a phased function as originally on the upper Theatre seating 150-200, and in accommodate the stage machinery opening - the Restaurant and floor, the double volume linking both addition to the restaurant there is a and the rehearsal room under the Grand Foyer in October 1984, the spaces. The shops under the large Reception Room on the first Playhouse Auditorium posed Drama Theatre in October1985 and Princes have been removed floor of the old Princes over the greater stuctural and waterproofing the Opera in December 1985. The allowing for a Porte-cochere and Porte-cochere. problems as their floors are two anticipated final cost remains, Externally, additional work will be metres below mean sea level. The despite escalations, a more than treated as neutrally as possible so solution adopted by the Engineers valid reason for rehabilitati n rather that the original buildings may was to construct diaphragm walls than fr m scratch. • continue to serve as the foci of the using the Bentonite method. These complex. The illusionistic of stars is to be reinstated in the Playhouse, the interior of the

Evening, a one man show, "Beau Brummell" Journey the second, in which the Editor After a day on duty on the stand Lars and and Music from the Players Theatre. discovers that Swedish life is not quite as Magnus Fergin, their staff, Jack and I all sallied The audience, of up to one hundred, having senous as a Strindberg play, that shrimps fresh forth for shrimps and Schnapps to an amusing had their mental food from eight pm, are from the Kattegat or even the Skagerrat, go well restaurant where the tables are set round the probably ready by ten for a little inner with ice cold Schnapps, and that Swedish edge of a large pool. Orders are put as sustenance. football is different cargo on radio controlled model boats, the Charcoal spit roasted beef, goose or waitress hands you a black box with an ariel pheasant - salads, baked potatoes and garlic HE occasion of the visit was to attend and various buttons and levers and It is up to bread and "teat weaned pork" ...!the mind Elfak '83, the very prestIgIous you to steer the vessel to your table. As the boggles as the stomach rumbles. Scandinavian international electrical inevitable delays of a busy restaurant mean that Texhibition. there is plenty of time for drinks before your ship Strand were there, showing their new even sails, readers will understand that ENVIRON 2 range of tungsten and fluorescent navigation becomes complex. architectural dimmers on the stand of their In spite of all this jollity we spent each day agent for architectural dimming, Stig Fergm AB demonstrating Strand's ENVIRON system to of Motala. apprentices, contractors and consultant My colleague, Jack Watling, the Export Sales engineers - all of whom rather shamed me by Manager of Strand's architectural dimming speaking English, varying from good to department, who was representing us on our excellent. I was considering the world-wide agent's stand, was at the airport to meet me. He spread of our language over the past twenty or had come by ferry in a car loaded with dimmers so years during my journey . We always to set up as part of the stand, thus Jack had say 11has happened because English Is simple been in Gothenburg over the previous weekend. to learn. I once advanced this theory to a young "Well" -.1 enquired - "how did you spend lady who worked for Pani our Viennese agents. Saturday afternoon?". Here I should explain that "Easy you think" she challenged, "What about Jack Watling likes to play the role of a gritty, this sentence - 'Eating steak breaks my heart"'!• down to earth, no nonsense Lancastrian who pretends to hve on tripe, faggots and pease pudding, all washed down with copious pints of For the technical, the Malthouse has 10 bitter. "How did I spend Saturday afternoon? Prelude PC's, 5 16/30 Preludes controlled by an Why I went to the match of course". Could he 18 way Tempus desk - so far fitted with 12 have meant he flew back to his spiritual home, dimmers. The desk, incidentally, Is on a Maine Road, where Manchester City are based? miniature fly gallery, actors left, from where the The answer was far simpler. "I went to see operator follows the action through a kind of Gothenburg play Stockholm. But it wasn't like leppers squint. football at home, the players only kicked the ball". Oh yes - the bassoon player! Because for Now I always hke visiting Sweden. It Is a Britten's "Albert Herring" there was an orchestra beautiful and efficient country, but Swedes are of twenty, space decreed that the bassoonist just a touch too rule abiding for your Editor. should be accommodated in a kind of lean-to When I checked into my hotel I was told that I extension. One night a tempest blew to such had a "no smoking" room. The temptation to effect that the lean-to blew completely away. light up, even though I hadn't smoked since I left I hereby eschew all obvious jokes. • school, was strong. Jack Watling in Gothenburg 27