The design of Toad Hall, which was the brainchild of designers Lydia Denno and Catherine Chapman, necessitated the transformation of the traditional proscenium arch configuration into an in-the-round space. To achieve this, all of the seating was stripped out from the stalls, and Litestructures were commissioned to design and manufacture a raised LiteDeck modular staging system which completely covered the stalls seating area and created a brand new stage that went out to the edge of the dress circle at the front edge and back to the lip of the existing stage.
As a result, the remaining theatre seating was now at the level of the stage and much closer to it than before, and an additional seating bank was placed on what was the old stage to create a truly in-the-round environment with seating on all sides.
In order to identify what would be necessary to achieve this, a number of representatives from Litestructures attended site to take measurements and proposed a system which was within budget and was accepted by the venue. The system consisted primarily of standard LiteDeck 8' x 4' sections, some custom LiteDeck sections, leg frames, hand rails and braces. The entire structure was erected by York Theatre Royal's production team in just over six hours.
York Theatre Royal's production manager Paul Veysey comments, "Litestructures did absolutely everything that we asked of them, and the results speak for themselves. They delivered on time and on budget, and our team had no difficulty in erecting the new stage which was such a key part of this production. Everyone has worked really hard to make The Wind in the Willows the incredible success that it is, and I include Litestructures as a part of that."
(Jim Evans)
