Aylesbury
Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
musicals
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...
and
plays
Play most commonly refers to:
* Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment
* Play (theatre), a work of drama
Play may refer also to:
Computers and technology
* Google Play, a digital content service
* Play Framework, a Java framework
* P ...
, along with performances of opera and ballet and a Christmas
pantomime
Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speakin ...
.
History
In 2003,
Aylesbury Vale District Council
Aylesbury Vale District Council was the non-metropolitan second tier authority for Aylesbury Vale in Buckinghamshire. It was responsible for housing, waste collection, council tax, local planning, licensing and cemeteries, while Buckinghamshire Co ...
held a public consultation into plans for a new theatre to be built to replace the current Civic Centre Theatre. Norman Bragg for
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
based
architects
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
Aedas
Aedas is an architectural firm with eleven International offices founded by the Welsh architect Keith Griffiths. Aedas provides services in architecture, interior design, urban design, masterplanning and graphic design. It was established in 2002 ...
RHWL Arts Team was commissioned in 2007 to undertake detailed design work with a ceremony to mark the commencement of building work held on 24 May of that year with Councillor Sue Polhill, Chairman of Aylesbury Vale District Council cutting a sod from the earth. The building work was carried out by
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...
Ambassador Theatre Group
The Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) is a major international theatre organisation headquartered in the United Kingdom, with offices in Woking (head office), London, New York, Sydney, Mannheim and Cologne. ATG's key operations comprise three in ...
was announced as the preferred management contractor for the new venue with Joint Chief Executives Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire, OBE signing a 6-year management contract in January 2010.
Aylesbury-raised actress Lynda Bellingham marked the completion of the highest part of the building work on 24 April 2009 with a traditional
topping out
In building construction, topping out (sometimes referred to as topping off) is a builders' rite traditionally held when the last beam (or its equivalent) is placed atop a structure during its construction. Nowadays, the ceremony is often parlaye ...
ceremony.
In a joint press release on 23 February 2010, Ambassador Theatre Group and Aylesbury Vale District Council announced that the theatre would open on 12 October 2010. The first season went on sale on 23 March 2010 with
Northern Ballet
Northern Ballet, formerly Northern Ballet Theatre, is a dance company based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a strong repertoire in theatrical dance productions where the emphasis is on story telling as well as classical ballet. The compa ...
's ''
Swan Lake
''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoye ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, link=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failur ...
'' set to be the first performance.
Acoustics
The acoustic design, by Arup Acoustics, includes a CARMEN electroacoustic enhancement system. This electronically adjusts the base acoustic (designed for speech and amplified events) to provide a more reverberant sound for symphonic and choral performances.
Grand opening
Aylesbury Waterside Theatre was officially opened on 12 October 2010 by
Cilla Black
Priscilla Maria Veronica White (27 May 1943 – 1 August 2015), better known as Cilla Black, was an English singer, actress and television presenter.
Championed by her friends the Beatles, Black began her career as a singer in 1963. Her ...
. The launch was marked with an open air live event hosted by
Jonathan Wilkes
Jonathan Wilkes (born 1 August 1978) is an English television presenter and singer.
Early life and career
Jonathan Wilkes was born in Baddeley Green, Stoke-on-Trent, to Eileen Wilkes and Graham Wilkes, and spent most of his childhood in ...
and
Suzanne Shaw
Suzanne Christine Crowshaw (born 29 September 1981), known as Suzanne Shaw, is an English actress, singer and television personality, who rose to fame after winning the talent contest ''Popstars'' and subsequently being a member of the band Hear' ...
. Guests included
David Suchet
Sir David Courtney Suchet''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007'' ( ; born 2 May 1946) is an English actor known for his work on British stage and television. He portrayed Edward Teller in the television serial '' Oppen ...
,
Simon Callow
Simon Phillip Hugh Callow (born 15 June 1949) is an English film, television and voice actor, director, narrator and writer. He was twice nominated for BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his roles in ''A Room with a View'' (19 ...
Susan Hampshire
Susan Hampshire, Lady Kulukundis, (born 12 May 1937) is an English actress known for her many television and film roles. A three-time Emmy Award winner, she won for '' The Forsyte Saga'' in 1970, ''The First Churchills'' in 1969, and for ''Vani ...
and
Richard O'Brien
Richard Timothy Smith. known professionally as Richard O'Brien, is a British-New Zealand actor, writer, musician, composer, and television presenter. He wrote the musical stage show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' in 1973, which has remained in conti ...
.
Monty Python
Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over fou ...
star and ''
Spamalot
''Spamalot'' (also known as ''Monty Python's Spamalot'') is a musical comedy with music by John Du Prez and Eric Idle, and lyrics and book by Idle. It is adapted from the 1975 film ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail''.
Like the motion pictu ...
'' writer
Eric Idle
Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, musician and writer. Idle was a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band The Rutles, and is the writer of the music and lyrics for the Broad ...
sent a pre-recorded message to mark the occasion.
Funding and Costs
At the time the theatre was given planning permission in 2006, it was expected to cost £25 million. When the contractor Willmott Dixon was appointed in 2008, the cost had risen to £35 million. By the time the theatre opened in 2010 the final cost had risen again, to £47 million.
Aylesbury Vale District Council
Aylesbury Vale District Council was the non-metropolitan second tier authority for Aylesbury Vale in Buckinghamshire. It was responsible for housing, waste collection, council tax, local planning, licensing and cemeteries, while Buckinghamshire Co ...
(AVDC) appointed Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) to manage the theatre. AVDC paid more than £192,000 in management fees to ATG from November 2010 to May 2011 and £350,000 in the first 12 months of operation. AVDC will also pay out £1.75 million towards running the Theatre over a five-year period.
In 2010 AVDC paid the Ambassador Theatre Group £19,500 to hire Aylesbury's Waterside Theatre, which the council owns and pays its business rates, for the 2010 general election count. Criticism of AVDC over the theatre in the local press led to AVDC councillors being banned from speaking to the local newspaper, the
Bucks Herald
''The Bucks Herald'' is a weekly newspaper, published every Wednesday and covering Aylesbury and its surrounding villages in the Aylesbury Vale area of Buckinghamshire, England. It was first published on 7 January 1832.
History
At its launch t ...
, because of the way in which stories were being covered.
In April 2012, ATG reported a profits rise of 164 per cent. The ATG made £2.3 million in 2009 which rose to £16.3 million in 2011, through the 39 venues it now operates. This led to calls from some local politicians for the subsidy from AVDC of £600,000 pa. to be reduced when the contract is renegotiated in 2014.ATG running Waterside Theatre reports a huge profits rise /ref>