The Winston Theatre is a traditional

proscenium arch A proscenium ( grc-gre, προσκήνιον, ) is the metaphorical vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor ...

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

located in the Bristol Students' Union building, one of the largest

students' union A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to ...

buildings in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

. The theatre seats 204, with 5 additional seats for the

Front of House In the performing arts, front of house (FOH) is the part of a performance venue that is open to the public. In theatres and live music venues, it consists of the auditorium and foyers, as opposed to the stage and backstage areas. In a theatre, ...

staff and 2 spaces for wheelchairs. The Theatre boasts an ample orchestra pit, fly galleries with winchable lighting bars and versatile hemp bars, a large control room, an FOH sound location, two large dressing rooms, and a sliding scenery dock door at the rear of the stage (currently disused). The theatre is well equipped for a student theatre. In April 2013 the theatre was temporarily closed for refurbishment as part of the wider refurbishment of the students' union building, and re-opened in February 2015.

History

The Winston Theatre was built in the 1960s as part of the

Students' Union A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to ...

building on Queens Road in

Clifton Clifton may refer to: People * Clifton (surname) * Clifton (given name) Places Australia *Clifton, Queensland, a town ** Shire of Clifton *Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong * Clifton, Western Australia Canada * Clifton, Nova Sc ...

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

. The Union moved to this new location in 1965 from the Victoria Rooms, as a larger premises due to the large expansion of the University and increase in undergraduate numbers.

Refurbishment

Between 2013 and 2015, as part of the renovation work to the Union building, the Winston theatre was refurbished. The Stage Technicians' Association (a

student society A student society, student association, university society, student club, university club, or student organization is a society or an organization, operated by students at a university or a college institution, whose membership typically consists o ...

which operates the theatre on a day-to-day basis on behalf of

Bristol SU The Bristol SU was a single-decker bus and single-decker coach chassis built by Bristol Commercial Vehicles between 1960 and 1966. The bodies for these vehicles were built by Eastern Coach Works (ECW). Some of them were built as medium length ...

) worked closely with the Union,

Galliford Try Galliford Try plc is a British construction company based in Leicester, England. It was created through a merger in 2000 of two businesses: Try Group, founded in 1908 in London, and Galliford, founded in 1916. Formerly involved in house-build ...

and Stage Electrics to design a space which was suitable for their current needs, and would also remain up to date as technology moved on.

Technical

* Total of 600A 3 Phase power to theatre ** 200A 3 Phase feed for dimming circuits ** 200A 3 Phase feed for technical power ** 200A 3 Phase feed for audio circuits * 132 10A Dimmer channels (Zero 88 Chilli's) * 16 Relay channels (Fused at 10A, pair of 16A connectors per channel) * 3 Winched bars on stage (SWL: 150KG) * Chain hoist bar on stage (SWL:250KG) * Fixed grid above auditorium * 6 Front of house booms * Patch panels available at most locations, all fed to a single rack. Panels may contain ** DMX ** XLR ** Ethernet ** BNC ** Speakon ** Intercom A/B

Notable events and productions

* The UK National Student Film Festival, Screentest. Created as a platform to showcase student filmmaking talent from around the UK, the awards ceremony has been held in the Winston Theatre in Bristol since 2004. Guests at the festival have included: ** BAFTA award winner Luis Cook ** Director

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty ('' Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessn ...

** Actress

Emily Watson Emily Margaret Watson (born 14 January 1967) is an English actress. She began her career on stage and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1992. In 2002, she starred in productions of '' Twelfth Night'' and ''Uncle Vanya'' at the Donmar W ...

** Screenwriter David Nicholls ** Chairman of BAFTA

Duncan Kenworthy Duncan Hamish Kenworthy OBE (born 1949) is a British film and television producer, and co-founder of the production company DNA Films. He is currently a producer at Toledo Productions. Early life Kenworthy was educated at Rydal Mount School, ...

** UK Film Council Chairman Stewart Till CBE * The first UK amateur production of Footloose was performed by Music Theatre Bristol at the Winston Theatre in June 2009. The rights for the show have been released by Josef Weinberger.http://www.josef-weinberger.com/rh/footloose.html

References

{{university of Bristol Theatres in Bristol University of Bristol

History

Refurbishment

Technical

Notable events and productions

See also

References