The Winterflood Theatre at the City of London School of Boys
Winterflood Theatre at the City of London School of Boys
Completed in 2008 with architects Aedas, The Winterflood is a 170-seat space theatre able to accommodate large audiences across three rows of balcony seats in addition to the stalls.
The theatre is used daily by pupils at the School and is also made available to local primaries within the City of London and in neighbouring Tower Hamlets. The project involved partly refurbishing and expanding the School’s existing Beaufoy Theatre (which dated from the 1980s) into an intimate modern theatre space, which balances the School’s teaching and performance requirements.
The design includes professional-grade audio and lighting rigs and the flexibility for different stage configurations. The lighting system is suspended from a tension wire gridwhich also increases flexibility and enables more pupils to develop essential behind the scenes technical skills.
The Winterflood provides a theatrical environment for teaching and is able to accommodate a wide variety of productions, by altering the configuration of the stage and seating. The bleacher seating can be pushed back under the entrance level podium to enlarge the performance space if required. The existing stage has been removed to give greater flexibility to the use of the space. A further raised platform has been created above gallery level for a new control deck. Whilst the primary arrangement of the theatre is a thrust stage, other formats such as traverse and cabaret layouts are possible, thereby allowing the School to use the space for a variety of purposes.
Client: City of London School for Boys
Architects: Aedas
Photos: Courtesy of the architects/Philip Vile