Interview with Ian Ritchie
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- Ian Ritchie, the Courtyard Theatre architect
The Courtyard Theatre, the RSC’s exciting new venue is the brainchild of the internationally renowned architect Ian Ritchie. This large temporary space will provide the Company with a valuable additional performance space during the ambitious Complete Works Festival before becoming the RSC’s main theatre while work on the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and Swan Theatre buildings is undertaken.
Just before the opening of the theatre he gives us some inside knowledge on the project and how he approached the design of the RSC’s newest theatre.
“The RSC had looked at a number of locations where the temporary theatre might be located and I believed that the The Other Place (TOP) and adjacent car park was the only realistic option. The new auditorium although large, seating 1048, could be discreet; and a transformed TOP building would conveniently provide the public foyers and actors’ support facilities. The auditorium on the old car park would stand apart from the TOP building and be joined by separate ground and upper level links for public and actors, so people would enter the auditorium from just one side – an unusual arrangement dictated by the site.
When I began thinking of the design for The Courtyard Theatre the clear objectives were to design and deliver a new main theatre for the RSC within eighteen months and within a small budget. It was also to achieve an external aesthetic that would be acceptable to the people of Stratford and the RSC and within a programme that allowed only six weeks for design before the RSC had to make a planning submission.
The paramount vision was to create a space that worked for everybody – the actors, directors, audience and the people who have to work in the building. My knowledge of theatre combined with an understanding of structure, materials and construction enabled architecture to be the servant first and master second to expediency, cost certainty, practicality and utility.
It was important that from outside the auditorium was simple, elegant and required little maintenance. Demountable and recyclable were key ideas and although temporary it doesn’t mean it can’t be beautiful. However, it does mean that you have to build it much less expensively and simplicity is crucial. Using full height folded Corten sheet for the outer shell, a material designed to allow its rust to provide a no-maintenance protective surface, enabled the new element of the theatre to be built quickly. It also provides mass to cut down noise transmission and can be dismantled easily with all of it being recyclable.
Now the building is about to come to life it feels both spacious and intimate. The auditorium, although seating 1,048 people, envelopes and has focus upon the thrust stage, and the foyers are more generous than many of the older West End theatres. It’s great to see the theatre nearing completion. I can look at it now and know that we were right in our approach – ‘deliver a theatre first, architecture second’. It is close to what I expected.
I think there’ll be a lot of curiosity about the building. The foyer is a very interesting space and I feel it relates well to the new auditorium. As everyone enters the auditorium from the same side and the auditorium seating is away from the walls, people will get a real sense of the space as they walk to their seat. I think they’ll be surprised to see how close they are to the stage. The exterior is classic in the sense that it has rhythm, a cornice line and is almost temple-like. The rusting red colour is sympathetic to the red brick colour of Stratford and, like many traditional theatres the interior has a traditional warm, rich red atmosphere.
I’m longing to see the finished theatre performing, to hear its acoustic, enjoy the foyer atmosphere, and to hear of the reactions of audience, actors and directors. Only then will I know if we have helped deliver the right building for the RSC at this moment in its period of transformation.”