Alongside the rebuilt theatre, two studios have been converted from the previous Masters’ and Prefects’ Common Rooms, and each is ideal for drama teaching within the curriculum and for rehearsals. Studio 1 (on the site of the former PCR) is equipped with technical gantries which will allow pupils safely to learn the art of theatre lighting and sound, and the studio will be the venue for in-the-round small-scale shows. The theatre itself also now has technical gantries, but more spectacularly still it has a high fly-tower above the re-worked stage, allowing scenery (and even actors?) to be flown in and out. We have a full-sized orchestra pit for musicals, the rake of the theatre seating is steeper, and of course the new seats are upholstered and comfortable. We have made changing rooms out of nearby offices, and the old Tuck Shop has been transformed into a refreshments bar.
We are having a series of opening events, starting with a ‘Thank You’ evening for our donors on 9 November, when a star-studded Old Mancunian panel will feature in an ‘Any Questions’-style evening. Invitations have gone to all who donated to the project.
On Saturday 27 November OM Robert Powell will be bringing some friends to perform a light-hearted history of cinema, Silver Screen. We shall be providing a gala supper to follow the show. Tickets will be on sale from early October via www.mgs.org or the Development Office. Very generously, Robert and his colleagues are donating the proceeds of the evening to our final fundraising push.MGS has produced great drama over many years, with a host of old boys going on to professional fame as actors, producers and directors. Countless more have maintained a lifetime interest in the theatre. I think that we can confidently expect our new Drama Centre to inspire new generations to equal, if not greater, achievements.
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