New removable stage for Theatre Royal Waterford to open next month

A new removable stage is to be constructed for the Theatre Royal in Waterford which will be launched in September. 

Theatre Royal Waterford has announced plans for a reimagining of its historic auditorium that will involve ‘flipping’ the venue and creating a large dance floor area.

Funded through the Arts Council’s Capacity Building Support Scheme, the new ‘Backstage’ venue will involve the construction of a removeable stage in the centre of the main, ground floor auditorium for bands to play on, and the provision of a 180-capacity seating/ dance floor space for audiences on the existing stage, facing out towards the auditorium. 

The new venue will be launched on Culture Night, Friday, 22nd September, with live gigs from some of Waterford’s leading emerging and established musicians.

Theatre Royal’s technical manager Dermot Quinn said ‘flipping’ the historic venue will open the theatre up to a plethora of new live music events:  “One thing we’ve never been able to offer our artists or our audiences is a dedicated dance floor and so this new venue option will open up a while range of possibilities for live gigs. It will bridge the gap between our current 90-capacity Backstage venue and our 432-seat auditorium, offering excellent sight-lines from every part of the space and giving us the potential to host a variety of up-and-coming bands from multiple genres whose fans want to get up and dance, rather than sit at a gig”.

Culture Night at Theatre Royal starts at 4pm with a Music Generation Waterford ‘House Takeover’, featuring live gigs in the theatre’s Backstage venue, vestibule and bar with almost 100 young musicians from a range of genres, including Music Generation Waterford’s Wind Band, Trad and Harp ensembles, a songwriters’ corner and young rock bands.

This will be followed by a late night gig in the new Backstage venue by Waterford bands Shane Barry & the Silver South Ensemble, Cal Pacino with special guests, and 2Time Charlie from 10pm.