Opened on its present site in 1982, The Albany established a formidable reputation for itself in the 1980s as a thriving community theatre with the backing of some big names. But as the years passed, lack of funding took its toll and the theatre fell into disrepair, its equipment failed or was removed, and eventually, in 2000, it succumbed to darkness.
Since then, an energetic campaign to bring it back to life has seen the birth of a three-phase refurbishment programme, most of which is now complete. Thus, the Albany opened its doors again in March, boasting a fully refurbished interior, revamped flying grid and brand new sound, lighting, comms and patching systems with names such as Meyer Sound, XTA Electronics, MC2, Yamaha, ETC and Strand in the rig.
The team responsible for the project includes ‘chief instigator’ Jenny Harris and Albany theatre designer Kate Owen. A Stage Electrics team (led by Nick Ewins) was brought in for the technical design and installation, and they worked alongside project managers AFH Shaw Sprunt (under Chris Turnham) and builders Lenguard, with project manager Mark O’Grady and Martin Neaster. Richard Howey, production manager at the Globe Theatre, liaised between all the various parties, whilst David Wadey headed the Pinnacle team of mechanical and electrical engineers, and technical manager Tania Peach and assistant Jake Strickland worked closely with Ewins on the audio specification.
During the regeneration process, a close-knit design team worked with representatives of the local community to turn the Albany into the theatre it deserved to be. The first aspect to be considered was the theatre’s ageing infrastructure. To take full advantage of the auditorium’s shape, the team aimed to create an in-the-round space capable of staging all manner of theatrical and musical productions in virtually any configuration. Stage Electrics started by reworking the existing fly bar and catwalk grid systems for maximum flexibility, as well as the provision for one person to winch the central lighting truss to floor level, allowing lamp changes to be made by people of varying physical abilities.
With refurbishment work on the building under way, sound consultant Mike Walker was brought in to devise a flexible audio solution. He told L&SI: "The original brief was to put in a working audio infrastructure to allow a variety of uses - theatre, music, bands, club nights - for the space. It included the speaker system, rigging for comms, video and basic paging, and as funding became available we bought the kit to go on the end of it. By that time, Tania and Jake were on board and able to influence the specification process. It was actually relatively straightforward because it’s such a flexible space, and we wanted to keep the system easy to use so that it could be reconfigured to handle any type of production without difficulty."
Stage Electrics was responsible for the theatrical systems, bar and emergency lighting, the common power, containment and infrastructure. The company also installed the sound system, with speaker flying frames engineered by James Thomas, and a Sennheiser radio system as part of the disabled access facilities. Tania Peach adds: "No real work had been done to the theatre over the years and by 2000 the Albany had become an unsafe place to work in. None of the equipment worked, everything of value had gone and none of it was compatible with anything else. So Jenny Harris, director of education for the National Theatre, who had worked for the Albany in 1982 when it reopened on this site and has maintained an interest in it, started fund-raising to regenerate the whole building, with the backing of the National. There was local authority and other funding too, and at that point Stage Electrics was brought in, and work on different aspects of the building b
