FEATURES
PROJECTS
of the building and arrive at the rear of the stalls.
Previously they had to enter via the side lane, which was
far from ideal. The main foyer was also repainted, which
has enriched the space and drawn attention to the ornate
cream and gold plasterwork. As with many restoration
projects much of the work is unseen to the visitor, such as
wiring upgrades and improved ventilation. This has,
however, made a great difference to audiences’ experience
of performances at the King’s.
One area that was not included in the main
refurbishment works was the decoration of the
auditorium. However, during the works, it was necessary to
repair an extensive area of plasterwork on the auditorium
dome. The requirement to let this repair dry properly
before it was repainted meant that the auditorium
decoration required to be reviewed during the 2013 dark
period. Research showed that the decoration to the dome
had been applied as part of the 1980s refurbishment, and
contained some areas of the 1950s scheme. It was a rather
bland trompe l’oeil that gave little impact to the
auditorium. Following discussions with Historic Scotland, it
was agreed that a new scheme could be undertaken, given
that there was a history of different dome schemes in the
theatre. The works also had to include the complete
redecoration of the original auditorium. Having undertaken
a number of art commissioning projects in the past, I
suggested that this was the perfect opportunity to
collaborate with a prominent Scottish artist to produce a
bespoke art work for the King’s. This would add to not
only the audience experience of the theatre, but draw it to
the attention of the general public. There really was only
one person to approach, both in terms of being at the top
of their game in Scottish art and also in understanding
theatres – John Byrne. He said yes immediately to the idea,
and within three weeks had drawn a dramatic
and inspiring design that the client approved
without change.
Timescales were restricted to five weeks for
the painting and, in June 2013, work began on
redecorating the entire auditorium. A free
standing bird cage scaffold was erected and two
teams of specialist painters and decorators
began the works. This included cleaning all the plasterwork
and repainting every inch of the auditorium. John Byrne’s
work was gridded into two metre sections and projected
onto th