When the third oldest school in the country needed a solution to a complex theatrical problem they called on experts Mainstage.

St Peter’s School, York, a co-educational boarding school founded in 627AD, wanted to develop a former church hall in the school grounds – converted some years earlier for use as the school’s drama studio – into a smart, new multi-functional theatre.

The Dame Judi Dench Drama Centre, complete with high ceilings and stained glass in abundance, lacked something of the flavour of a serious theatre space in its own right.

Innovative

Mainstage, one of the UK’s top three providers of portable staging and tiered seating, rose to the challenge.

They assessed the site, requirements and available space and designed an innovative seating arrangement.

Mainstage used aluminium platforms from their Topdeck System range to provide safe, robust tiered seating, which ingeniously incorporated existing stage blocks, on three sides of the theatre.

Accommodating both children and adults, the modular units join together effortlessly to create tiered areas with flexible access points.

Benefits

“The new seating bank has given our old studio space a new lease of life and turned it into a proper theatre,” explains Helen Coney, from the school’s drama department.

“Our old flat, grey chairs, which didn’t allow us to get any height or depth, have been replaced and we now have adaptability and functionality.”

Helen added that Mainstage had created an intimate, cosy theatre space which inspired confidence.

“The theatre is now used for a phenomenal amount of things – drama lessons through the week, exam performances and the sixth form play to name but a few.”

“We can also use the seating elsewhere because it is so very adaptable and easy to move.”

“We are delighted with everything Mainstage have done.”