Aylesbury’s 1,200-seat Waterside Theatre opens to the public this evening, with a performance of the Northern Ballet’s Swan Lake. The act will make full use of the flexible acoustic system designed by Arup.
Developed and funded by Aylesbury Vale District Council, and designed by Arts Team – a specialist group within RHWL architects – the theatre is the principal entertainment venue for Aylesbury and surrounding areas. It will welcome up to 300,000 visitors a year, hosting everything from light entertainment to pop concerts, touring opera, ballet, theatre and community events. The Ambassador Theatre Group will manage Aylesbury Waterside on the council’s behalf.
Helen Butcher, acoustic consultant at Arup explains: “The theatre needs to be flexible enough to accommodate events and performances that will appeal to local people of all ages and from all walks of life. The variation in the use of the venue, which will host everything from pop to classical music, to opera and theatre, means that it needs an extremely flexible acoustic system.”
“In many traditional venues, this flexibility is achieved through the height of the auditorium, which generates the high level of reverberance needed for classical concert use. But this can mean that the acoustic is unsuitable for speech or amplified music, because it produces a muddied uncontrollable sound. As a result, you need to add variable acoustic elements: sound absorbing drapes and banners, or heavy moving ceilings, which are expensive to build and operate.”
The theatre auditorium has a relatively neutral acoustic, and its physical size is less (the roof is up to 5m lower than the traditional ‘concert hall’). This makes the space an ideal one for amplified sound systems. The reverberance needed for selected performances can be recreated subtly via microphone and loudspeaker ‘cells’ distributed around the auditorium.
The theatre’s acoustic flexibility was achieved using a ‘CARMEN®’ electro-acoustic enhancement system, designed by CSTB (Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment).
Isabelle Schmich, CSTB explains: “The system recreates the acoustic conditions desirable for ballet, opera and classical concerts with orchestra or choir. The amount of sound energy added to the hall is very small (the sound is not noticeably ‘amplified’) so that it retains a completely natural sound for audience and performer. The system can also be set to enhance natural speech, increasing the presence of the projected voice of the actor.”
“All of this is achieved at the flick of a switch, so no change-over time is incurred. The system’s cost is more than paid for in the savings achieved by reducing the building size and eliminating the need for the acoustic elements, and in fact the result is a better quality acoustic for many events.”
Aylesbury Waterside Theatre is part of Aylesbury Vale District Council’s programme to redevelop the county town to support its growing success as an economic destination. A new public space outside the theatre recently saw the unveiling of a Ronnie Barker statue to celebrate the late actor’s early stage career in the town.
Planning applications for a new Waitrose store, hotel, car park and the headquarters the National Enterprise Academy (the brainchild of Peter Jones from UK TV's 'Dragon’s Den') will be considered soon.