OPERA HOUSE.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19176, 6 December 1927, Page 6

OPERA HOUSE.

REBUILDING IN PROGRESS

TRANSFORMATION EFFECTED

When Fuller's Opera Mouse parses out of tlu' )iulitis of the contractors, as it will tliis month, it will be what builders call "a nice white job." It would be understating the alterations to call then) improvements—a new building lias been erected in the >licll of the old. Only the side and troiu walls remain, the rear wall having been demolished to allow of the building or a new one further back, while the ro.it is nl,so entirely new. When the tlieatu: is opened again on Boxing Day, patrons will lie astonished at the" translormation. A small army of carpenters, plasterers, and labourers are now entering on the final stages of the contract. A fortnight ago there were, at least 130 on the pay-roll, nil .except a few foremen and leading hands being local men. Mr A. E. Orchard, joreman plasterer. was in charge of 3/5, which indicates the amount of work put into the interior decoration.

Within a lew days the lorest of scaffolding poles will disappear, and the full extent of the changes made will lie visible. Perhaps one of the most noteworthy is the extension of the dress circle, which now projects further over the- stalls accommodation. and tile provision of new seating. Two stairways join and nrive arcess to a roomv foyer, which is being fitted up with all the appointments common to most up-to-dnfe theatres. The proscenium arch is wider thnn before, and the roof over the has been raised about 20 feet. The stage itself has been mado ten feet witW hv the movimr back of the rear wall, and the dressing rooms below have been rebuilt

Tlie walls are being plastered in white fi'irons piers and panels, and tlie ceilinr Tins completed in the same materials. With l<ev patterned Greek beams, liavinor floral bosses at intersections. and Adam period decorations of similar design in tlie son a res and over tlie ventilators, tlie ceiling lias given full seope to tlie artistry of tlie plasterers Work is proceeding on tlie fittings for tbe scenery. Messrs S. and A. Luttrell ;>re the architects, and Messrs T. .T. .T"lian and Son. of Auckland, the building; contractors.