HAMILTON’S £250,000 MEMORIAL THEATRE

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29982, 17 November 1962, Page 8

HAMILTON’S £250,000 MEMORIAL THEATRE

Official Opening To Be Held Today

[Specially written for "The Press" by BARBARA BAIGBNT) HAMILTON’S £250,000 Founders’ Memorial Theatre will be officially opened today.

The first plans for the theatre—then mooted as a hall—came from a group of Hamilton citizens led bv Mr H. H. Innes. They formed the Founders’ of Hamilton Association and set about raising funds. The sum of £25,000 was raised and nanded over to the HamiitorTCity Council, which then took over the project. No loan monies have been resorted to and the project will open debtfree. This has been made possible by the use of city council assets.

The traditional design of the theatre is that the of the Greek amphitheatre. There are no pillars or galleries. If in fuJl use It will seat 1250 and it can be divided for smaller audiences by floor-to-ceiling suede curtains. The theatre is set to Boyes Park, to the heart of the city, with established trees. Entrance is from Hinemoa street by means of a covered way opening on to a capacious foyer. The exterior of the entrance is faced to Hinuera stone and the colour scheme is in olivette and lighter green with white pillars. The interior colour scheme in the auditorium is to soft shades of green, with squares of various blends of cinnamon on the floating panels Which top the mahogany panelling of the* walls. The stepped ceiling is in shades of green and the stepped

floor is carpeted to grey with red heavy weight rubber in the seating areas. The seats art grey with white piping. The dividing curtains are in green and the main stage curtain is apricot suede, specially dyed to Japan. Nearly 4000 yards of material weighing one ton were used for the curtains. Mrs Joan Reid, of Wellington, designed the curtains and her hubband installed the electronic stage equipment. The stage fittings are the most up to date to the Southern hemisphere and wiH give the theatre the quickest “set up time” of any in New Zealand. Dressing rooms, to a two storeyed block, are cheerful and capacious, with ample showers and hot water. The theatre was originally designed by Messrs White, Leigh de Lisle and Fraser, architects of Hamilton. The builders were Messrs F. T. Hawkins, Did., of Hamilton,

and construction was completed under the supervision of Messrs Leigh de Lisle and Fraser. Piloting the scheme through has been the chairman of the committee, Mr A. J. Denz, with the Mayor of Hamilton, Dr. D. Rogers, playing a very active part. The memorial feature will be either a mural or a piece of sculpture, but this will not be completed for the opening ceremony. Included in the project and facing on to the entrance foyer will be a memorial fountain and pool in memory of the late Dame Hilda Ross.