We interviewed chief designer Michael Holden about his work on the newly opened Kingston Theatre.

"This is what I'm particularly proud of," says Holden, who previously worked on the Globe in Southwark, as we inspect the embryonic double-helix stairwell of the building site that is slowly taking on the shape of a theatre.

The stairs run round both walls and the space in the centre will accommodate impromptu musical and dramatic performances. The ceiling has been specially supported, to allow performers to be suspended from it.

There are plans for so many different spaces within the £8.5 million building and so many different uses, it is easy to believe Mr Holden's claim that this will not just be a theatre but a focal point for the community.

There will be bars on all three floors, a cafe, an education and rehearsal room, an art gallery, meeting rooms and even a room full of ice, which will be used to pump cold air through the building.

"The theatre is one of the few places where people can go and assemble where everyone has a common theme to talk about, that's actually a tremendously important community-building function," said Mr Holden. "It's about building a sense of locality and belonging and a sense of home."

He speaks a lot about giving Kingston "destination status," giving the town a sense of identity beyond its shopping malls and, for him, the theatre is absolutely central to that.

In fact, the theatre edifice in the High Street will jut out above the road, mirroring the revamped police station opposite, intended to give the impression of a gateway into the town.

Mr Holden knows a thing or two about theatres, of course. Having started life as a theatre lighting technician in the 1950s, he has worked on the development of 65 auditoriums around the country including the Barbican, the National Theatre and the Lyric Hammersmith.

He worked with the late Sam Wanamaker from the late 1970s on re-creating the Shakespearean theatre in Southwark. The idea behind the project had been to reproduce the sense of raucous atmosphere and involvement in Elizabethan theatre.

Anyone who has seen a play at the Globe, would agree that it has been successful in that respect, and Kingston Theatre will seek to work along similar lines.

It will be based on the Rose Theatre of 1587, where half of Shakespeare's plays were premiered, and like the Globe, the audience will surround the stage on almost all sides.

While being close to the stage, the seats will bank steeply all round, which according to Mr Holden, will generate a real sense of intimacy and rapport between audience and performers.

The latest thinking in the theatre world advocates keeping auditoriums relatively light, which in a round theatre means the audience will be more aware of each other, something that Mr Holden believes is a good thing: "You see people out of the corner of your eyes, responding at the same time. If you guffaw, you realise you are not the only person in the house doing that."

The idea is that the audience will play off each other, generating a lively atmosphere, that will be helped still further by the possible introduction of standing room in the stalls, which would also make the experience more affordable.

"We should be able to get into the theatre for the price of a cinema ticket. Nobody ever seems to have trouble finding the money to go to the cinema," Mr Holden points out.

The shell of the riverside theatre is now nearing completion, with developers St George preparing to hand over the concrete infrastructure in October, ready for specialist subcontractors to start adding the all-important details.

As the glass casing begins to be fixed into place, the first signs of life will begin to appear - notices announcing the opening date and works of art on display for passers-by.

By Christmas, the Theatre Trust hopes to open up the site for the public to visit. Set to open in under two years, what started as the germ of an idea in the late 1970s is now really gathering pace.

Michael Holden has big plans for the project. He believes when it is completed it will not just be nationally important, but of international significance.

His excitement about the project is positively infectious: "You have to develop a theatre out of a passion. There's no other reason for doing it. You have to absolutely know it has to be built and like doing it.

"We work 18 hours a day, seven days a week and we love it!"

If you would like to join Kingston Theatre Friends, call 020 8547 5257 or visit www.kingston theatre.org

July 17, 2002 15:00