The New London Coliseum: A Personal Appreciation
by Ruth Elleson with photographs by Grant Smith

Twilight in St Martin's Lane: the Coliseum's new globe dominates the skyline, with Nelson's Column and the spire of St Martin-in-the-Fields in the background

After an eight-month closure and a GBP 41 million (75 million US dollar) restoration, the Coliseum opened for its centenary year on 21 February 2004 after a two-week delay, for a private reception, and to the public for the first opera performance six days later. The delay caused much disappointment in that it caused the long-awaited revival of John Adams’s Nixon in China to be shelved. The manner in which the house reopened also caused some rancour – the opening night was due to be a public performance of Nixon, but instead this ‘people’s opera company’ entered its new era with a sneak preview for those who had been actively or financially involved in the refurbishment project.

Opening night: the enormous theatre's new colour scheme lends it a reassuring intimacy

The first public performance in the new theatre was the scheduled second night of Das Rheingold. The management was nervous that this performance might have to be cancelled as well, so the press were not invited until the following week. Despite this, I found the prospect of being at the inaugural performance impossible to resist, and booked a balcony seat.

Outside on opening night: the theatre's imposing façade on St Martin's Lane

When I first moved to London I virtually lived in the balcony. Night after night I found myself drawn back to the Coliseum, seeing the same show as many times as I fancied. I always felt that my night at the opera had begun when I emerged from Embankment Station on a dark winter evening, drawn towards the famous globe on the top of the theatre - an inviting reminder of the evening ahead despite being no more than a static, grubby ball with lights flickering around inside.

The globe: the new Balcony bar now provides a view almost as good as this photograph

For so long - nearly three years, I think - this operatic beacon has been invisible, covered in red tarpaulins like the rest of the house, and it has been sadly missed. I was, in theory, excited about seeing the new theatre, but the real excitement came two weeks before the house reopened. I was walking across Covent Garden Piazza in the dark when I suddenly saw the dazzling new globe for the first time, an unlit revolving skeleton with the theatre’s name picked out in white lights. It was a breathtaking hint of what was to be unveiled beneath.

The auditorium: resplendent in red and cream, but still recognisably the Coliseum

On the opening night, seeing the auditorium looking so smart in rich reds, gold, purples and creams, it hardly seemed possible that the balcony seats were once held together with gaffer tape, or that the armrests between the bench seats used to be so few and far between that one would frequently find oneself in a cinema-style 'lovers’ seat' with a complete stranger. In the more popular of the balcony seats, there is no longer the discomfort of sitting on almost bare wood, where the cushioning had been worn down by decades of use. The stall and dress circle seats no longer squeak loudly at the slightest movement. Nor is there a big chunk of stonemasonry missing from the outer rim of the dome in the ceiling.

The gilded dome ceiling dominates the auditorium

In fact, that dome, previously in the theatre’s old colour scheme of shabby turquoise, is now the auditorium’s crowning glory in cream and gold. Somebody was very canny when they planned a revival of Nicholas Hytner’s production of Die Zauberflöte just a few weeks after the reopening – the production is lit so as to transform the whole auditorium into the Temple of Wisdom, and while it looked impressive in the old house, it is stunning now. It is a shame that Phyllida Lloyd’s new Rheingold does not create the portals of Valhalla from the newly gleaming stage-box columns, an effect that was hinted at in the preparatory semi-staged version in 2001.

Despite its new-found splendour, I am delighted to report that the auditorium is still recognisably that of the Coliseum. What’s more, it still feels like home - a distinction which the Royal Opera House, four years after its own restoration programme, has yet to achieve.

The gilded dome ceiling refected from the atage.

The most radical changes have been made outside the auditorium, in the bars and other public areas. The box office has been relocated from the left-hand side of the foyer to the right, to allow the installation of public lifts. Behind the lifts, a staircase which was formerly a balcony fire exit has been transformed into the main access staircase for the upper circle and balcony. Patrons with cheaper tickets no longer have to reach their seats via the ‘tradesmen’s entrance’ in May’s Court.

The view from the audience

The most successful transformation has taken place at ground and basement levels. Two smart new bars in the stalls foyer - sponsored by Bollinger, which has led to some speculation that the company is succumbing to corporate influence - create a sense of light and space. This effect is reinforced by a sweeping staircase down to the lower ground floor, where there are cloakrooms and a reasonable number of lavatories. Further up, the dress circle bar has been redesigned to create more space (though, ironically, there is still no room to move during the interval of a sold-out Saturday night performance).

The restored mosaic ceiling of the South Foyer

If the design falls short anywhere, it is in the new split-level conservatory-style bar, serving the upper circle and balcony. Though there is certainly an unaccustomed air of grandeur in the imposing crimson-walled rooms, there is something about the glass roof which just doesn’t quite work. One thing which will never change about the Coliseum is its lack of surrounding space, being sandwiched as it is between other buildings. And attractive though it is, the design of the roof invites unfavourable comparison with the Royal Opera House, whose Floral Hall has all the open space it needs to look impressive. Further similarities to the Floral Hall - the balcony terrace overlooking the main level, and the costumed mannequins as decoration - mean that the Coliseum sacrifices a part of its uniqueness.

In its favour, the west end of the glass roof forms an intimate little annexe to the balcony bar - a cubby-hole from which one need only look upwards to get a spectacular worm’s-eye view of that beautiful new globe, the torch which heralds the start of a new era for English National Opera.

© Ruth Elleson, 5 May 2004 

Ruth Elleson is London's youngest opera critic. An Internet pioneer, she posted her first reviews on the net at the age of 19. Originally from the historic city of Durham in the north of England, she moved to London after university at York. She now attends up to 200 opera and concert performances a year, A frequent visitor to the conservatoires and vocal competitions, she has an unrivalled knowledge of upcoming vocal talent. A singer in her own right, Ruth performs as a mezzo-soprano in the professional five-voice choir of the Church of the Annunciation, Marble Arch.

Grant Smith is an internationally acclaimed architectural and construction photographer. Australian born, he has lived and worked in London since 1983 and has an extensive knowledge of London’s architecture. His body of photographic work includes some of the world’s iconic structures: the Pont de Normandie, second Severn Crossing, Seville Expo 92, preparations for the Barcelona Olympics, the Sydney Harbour tunnel, the Millennium Bridge and the Millennium Dome. Since 2001, he has been photographing the construction and completion of the Swiss Re tower in the City of London and he is currently documenting the construction of Terminal 5 at Heathrow. He is also well known for portrait work and is represented in the London National Portrait Gallery.

See also Letter from London