Curtain restores touch of grandeur
WITH its new 200kg waterfall curtain, the Regent plans to bring back the grandeur of the theatre’s past.
The theatre has unveiled the red velvet curtain, which will replicate what it had when it first opened in 1928.
Regent Theatre director Sarah Anderson said its installation was a way of ‘‘reinstating the aesthetics’’ of the auditorium.
‘‘It’s just beautiful. It was specifically dyed for the colour we need.
‘‘When it first opened as a picture theatre it had a waterfall curtain, but it was actually satin, and they used to light it up with different colours.’’
Initially, the price tag was going to be in the ‘‘hundreds of thousands’’, she said.
‘‘The mechanism to lift it up and down was going to be more expensive than the curtain itself.’’
However, the theatre was able to get it much cheaper after Dunedin company Zeal Steel spent six months tweaking a ‘‘bespoke mechanism’’ to make the curtain do what it needed to, she said.
‘‘It needs to be able to fly, but it also needs to be able to be done with hand. Things like the ballet have specific requirements.’’
Much of the funds came from revenue from the theatre’s book sales in the past few years, she said.
The curtain was installed during the recent run of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, but the mechanism was finished only in time for the New Zealand International Film Festival, which is screening at present.
The curtain it replaces was also velvet, but without the ‘‘waterfall’’ effect.
‘‘Nothing really compared to the grandeur of this.’’
Part of the past curtain would probably be used for a new ‘‘intimate’’ performance space being created on the theatre’s first floor.
However, it was ‘‘massive’’, so the theatre was looking at possibilities for other Dunedin performing arts groups to make use of it, she said.