The Royal Academy of Music's new theatre takes flight

The new theatre at the Royal Academy of Music (photo Adam Scott)

With space in London at a premium, academic institutions have to be imaginative when it comes to the use of space and fitting theatres into existing 19th century conservatoires is a particular challenge. The Royal Academy of Music has just opened its new theatrical facilities at its Marylebone Road home following two years of re-building when the opera department became peripatetic.

The new recital room at the Royal
Academy of Music (photo Adam Scott)

The re-designed and re-built facilities include the 309-seat Susie Sainsbury Theatre and the new 100-seat rooftop Recital Hall, as well as 14 refurbished practice and dressing rooms, five new percussion studios, a large refurbished jazz room and a new control suite for the Academy’s audio-visual recordings department. The new theatre is built on the site of the Sir Jack Lyons Theatre which stood from 1976 to 2015. Designed by RIBA Award-winning Ian Ritchie Architects, the project has transformed the original theatre, including re-shaping the auditorium, adding a new balcony, increasing capacity by 40%, and improving sightlines dramatically. Plus a new fly tower and side wings in an adaptable theatre suitable for everything from opera to music theatre and beyond.

I have to confess that I found Royal Academy Opera's touring years rather fun, we caught Rimsky Korsakov's May Night at Ambika P3 [see my review] and Handel's Alcina at the Round Chapel in Hackney [see my review], but I can well understand the delight of staff and students to be back in a well-equipped permanent home.

Jonathan Dove's Flight opened the new theatre this week on 12 March 2018.