The Palace Theatre is getting ready to reopen. SALLY KING talks to the new manager Nic Shaw about his latest exciting challenge

Nic Shaw ("I am a Nicolas, a Greek Nicolas - without an h") is the new manager of the Palace Theatre, Westcliff.

"Unreasonably short Shaw," as he has been mantled by a close friend, may only be 5ft 8ins, but his personality is big enough to make up for any missing stature.

Sitting with him in the middle of the vast, filthy, cavern that is now the Palace Theatre, you feel that somehow the place is suddenly full.

At 33 Nic already has a successful theatre management background from the West End: "It sounds glamorous. But you lose a lot of the build-up, you're just there at the end.

"Here I will be nearer the product." He says it with the air of a man who has dreamed of nothing else.

As we chat in the ornate auditorium, the builders are already at work in the foyer clearing off years of wall-paper and cigarette smoke.

They are soon to knock down the existing box office and install a new open-fronted one, part of the work being done thanks to a generous donation by Keymed.

Nic scurries among it all with the air of a man having the time of his life. His enthusiasm bursts through with every comment, and his ability to drop outrageous (and unprintable) lines into the conversation quickly disperses any tendency to pomposity.

At the moment Nic lives in Ealing with his cat. "I am commuting every day. I'm going to have to buy a place here with a garden and a flap in the back door, but I'm too busy to look.

"I'm getting home at around midnight, and straight away I turn on the computer and work until 4.30am.

"Then I get up in the morning and come back here," says he in a manner so full of vigour that you can't help but fear meeting him when he's not tired.

Coming to work for a young company on a new project - especially a theatrical one - doesn't sound like the sort of job that career officers call secure, but Nic disagrees.

"It's probably the safest thing I've done in my life," he assures me. "Green and Lenagan, the production company running the theatre, have a strong theatrical background. They are well-versed in putting on shows. They have a good pedigree."

Working in Westcliff will be very different to the West End for them all. "In the West End you have a lot of through-trade. There are only a few clients who come time and time again.

"The expectations will be different here. People treat this theatre like a home - and so they should. Here we will be more accountable."

So far Nic has been pleased with the reactions of the natives.: "We couldn't hope for a better reception. With no exception everyone has been positive and helpful, it's been overwhelming.

"The Palace Theatre Club have volunteered their services to stuff envelopes and such like, they have been on the end of the phone if we've needed them.

"The same with the Palace Youth Group, who will continue here. They already have their Christmas play booked for December 11.

"It's like a family that has come back.

So how will he make sure the family remain at home?

"It's my job to create an atmosphere that is exciting to work in and visit.

"The Palace will be a nice, attractive, lively place. It will be a feature for local people to use rather than walk past.

"There will be so much going on - something for everyone. Theatre's not exclusive. You can learn from the theatre - it's education as well as entertainment.

"It can shape your destiny - it did mine! It's a sexy place to be!

"Green and Lenagan have strong links with the West End, with high-profile figures. People who haven't come here before, who you would normally have to go to the West End to see, will be performing, talking and teaching here.

So how does he see this fledgling company and its old theatre working and developing together?

"In five year's time this theatre will be nationally recognised as a production house," Nic declares adamantly. "And there will be a good crop of Southend talent who will have developed with the theatre and have the contacts to go on."

Nic himself wanted a stage career. He started auditioning and considered going to France as a mime artist: "What else can a seriously short artist do?" Then came the call to stand in as a dresser on Me and My Girl.

A rapid career rise sent him speeding him through the box office, on to assistant manager, then manager. "I showed I was keen," he smiles. Then, just for a change, he abandoned the theatre to set up a cinema: "The only one in the East End - it had been closed for ten years."

So as the wallpaper falls to the floor and the grime of emptiness is cleaned from the windows, the future looks bright for the Palace.

This human tidal-wave looks set to pick up the entire population of Southend - lovers and haters of theatre alike - and deposit them all inside.

Centre Stage - Nic Shaw is the new manager of the Palace Theatre, Westcliff

Picture: MAXINE CLARKE

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.