CONSIDERING all the grandiose plans first put forward by the architects of Essex University in the early Sixties, it was a surprise they didn’t include a theatre.

And, even when they finally decided to build one, it was situated underground with only a small sign to show it was there at all.

Before 1971, theatre productions at the university took place in the Lecture Theatre Building or in the Hexagon Restaurant, but when university architect Kenneth Capon began designing a dam to prevent the lakes from falling into the valley of the campus, he suggested he could put a theatre at the other end. The vice-chancellor loved the idea and so the Lakeside Theatre was built.

For many years this has pretty much been the theatre’s lot on campus a secondary thought and mostly out of sight, out of mind.

Despite that, it has achieved many great things, such as the world premiere of acclaimed playwright Caryl Churchill’s Fen. It has also provided a home for the university’s Theatre Arts Society and East 15 Acting School, as well as a space for several local amateur performing groups.

The theatre’s lot is now, however, set to change, after a makeover costing just under £1million, which has seen a new box office, improved disabled access and a revamp of the auditorium.

The Gazette got an exclusive look at the new theatre, along with Pasco-Q Kevlin, artistic director and theatre manager, and Steve Goatman, arts marketing and communications co-ordinator for Arts on 5, the organisation which runs the theatre, and the Essex University Gallery on Square 5 of the Wivenhoe Campus.

In fact, it was so exclusive, Steve had only got access to the theatre a few hours before our visit, while Pasco was seeing it for the first time with us.

Pasco says: “One of the important things for me was that it had to look as though the box office had always been here.”

Located underneath the iconic Albert Sloman Library, it certainly has achieved that.

Pasco explained that in a reverse of what they did at St Paul’s Cathedral, which was to take a rough material and make it smooth, the architects at Essex took a smooth material, namely concrete, and hand carved it to make it look rough.

These concrete, pebble-dashed ridges run throughout the box office and the inter-connecting foyer and stairwell, which will now take the audience down into the auditorium.

The steel-brushed exterior has also been designed to have a worn look within a couple of months, so it will be in keeping with the rest of the library building.

Thanks to Witham-based Crittall Windows, who provided the original library windows back in 1964, they have the same windows as well.

Pasco says: “These things were very important to us, so it was great to find the original window company. The other great thing about the foyer is to have this view over the lake.

“Just outside where the stairs used to go underground, we are now planning to have some tables and chairs. It will have the same view Constable had when he painted Wivenhoe Park.”

The new frontage gives the theatre its first on-the-square presence. The theatre has also been transformed inside.

Still underground, the auditorium has a new air-conditioning system, new seats, new carpets and restored wooden panelling. The work has also increased capacity from 200 to 230.

“This whole project got started because we needed to improve our disability access,” Pasco says.

“When I took on the job of theatre manager just under three years ago, that was something I insisted on.

“To be honest, I expected it to take a lot longer than it did and to be completed on a piecemeal basis.

“We needed to raise some money and the Alumni and Development Office were brilliant, getting £283,000. The rest came from the university.”

The Lakeside Theatre’s first production in the new auditorium takes place tonight with Anomie. Performed by Precarious, it follows six characters who occupy the same apartment block, but are unaware of each other’s trials and tribulations.

Doors open at 7pm. Tickets are £9, £6 for concessions and £4 for Essex University students. Call the Mercury Theatre box office on 01206 573948 or visit www.mercurytheatre.co.uk/artson5