On the 14th of June the Queen – accompanied by the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle – officially opened Chester’s Storyhouse theatre. Built in 1936 and a Grade II Listed building, the Chester Storyhouse theatre was originally the city’s Odeon cinema. It had been empty and deteriorating since 2007, but a £37 million RE:NEW project, initiated by Cheshire West and Chester Council, set about converting and extending the original building. Stage Electrics were tasked with installing and supplying sound, production lighting, AV equipment, paging and technical infrastructure for the entire project.  

As a specialist integrator, Stage Electrics delivered the production lighting equipment, AV infrastructure and Front of House audio systems. In addition to the fully automated, DCI compliant cinema system, Stage Electrics also installed a versatile HD video distribution network throughout the venue. Further architectural feature lighting and touchscreen control was specified and installed to the exterior of the striking ‘glass box’ cinema to illuminate the structure.

“The fact that half of the project was a new build theatre and the other half was a refurbishment of a Grade II listed building made this project really interesting.” Explained Ian Dunne, Stage Electrics’ Project Manager for the project. “The attention to detail maintained by everyone involved in the project and the blend of old and new has created a breath-taking venue” he added.

Although the theatre has been open since 2017 Her Majesty the Queen and new granddaughter-in-law Meghan Markle, cut the ribbon to mark the official opening this week. Being the first official engagement involving just Her Majesty and the Duchess of Sussex, this event attracted media attention from around the globe. 

During its first year, a staggering 1 million customers have passed through the Storyhouse’s doors, making it one of the UK’s largest cultural visitor attractions.

Storyhouse has won several prestigious awards including the Building Award for Best Refurbishment, the Brick Award for Best Public Building, was highly commended at the RICS awards and was nominated for Best Building at the Stage awards.