Theatre At Stanley Royd Hospital

The Theatre at Stanley Royd Hospital is a hospital dining hall that was later converted into a recreation hall and theatre. It was built in 1859 and extended in 1893 to include a full working stage, likely designed by Bernard Hartley, the County Surveyor. The building is constructed of grey brick and features a slate roof. It has a nine-bay hall with an additional blind bay for the stage, where the original datestone from 1859 has been reinserted into the end gable.

Originally, there were areas for supervising and kitchen staff on the side, which are now small meeting rooms and not of special interest. The building has a rebuilt parapet and windows with central opening casements. The hall is designed in an Italianate style, with windows set above a high dado in aediculed surrounds featuring cornice brackets, some of which are placed under pediments. There are panels and doors at a lower level, and a flat ceiling with beams that extend as pilasters between the windows, separated by a deep cornice.

On either side of the moulded plaster proscenium arch above the stage are similar pilasters. Mahogany doors lead up narrow flights of stairs with balusters, creating a symmetrical composition on both sides. The stage includes a trap and dressing rooms underneath. The main interest of this building lies in the preservation of a complete Victorian stage, which includes a timber grid, fly floors, and hemps. Notably, it features a grooved system for sliding stage flats in the wings, a standard method for hanging wings for about 200 years until the 21st century, and this is only the second surviving example found in England. The upper grooves are particularly significant, and it is unclear if there were originally lower grooves, as the current set is modern. A unique aspect of this example is that two of the four pairs of grooves are canted to create a greater sense of receding perspective for the audience, a feature not found at Normansfield Hospital in Richmond, which has the only comparable surviving working stage.