The Opera House Wellington is one of New Zealand’s premier performing arts venues located in Wellington. It is home to the Royal New Zealand Ballet, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and hosts a variety of local and international performances. A key question many people have when attending shows at the Opera House is how many seats there are in total.
Quick Overview
The Opera House Wellington has three main performance spaces:
– The Main Auditorium seats 1,389 people
– The Circa Theatre seats 364 people
– The Studio seats 84 people
So in total there are 1,837 seats across the three venues in the Opera House Wellington.
Main Auditorium
The Main Auditorium is the largest performance space in the Opera House and can accommodate 1,389 patrons.
It features three seating levels:
– Stalls – 581 seats
– Dress Circle – 324 seats
– Grand Circle – 484 seats
The seating is spread across the stalls, dress circle and grand circle to provide excellent views of the stage and optimize the acoustics of the auditorium.
Seating Level | Number of Seats |
---|---|
Stalls | 581 |
Dress Circle | 324 |
Grand Circle | 484 |
Total | 1,389 |
The curved walls and seating of the auditorium are specially designed to provide superior acoustics. The auditorium features state-of-the-art technical capabilities to support fully staged opera, ballet, concerts and musical theatre productions.
Stage and Backstage Area
The stage in the Main Auditorium measures 200m2 with an opening of 12.8m wide by 7.6m high. This substantial stage space allows for ambitious set designs and large productions.
The backstage area includes 7 dressing rooms, 2 chorus rooms and 2 warm-up spaces for performers. There is also a full fly tower above the stage housing stage rigging equipment.
Circa Theatre
The Circa Theatre is a smaller, intimate performance space with 364 seats. It is located directly next door to the Opera House on the first floor of the same building.
The Circa Theatre is the home of Circa Theatre Incorporated, an independent professional theatre company. It hosts dramas, comedies, new New Zealand works and a range of other stage productions.
The Circa Theatre features:
– 190 seats in the stalls
– 174 seats in the circle
Seating Level | Number of Seats |
---|---|
Stalls | 190 |
Circle | 174 |
Total | 364 |
The intimate size and thrust stage creates an immersive experience between the performers and audience. The Circa Theatre frequently sells out seasons and specializes in introducing new works by New Zealand playwrights.
The Studio
The Studio is a small 84 seat venue used for rehearsals, readings, recitals, lectures and experimental theatre.
It provides an adaptable blank canvas performance space with retractable seating. The studio is an incubator venue allowing artists to develop and trial new works before presenting them in the larger theatres.
With 84 seats, the venue can accommodate small audiences in an intimate setting. The retractable seating also allows the space to be cleared and used as a rehearsal studio.
Total Number of Seats
To summarize, here are the total seats across the three venues in the Opera House Wellington:
Venue | Number of Seats |
---|---|
Main Auditorium | 1,389 |
Circa Theatre | 364 |
The Studio | 84 |
Total | 1,837 |
So in total across the Opera House Wellington’s three performance venues, there are 1,837 seats. This allows the Opera House to host small experimental productions in The Studio all the way up to large scale ballet and opera in the Main Auditorium.
The combination of the Main Auditorium, Circa Theatre and Studio with their varied seat capacities and stage sizes allows the Opera House to cater for diverse audiences and productions.
History and Design
The Opera House was designed by architect Ian Athfield and opened in 1974. The interior was renovated in 1992 to expand the backstage facilities and upgrade audience amenities. Further interior upgrades were undertaken in 2011-2013.
The architecture is Brutalist style, characterized by exposed concrete construction. The exterior features the concrete texture and geometric shapes typical of Brutalist buildings.
Internally, the walls utilize concrete agglomerate formed of crushed granite from the Wellington coastline. This provides interesting textural variation and helps with acoustics.
The acoustics have been highly praised, especially in the Main Auditorium. The auditorium’s shoebox shape and convex wall surfaces are designed to evenly distribute sound throughout the hall.
Opening the Building
The Opera House originally opened in 1974 with a production of New Zealand Opera’s The Marriage of Figaro.
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, one of New Zealand’s most famous opera singers, opened the building. The gala opening concert also featured fellow New Zealand singer Donald McIntyre.
At the time, the Opera House provided Wellington with its first purpose-built performing arts center. Previously productions were housed in makeshift facilities around the city.
The Opera House enabled Wellington to host large scale theatrical productions in a proper venue with modern equipment and facilities. This boosted Wellington’s arts scene and cemented it as New Zealand’s culture capital.
Future Developments
While the Opera House remains an excellent facility, there are plans to undertake further upgrades and improvements in the future.
Some potential developments being considered are:
– Increased accessibility and facilities for those with disabilities
– Improving technical capabilities such as lighting and AV systems
– Upgrading performer facilities like dressing rooms
– Building maintenance and repairs as required
– Improving bars, cafes and patron facilities
Care will need to be taken with any upgrades to balance preservation of the iconic architecture with installing new systems and amenities.
The Opera House will likely remain Wellington’s premier performing arts center for many years to come. It is an integral part of the city’s cultural identity and built heritage. The combination of performance spaces within the Opera House complex make it incredibly versatile for all types of productions.
Conclusion
The Opera House Wellington contains a total of 1,837 seats across its three venues – the 1,389 seat Main Auditorium, 364 seat Circa Theatre and 84 seat Studio.
Since opening in 1974, the Opera House has played a key role in the arts and culture of Wellington. It has hosted countless theatre, dance, musical and opera productions over the decades.
The architecture is an iconic example of the Brutalist style, with its exterior concrete textures and walls made from locally sourced aggregate inside.
While an exceptional facility, upgrades are planned in the future to improve accessibility, amenities and technical capabilities. Careful refurbishment will ensure the Opera House remains one of the world’s great performing arts centers for many years to come.