For a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of the ROH — and as a part of its efforts to open its doors more widely to the public — Cannopy Magazine turns to four of the House’s experienced tour guides. Drawing on years of knowledge, training, and passion for the art form, they invite us into the storied halls and hidden corners of Covent Garden’s iconic theatre.

Guide: Alan

GRAND STAIRCASE ── After the second Opera House burned down in 1856, manager, Frederick Gye, oversaw its rebuild. Around this same time, R. C. Milliet created the steel crinoline─a cage-like undergarment that gave skirts and dresses dramatic volume and quickly became the must-have fashion item in Paris and London. The downside of this extravagant, bulky silhouette was awkward to manage travelling up and down stairs. Elevators were still rare, so Victorian architects had a different solution: wider staircases with shallower steps. Enter the Grand Staircase. Leading from the 1858 foyer up to the original Victorian bars and into the auditorium, this sweeping staircase was built exactly for the purpose of letting women walk the stairs with ease─a fantastic example of how a single fashion item can impact a major architectural decision.

ACOUSTIC DOORS ── With different productions, rehearsals and set builds all taking place simultaneously, preventing noise bleed across the building is incredibly important. To this end, vast acoustic doors have been created to protect the stage. Situated behind the safety curtain, to the rear of the stage, and between the stage and the right wings, these acoustic doors are made of layers of steel, neoprene and plasterboard, with inflatable rubber seals around the edge to create a phenomenally effective sound barrier. Weighing up to 64 tonnes, it is said you could drill concrete on one side and someone on the other side would not hear it!

STAGE 'GET-IN' LIFT ── Sets, props, and costumes for returning productions are largely stored at an enormous warehouse facility near Swansea in Wales, and new sets are built at a workshop in Essex, to the east of London. To enable the sets to get to the stage, there is an articulated lorry lift, into which an entire trailer can be driven to avoid the headache of unloading in the street. The quad-masted rack & pinion driven elevator is 18 m long, 4.7 m high, with a maximum carrying capacity of 24 tonnes and the ability to go three floors below ground level, making it one of the largest “get in’ lifts in Europe.

ARMOURY ── In addition to all our sets, props, and costumes being made in-house, the Royal Ballet and Opera has its own armoury for producing all the weaponry that appears in our productions. Whilst they are replica weapons, there are very stringent rules of practice involving their storage and their transportation around the House. Unlike the props and the set, armoury items cannot be moved by the crew, only by the Armoury team. Safety is paramount, and there are risk assessments and detailed safety briefings are carried out for each production.

THE BRIDGE OF ASPIRATION ── Dame Ninette de Valois, the founder of The Royal Ballet and The Royal Ballet School, always dreamed of the two organisations existing physically side-by-side. In 2000, when Dame Ninette was 102 years old, the current Royal Ballet School in Floral Street was constructed directly opposite the Royal Opera House. Architects Wilkinson Eyre won a competition to build a bridge between the School and the Company, fulfilling Dame Ninette’s dream and creating the magnificent Bridge of Aspiration (named by the students at the school.) The bridge consists of 23 identical square oak and aluminium frames, separated by glass approximately 30 cm apart, with a 4° rotation from frame to frame, creating a 92° twisting concertina effect. The frames sit on a 12-metre long, spiralling aluminium frame, covered over with a wooden floor designed to resemble a dance studio floor, and a handrail that replicates a ballet barre.

Bridge of Aspiration © RBO. Photographed by Andrej Usepnski