Parc & Dare Theatre

• Theatre ID
  909
• Built / Converted
  1913
• Dates of use
  • 1913: continuing
• Current state
  Extant
• Current use
  Theatre (theatre and cinema)
• Address
  Station Road/Dyfodwg Street, Treorchy, Rhondda Cynon Taff, CF42 6NL, Wales

Details

The external style of the building was very much influenced by the contemporary architecture of Welsh chapels. The front façe rising to four floors, is divided into three bays, the centre one pedimented. Carved on the lower, horizontal stone course of the pediment is the name of the building ‘PARC & DARE WORKMEN’S HALL’. To the right of the hall and running along the side of it is the former Parc and Dare Institute. This is now connected at various levels to the Hall and provides the rehearsal rooms, offices and public areas; spaces which are not plentiful in the main building. The façe conceals an unexpectedly ambitious auditorium which, as with most of its kind in Wales, is at first floor level. It is a fine hall with two curved galleries, the slips of each extending to and meeting the proscenium wall. Each gallery front retains its original decorative plasterwork, but the gas brackets which occurred at intervals have been removed. The proscenium arch is a depressed curve, supporting a baroque foliated shield at its highest point, and is attractively decorated over its entire length with plasterwork representing fruit and flowers. The stage was originally very shallow and the demands of varying theatrical functions have led to the construction of a semi-permanent apron. There is no orchestra pit. Behind the back wall of the stage and built as a lean-to structure is a corridor giving cross-over access between the wings. There is no sub-stage machinery. A scheme by Roderick Ham was put forward in 1989 for the up grading of the main auditorium to the standard needed to receive first class opera productions. The necessary extension of the stage was to have been achieved by the removal of an adjoining chapel vestry, the chapel itself being incorporated as a cinema. This project did not proceed but further proposals are under review (2003).

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• Other names
  Parc & Dare Workmen’s Institute and Hall
• Events
  • 1913 Use: continuing
  • 1892 Design/Construction: library and institute built
    • Jacob Rees - Architect
  • 1913 Alteration: theatre and cinema added
    • T Owen Rees & Jacob Rees - Architect
  • 1926 Owner/Management: Ocean Coal Company, owners
  • 1952 Owner/Management: NUM, owners
  • 1975 Owner/Management: Rhondda Borough Council
• Capacities
  • Later: 1984: 900 1992: 800 1994: 803
  • Current: 784 (on three levels)
• Listings
  • Grade II* - 20.12.96
• Dimensions
  • Stage dimensions: 11m wide x 6.1m deep
  • Proscenium width: 10.98m
  • Height to grid: 14.63m
  • Orchestra pit: Available only by moving two rows of stalls