PHOTOBLOG: Behind The Scenes At Glasgow's King's Theatre

The annual Doors Open Days Festival offers people the chance to explore buildings in Glasgow that are not usually open to the public. Many theatres are included in the programme and I was really excited to get to see behind the scenes of the theatre where I do most of my reviewing in Glasgow. The tours are free, but require advance booking and last around 40 minutes.

Designed by architect Frank Matcham, the King's Theatre opened in September 1904. On the throne at the time was King Edward. The theatre was one of the first to be designed without pillars affecting the view of the audience. Managed by ATG, the King's Theatre is a receiving theatre, and the only production they do in-house is the annual pantomime.

At the moment, the King's is host to the touring production of Cats. The stage manager took us around the backstage area and explained a bit about the work involved in putting on a production of that size. Cats uses seven lorries of equipment that need to be loaded into the theatre. There were two performances today of the show, but once it finishes tonight, the crew will work until around 7am on the get out..before Chicago's get in begins a few hours later at 1pm!

We were shown the quick change area in the wings where a costume change has to be kept under 30 seconds. Due to copyright you can't take pictures of them, but the backstage area has numerous wigs and costumes from Cats and they really are incredible close up.

Next, we went to the boxes, which have a surprisingly good view of the stage. Our guide explained that the boxes weren't so much to watch the show, but for the people sitting in them to be seen by everybody else. Some of the boxes house technical equipment now, but this is where royalty would sit if they visited the theatre.

One of my favourite things that I learned on the tour was that the cherubs above the stage are affectionately nicknamed "peely" and "wally", as christened by comedians Francie and Josie.

The Picture Lounge is the bar area that serves the grand circle and was recently refurbished. Celebrities and actors who have visited or performed at the King's Theatre are pictured around the bar. My personal favourite is Dolly Parton, who performed at the Royal Variety Show in 1977.

The King's Theatre now holds 1,800 people, but at the time it opened it would have been closer to 2,500 due to standing room and bench-style seating. Another bar area in the grand circle is known as "the crush", which is where people would gather to stand and watch shows through the doors.

Some of the benches used were designed so that patrons could sit upright with their coat tails and bustles hanging down through the back.

The final stop on the tour is the tribute to Gerard Kelly. The much-loved panto star whose catchphrase was "Hiya, pals" passed away suddenly in 2010. A statue of his iconic boots sits on the landing before the grand circle.

Despite visiting the theatre most weeks, there were a lot of things about the building that I didn't know or hadn't noticed. The King's is a beautiful theatre with a lot of history, which brings the top touring productions to Glasgow. I'm looking forward to returning on press nights and boring everyone with the fun facts that I learned on this tour.

Doors Open Day runs for one week every September, but the King's Theatre can arrange backstage tours when booking for groups of ten or more on 0844 871 7602.

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