J&C Joel installed a fabulous pair of Front of House Curtains with matching pelmet, stage skirt and other associated drapery as part of a £4million refurbishment to the Palace Theatre in Redditch.
Built in 1913, the Grade II listed building was designed by seminal British theatre architect Bertie Crew and is a major receiving house for touring shows.
The aim of the refurbishment was to restore the theatre to its original form, so the nine metre wide by five metre drop Front of House Curtains were manufactured from a bespoke red mohair Velvet Velour. Similar to that which would have been used for the theatre’s original house curtains, specially woven and dyed in traditional methods to ensure
an authentic finish.
Above these a matching pelmet was installed manufactured from the same red velvet measuring seven metres wide with a two metre drop. A stage skirt, four sets of box curtains for the theatre’s circle and two sets of for the stalls were also manufactured.
In order to ensure the authenticity of the finished product J&C Joel paid meticulous attention to detail. All tassels and fringing used on the curtains were made of the highest quality wool spun using traditional methods.
The bottom section of the pelmet features an intricate silk appliqué frieze matching that running round the inside face of the proscenium arch was hand sewn and contains hundreds of hand sewn elements.
