Hitting the - Scottish Opera

BEHINDCLOSEDDOORSHitting theHIGH NOTESIn a seamless fusion of the city’s manufacturingpast and its future as a hub of culture, ScottishOpera has made its home in the glorious formerHQ of the Institute of Engineers and ShipbuildersWords Anna Burnside Photography Liz LeesHOMES & INTERIORS SCOTLAND 111

BEHIND CLOSED DOORSIf the ambitious men responsible for the magnificentheadquarters of the Institute of Engineers and Shipbuilders ofScotland at the beginning of the last century were to comeback to Glasgow and see it today, they would be flushed withpride. The street, Elmbank Crescent, may have changed, buttheir former home remains as a tribute to its architect, JohnBennie Wilson, and his masters’ attention to detail. The palestone exterior is as imposing as it ever was, the Beaux Artsinterior just as lush, and the stained glass as intricate andthrilling as when it was installed in 1907.The sign above the door might give them a funny turn,though: what exactly is Scottish Opera doing in their venerableold premises?But once they’d taken a look inside, they would be relieved tosee that the place has more than stood the test of time and thatdetails from their day, from the sliding bolts on the doors tothe fire buckets in the entrance hall, are not just fully intact,they are still in use.In fact, Scottish Opera has been in the building since 1962,when the decline of the city’s heavy industry forced the[Above] Glasgow’s shipbuilding heritage is illustrated in StephenAdam’s wonderful stained glass, along with a portrait of WilliamRankine; [opposite page] Scottish Opera’s musicians and soloistshard at work; double basses take up plenty of spaceengineers and shipbuilders to downsize. Those early days werea bit of a squash, with Scottish Ballet sharing the premises, andit remained a logistical challenge even after the dancers de -camped. The wardrobe department, for example, was splitbetween two floors, the sets had to be built in a warehouse inSpringburn, and it was hard work squeezing a timpani into atiny Edwardian lift.Today Scottish Opera, by far the biggest arts organisation inthe country, uses all three storeys, plus a vast and largely un -touched basement, for office work and small-scale rehearsals.The company also has a custom-built production unit in anearby industrial estate, where it can manufacture its enor -mous stage sets, store everything from harpsichords anddouble basses to chandeliers, prams, net petticoats and button“IT IS MAGICAL WHEN THE CHORUS OR ORCHESTRA ARE IN. THE MUSICSWEEPS OUT OF THE RANKINE HALL, AT THE TOP, AND DOWN THE STAIRS”boots, and even replicate the stage at Glasgow’s Theatre Royalfor full-scale rehearsals. It’s the best of both worlds, givingthem an impressive administrative base and a functional homefor the business-end of their operation.Morna Gourlay, the company’s administrative assistant, hasbecome Elmbank Crescent’s unofficial curator. She clearlyadores every corner of her workplace. “It’s so robust,” she says.“I love the fact that it’s still standing and fully functional whenother buildings we remember from our childhood are fallingdown. And it is magical when the chorus or the orchestra arein. They are rehearsing Handel’s Orlando at the moment and itsweeps out of the Rankine Hall, at the top of the building, anddown the stairs.”The musicians are put through their paces in the grandmeeting rooms where the engineers and shipbuilders oncedebated the finer points of industrial design. On the top floorthe meeting hall, named after the institute’s first president,Professor William Macquorn Rankine, still has the originalgold lettering, brass handles and finger plates on the doors.The good professor himself stares down from the stained-glasswindow, through an impressive set of hand-painted muttonchopwhiskers, on the rehearsals below.The other windows celebrate the achievements of the insti -tute’s members: the Clyde-built liner Lusitania; Comet, the112 HOMES & INTERIORS SCOTLANDHOMES & INTERIORS SCOTLAND 113

[This page] Operas are not just aboutthe music – the costumes and setsplay a leading role too. Dozens ofpairs of shoes and countless wigs arenecessary for each production, alongwith hand-made outfits for the chorusand the soloists. Transcribing thescores is time-consuming work too.[Opposite] Scottish Opera has had itsown dedicated orchestra since 1980THE MUSICIANS REHEARSE IN THE GRANDMEETING ROOMS WHERE THE ENGINEERSONCE DEBATED INDUSTRIAL DESIGNfirst commercial steam ship; and Stevenson’s Rocket, the firstmodern locomotive. Stephen Adam, the Glasgow stained-glassartist, was the finest practitioner in the country at the time,and the building is a testament to his talents and versatility.Outside the Rankine Hall, under the ornate cupola, there is acontemporary brown leather sofa and several distinctly non-Edwardian chairs. One of the problems of fitting the 45-oddstaff of a modern arts organisation into a century-old buildingis that the ample square footage is often arranged in the mostinconvenient ways. While the public spaces are generous, someof the offices are minuscule, so staff are encouraged to spill outand use the hallways as much as possible.With a judicious use of imagination, partition walls andwireless technology, they make it work and opera, the highestof the arts, is conceived in a building that was built to celebratethe industrial revolution. Staff pass the crests of the westcoast’s great shipbuilding districts – Govan, Partick, Clyde -bank, Port Glasgow – as they climb the marble stairs everymorning. It is an extraordinary, poignant fusion of the city’smanufacturing past and its future as a hub of culture.A mile or so north, just off the M8, the production unitcould not feel more different from Elmbank Crescent. It has acafé selling scones and cappuccinos. The air smells of sawdustand fresh paint. What it lacks in stained glass, cupolas andsteam trains it more than makes up for in 21st-centuryfacilities.Staging an opera is a huge technical undertaking and this is thecompany’s factory, where the substance of each production is 114 HOMES & INTERIORS SCOTLAND HOMES & INTERIORS SCOTLAND 115

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS[Above] The impressive stone façade was built in 1907 by John BennieWilson; [left] the original fire buckets are just some of the details thathave been retained – and which are still being used by the occupantsTHE LONG SEWING STUDIO ISDOTTED WITH MASKS, BONNETSAND ROLLS OF PEA-GREEN LUREXmanufactured. “The raw material comes in to the south car park,and complete operas go out into the north car park,” explainsDouglas McGill, who runs the production unit. It’s true: as hespeaks, guys in hoodies load the set of Dr Ferret’s Bad MedicineShow into a pantechnicon in front of McGill’s watchful eyes.This is where the industrial and the artistic meet: there areforklift trucks to carry heavy scenery and flight cases, atallescope (that’s a tall ladder mounted on a wheeled scaffol -ding rig) for putting up lights, and a heavy-duty laundry fordyeing, spraying and fumigating costumes. But there are alsowhole storage cages full of period chairs, a row of differentchandeliers and, in the props room, a shelf of bottles thatwould put a student crash-pad to shame. All empty. And witha preponderance of champagne. “Somehow, in opera,” saysMcGill, “it is always champagne.”The wardrobe department, which was split between twofloors in Elmbank Crescent, finally has room to breathe.Several of the company’s most outré creations are dotted likesculptures around the building, as they should be – these aretoo fabulous to keep in a cupboard. The long sewing studio isdotted with masks, bonnets, rolls of pea-green lurex andvarious works in process. A plastic laundry basket is filled withstetsons; other boxes are labelled ‘peasant shawls’, ‘berets’,‘sewing machine manuals’. Two cutting rooms are hung withpaper patterns, one room for men, one for women. There is acosy kitchen area in the corner. They need it: in the run-up toa production, the costume-makers can pull some scary shifts.The costume store, which runs the length of the building,makes Mr Ben’s cartoon emporium look like a Cowdenbeathcharity shop. There are gowns Marie Antoinette might con -sider a little over the top, corsets in every colour, a whole rowof military jackets, a flesh-coloured body suit covered in luridtattoos, a pair of glossy black wings made from real feathers.Here, as in every department, the attention to detail is mindbending.The engineers of the Edwardian era might notrecognise the end product, but they would surely raise theirhats to the love and care that goes into the process. www.scottishopera.org.uk116 HOMES & INTERIORS SCOTLAND