Inflatable auditorium to stage production of The Wizard of Oz

Published on Friday 3 July 2009 10:00

A SPECTACULAR transformation will take place in Montgomery Street Park this summer as an inflatable theatre shoots up in the gardens to entertain Fringe audiences – in just ten minutes.

When the auditorium is deflated at the end of the run, it could spell a whole new lease of life for the park, as a percentage of the profits are ploughed into a revamp project.

The auditorium will host a production of The Wizard of Oz by theatre company Eventertainia, and the Friends of Montgomery Street Park are to receive a cut of the ticket sales to boost their scheme to overhaul the park.

The group is working to raise 500,000 to pay for new play equipment, a community planting area, a new ball court and basketball hoop.

The inflatable auditorium, known as the Roaming Coliseum, measures 12 metres by 16 metres and holds between 120 and 150 people.

It was designed by Eventertainia director Mark Wheeler specially for the show, and made to his specifications by a firm in China. Fully water-tight and wind-resistant, it will arrive on the back of a lorry, complete with mobile cocktail bar, and be swiftly put into action. Mr Wheeler, 25, said: "We've got a stage that folds out of the lorry like a drawbridge on to supporting legs and then the inflatable auditorium goes over it.

"It takes about ten minutes to inflate once it's plugged in and pegged out. In total, the whole thing can be up and down within an hour and the light rigging about another half an hour.

"It's almost like an airline hangar on the outside, and inside like a minimalist auditorium."

It is the first time the Norfolk-based company has been to Edinburgh, and Mr Wheeler said he was delighted to have found the park, just off Easter Road.

He said: "I spoke with the festival organisers about spaces that would be suitable for what we were looking to do. They suggested Meadowbank and Montgomery Street Park. I spoke to the Friends and it was decided that it was a more appropriate space, and it suits the show."

Events manager for the Friends, Suzanne Gibson, said members were delighted to have the visit.

She said: "It's the first time that the park will have been used in many years for the festival.

"It will bring people to the area, it will create a good atmosphere and as Friends of Montgomery Street Park are going to get a portion of ticket sales, it will benefit the improvement of the park, so we're glad they're coming."

The Roaming Coliseum will be tested with an audience for the first time tomorrow when the up-to-date take on The Wizard of Oz is first staged in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

It opens in Edinburgh on 7 August, running until 31 August.