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57-602: The Bradford Playhouse is a 266-seat proscenium arch theatre with circle and stall seating based in Little Germany , in the city of Bradford , West Yorkshire , England . Formerly known as The Priestley, the theatre also has a studio space that has flexible lighting, sound and seating arrangements. The theatre was founded by an amateur group, the Bradford Playhouse Company, in 1929, renting Jowett Hall – an ex-Temperance Hall previously used as

114-642: A cinema – as its premises. The Bradford company was an offshoot of the Leeds Civic Playhouse Company, and became independent of its parent in 1932. J. B. Priestley became president of the theatre in 1932, when it separated from Leeds Civic Theatre, and remained president until his death in 1984. His sister Winnie, who had been the secretary of the Bradford branch of the Leeds Civic Theatre, went on to serve as secretary to

171-466: A clearly defined " boccascena ", or scene mouth, as Italians call it, more like a picture frame than an arch but serving the same purpose: to deineate the stage and separate the audience from its action. While the proscenium arch became an important feature of the traditional European theatre, often becoming very large and elaborate, the original proscaenium front below the stage became plainer. The introduction of an orchestra pit for musicians during

228-419: A deal to sell its assets to a buyer before appointing administrators to facilitate the sale. It is a legal way of selling the business on to a trade buyer or third party. A pre-pack is the process of selling the assets of a company immediately after it has entered administration. It is sometimes the case that the previous directors or management purchase the assets of the company from the administrator and set up

285-490: A debtor who has enough money left over after priority creditors and essential expenses may be able to arrange an individual voluntary arrangement. (Debtors with less serious problems may prefer a debt management plan .) The Republic of Ireland operates a similar process called examinership , but companies require permission from the High Court to enter and leave examinership. In New Zealand , voluntary administration

342-451: A floating charge created prior to 15 September 2003 retain their right to appoint an administrative receiver, but all purported rights to do so created after that date will be construed as rights to appoint an administrator, subject to certain specific, rare exceptions. A court order is issued that forbids any form of legal or insolvency action without the court's permission. An application to the court for an administration order may be made by

399-412: A good view because the performers need only focus on one direction rather than continually moving around the stage to give a good view from all sides. A proscenium theatre layout also simplifies the hiding and obscuring of objects from the audience's view (sets, performers not currently performing, and theatre technology). Anything that is not meant to be seen is simply placed outside the "window" created by

456-423: A great darkness. Readers … may possibly not care twopence if every playhouse in the country should close tomorrow. The point is that in communities that have suffered the most from industrial depression, among younger people who frequently cannot see what is to become of their jobs and their lives, these theatres have opened little windows into a world of ideas, colour, fine movement, exquisite drama, have kept going

513-605: A more flexible regime is available under the Companies' Creditors Arrangements Act ("CCAA"). In UK law, the administration regime is governed by the Insolvency Act 1986 , as amended by the Enterprise Act 2002 . An "administrator" can be appointed without petitioning the court by the holder of a floating charge (created since 15 September 2003), by the company or by its directors. Other creditors must petition

570-461: A new company. This process has advantages in that it enables the administrator to realise a greater amount for the assets due to business continuity and that the goodwill of the company is preserved. The employees of the company are also usually transferred to the new company, preserving jobs. Pre-packs have attracted criticism because of the appearance it gives to unconnected parties that the company has just continued without its creditors. SIP 16

627-520: A proscenium arch, but the term thrust stage is more specific and more widely used). In dance history , the use of the proscenium arch has affected dance in different ways. Prior to the use of proscenium stages, early court ballets took place in large chambers where the audience members sat around and above the dance space. The performers, often led by the queen or king, focused in symmetrical figures and patterns of symbolic meaning. Ballet's choreographic patterns were being born. In addition, since dancing

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684-506: A rescue mechanism for insolvent entities and allows them to carry on running their business. The process – in the United Kingdom colloquially called being "under administration" – is an alternative to liquidation or may be a precursor to it. Administration is commenced by an administration order . A company in administrative receivership is operated by an administrator (as interim chief executive with custodial responsibility for

741-517: A stir of thought and imagination for actors, helpers, audiences, have acted as outposts for the army of the citizens of tomorrow, demanding to live. Jowett Hall burned down in April 1935. With help from Priestley, who donated royalties from several plays, the organisation bought the site and rebuilt. Opened by Sir Barry Jackson in January 1937, the new premises were a combined theatre and cinema called

798-410: Is a process designed to protect limited companies from their creditors while a debt restructuring plan is carried out and presented to creditors and courts. This administration order process requires a licensed insolvency practitioner to act as the administrator appointed by the court. The administration order does not concern joint debt. Pre pack is an insolvency procedure where a company arranges

855-407: Is an officer of the court and an agent of the company, and is not personally liable for any contracts they make on behalf of the company. They have the power to do anything necessary or expedient for the management of the affairs, business and property of the company. The new administration regime introduced by the Enterprise Act 2002 replaces the previous situation where administrative receivership

912-523: Is covered by the Companies Act 1993 , as amended under the Companies (Voluntary Administration) Regulations Bill in 2007. In Ukraine, a system of "sanation" ( Ukrainian : санація ) measures take place to prevent or lessen the effect of insolvency. The basic components of those measures include providing special loans and subsidies; exemptions for issuing a credit or taxation; restructuring of

969-466: Is no English equivalent ... It would also be possible to retain the classical frons scaenae . The Italian "arco scenico" has been translated as "proscenium arch." In practice, however, the stage in the Teatro Olimpico runs from one edge of the seating area to the other, and only a very limited framing effect is created by the coffered ceiling over the stage and by the partition walls at

1026-440: Is operating efficiently, with enough freedom of competition between insolvency practitioners and whether consumers and creditors are being treated as fairly as possible. An example of a pre-pack is the sale of the assets of Cobra Beer to Coors immediately after Cobra Beer entered administration. This allowed the brand to continue and saved jobs, but also left suppliers out of pocket by an estimated £75 million. In this process,

1083-459: The proscaenium , again meaning "in front of the skene ". In the Greek and Roman theatre, no proscenium arch existed, in the modern sense, and the acting space was always fully in the view of the audience. However, Roman theatres were similar to modern proscenium theatres in the sense that the entire audience had a restricted range of views on the stage—all of which were from the front, rather than

1140-555: The Baroque era further devalued the proscaenium , bringing the lowest level of the audience's view forward to the front of the pit, where a barrier, typically in wood, screened the pit. What the Romans would have called the proscaenium is, in modern theatres with orchestra pits, normally painted black in order that it does not draw attention. In this early modern recreation of a Roman theatre, confusion seems to have been introduced to

1197-523: The proskenion (προσκήνιον) was a rather narrow raised stage where solo actors performed, while the Greek chorus and musicians remained in the "orchestra" in front and below it, and there were often further areas for performing from above and behind the proskenion, on and behind the skene . Skene is the Greek word (meaning "tent") for the tent, and later building, at the back of the stage from which actors entered, and which often supported painted scenery. In

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1254-621: The Arts , the theatre has suffered a sequence of financial crises, and closed or nearly closed several times. In October 2001, it launched an appeal with the help of the Bradford Telegraph & Argus to raise £10,000 in order to avoid voluntary liquidation. The appeal raised over £11,000, and gave the theatre a breathing space of three months, but by January it was again reported as facing liquidation. The theatre nevertheless continued to operate throughout 2002, but in January 2003 it

1311-509: The Hellenistic period it became an increasingly large and elaborate stone structure, often with three storeys. In Greek theatre, which unlike Roman included painted scenery, the proskenion might also carry scenery. In ancient Rome, the stage area in front of the scaenae frons (equivalent to the Greek skene) was known as the pulpitum , and the vertical front dropping from the stage to the orchestra floor, often in stone and decorated, as

1368-632: The Priestley. The company ran as an amateur theatre, with film showings between plays. The latter continued until 2001, despite losing its status as a regional film theatre a few years before, when the National Museum of Television, Film and Photography – now the National Media Museum took over that role. On the night of Friday, 19 July 1996 during a run of Aristophanes ' Lysistrata , the theatre had another major fire, but

1425-513: The Teatro Olimpico clearly show that the action took place in front of the scaenae frons and that the actors were rarely framed by the central archway). The Italian word for a scaenae frons is " proscenio ," a major change from Latin. One modern translator explains the wording problem that arises here: "[In this translation from Italian,] we retain the Italian proscenio in the text; it cannot be rendered proscenium for obvious reasons; and there

1482-596: The Teatro Olimpico's exact replication of the open and accessible Roman stage was the exception rather than the rule in sixteenth-century theatre design. Engravings suggest that the proscenium arch was already in use as early as 1560 at a production in Siena . The earliest true proscenium arch to survive in a permanent theatre is the Teatro Farnese in Parma (1618), many earlier such theatres having been lost. Parma has

1539-435: The beginning of dance-performance as a form of entertainment like we know it today. Since the use of the proscenium stages, dances have developed and evolved into more complex figures, patterns, and movements. At this point, it was not only significantly important how the performers arrived to a certain shape on the stage during a performance, but also how graciously they executed their task. Additionally, these stages allowed for

1596-595: The building for six months: it was now called The New Bradford Playhouse . Throughout, the liquidators had been looking for a purchaser for the building, with no guarantee that it would continue to be a theatre, and in June 2014 they announced that it was to go to auction on 10 July. Megan Murray, of the Friends of Bradford Playhouse, launched an appeal for funds to buy the building, and lobbied Bradford Council to declare it an Asset of Community Value, which would have delayed

1653-516: The business's debts and capital; change of organizational and production structure of the debtor; full or partial nationalization; others. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and reforming the existing socialist law , in 1999 there was established a law "About restoring the debtor's solvency or declaring him bankrupt". The official who administers "sanation" is known as an "arbitral director" ( Ukrainian : aрбітрaжний керуючий ) and

1710-416: The characters performing on stage are doing so in a four-walled environment, with the "wall" facing the audience being invisible. Many modern theatres attempt to do away with the fourth wall concept and so are instead designed with a thrust stage that projects out of the proscenium arch and "reaches" into the audience (technically, this can still be referred to as a proscenium theatre because it still contains

1767-573: The company and control of the company is given entirely to the administrator. Directors of the company are prohibited from acting in their capacity as directors for the duration of the administration, while administrators are personally liable for any debts incurred by the company in the course of the administration. The Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act provides mechanisms for consumer and general proposals in order to give time for an insolvent person to be able to reorganize his affairs. For insolvent companies (or affiliated groups) owing more than $ 5 million,

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1824-448: The company directors. In involuntary administrative receivership, the administrator is appointed by a judicial court. The legal terms for these processes vary from country to country, and the processes may overlap. In Australia, an external administrator, also called an insolvency practitioner , is an independent person that is formally appointed to control an insolvent company's affairs. External administrators can be appointed either by

1881-536: The company rebuilt the set in their Studio theatre so that the final show of the run took place. During the 1996–97 season, although the main auditorium was closed for reconstruction, a full season of plays was presented in the Studio, then on Friday 31 October 1997 the main auditorium re-opened with J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls . Since reopening in 1997 after the fire, as the Priestley Centre for

1938-408: The company's assets and obligations) on behalf of its creditors . The administrator may recapitalize the business, sell the business to new owners, or demerge it into elements that can be sold and close the remainder. Most countries distinguish between voluntary (board-decided) and involuntary (court-decided) receivership. In voluntary administrative receivership, the administrator is appointed by

1995-427: The company's assets or carry out other tasks. Voluntary administration is when the directors of an insolvent company appoint an external administrator to investigate whether winding up the corporation can be prevented or delayed and to make recommendations to the directors and their creditors as to whether the company should enter into a deed of company arrangement, be wound up (i.e. liquidated ), or be returned to

2052-564: The company's assets will be managed to ensure better returns for its creditors than an immediate winding up. When a creditor petitions the court seeking a court liquidation (a court-mandated winding up) of an insolvent company, the court appoints a " provisional liquidator " to temporarily preserve the company's assets while the winding-up application is pending. Administrators are required to be registered liquidators since they have broad powers to deal with company property. The appointment of an administrator "freezes" any legal proceedings against

2109-404: The company's directors, a secured creditor , or by a court, and include: provisional liquidators , liquidators , voluntary administrators, deed administrators , controllers , and receivers . A receivership is when an external administrator known as a "receiver" is appointed by a secured creditor to sell off a company's assets in order to repay the secured debt , or by the court to protect

2166-478: The company, the directors, a creditor or any combination of them. The Enterprise Act 2002 amended the Insolvency Act 1986 to provide an out-of-court process to appoint an administrator to the holder of a floating charge or the company or its directors. This is considerably cheaper and simpler than the previous system, which involved an application to court. In the United Kingdom, an administration order

2223-421: The control of the directors. After an administrator is appointed, there are two meetings of creditors, held within tight time-frames, with the second being the most important as it will decide whether to enter into a deed of company arrangement (DOCA), end the administration or wind the company up. The DOCA is a binding agreement between a business and its creditors overseen by a deed administrator relating to how

2280-402: The corners of the stage where the seating area abuts the floorboards. The result is that in this theatre "the architectural spaces for the audience and the action ... are distinct in treatment yet united by their juxtaposition; no proscenium arch separates them." A proscenium arch creates a "window" around the scenery and performers. The advantages are that it gives everyone in the audience

2337-670: The country. Most of them have to struggle along, … this dramatic movement, … is of immense social importance – To begin with, it is a genuine popular movement, not something fostered by a few rich cranks. The people who work for these theatres are not by any means people who want to kill time. They are generally hard-working men and women … whose evenings are precious to them … and they are tremendously enthusiastic, even if at times they are also like all theatrical folk everywhere – given to quarrelling and displays of temperament ...These theatres are very small and have to fight for their very existence, but … I see them as little camp-fires twinkling in

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2394-638: The court can be produced at the courts discretion. Administration is analogous to going into " Chapter 11 " in the United States, although there are certain key differences, mainly stemming from the fact that English law does not include the debtor in possession concept. During the reorganisation period, as a result, the administrator usually runs the business rather than the directors, and any additional liquidity requirements effectively have to be met by funds provided by existing creditors rather than by any super-senior ' DIP financing '. The administrator

2451-465: The court to appoint an administrator. The administrator must act in the interests of all the creditors and attempt to rescue the company as a going concern . If this proves impossible the administrator must work to maximise the recovery of the creditors as a whole. Only then may the administrator attempt to realise property in favour of one or more secured creditors. A firm is usually in administration for no more than 12 months, after which an extension from

2508-482: The drop, in traditional theatres of modern times, from the stage level to the "stalls" level of the audience, which was the original meaning of the proscaenium in Roman theatres , where this mini-facade was given more architectural emphasis than is the case in modern theatres. A proscenium stage is structurally different from a thrust stage or an arena stage , as explained below. In later Hellenistic Greek theatres

2565-482: The independent Bradford Civic Theatre, and is commemorated by a plaque in the theatre. In 1934, Priestley wrote of the Bradford Civic Theatre in his book English Journey . Bradford has a Civic Theatre, of which I happen to be President... Even now, many people do not realise that there is a chain of such theatres, small intelligent repertory theatres organised on various lines, stretching across

2622-453: The liquidators' ability to sell it. In July 2014, local theatre enthusiast Colin Fine bought the theatre from the liquidators, with the intention that it continue to be developed as a theatre. Takeover Events & Theatre continued to manage and run the theatre until July 2016, when they stepped back to concentrate on production. Megan and Carl Murray, who had been very much involved in managing

2679-414: The proscenium arch, either in the wings or in the flyspace above the stage. The phrase "breaking the proscenium" or "breaking the fourth wall" refers to when a performer addresses the audience directly as part of the dramatic production. Proscenium theatres have fallen out of favor in some theatre circles because they perpetuate the fourth wall concept. The staging in proscenium theatres often implies that

2736-558: The sides or back. The oldest surviving indoor theatre of the modern era, the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza (1585), is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the first example of a proscenium theatre. The Teatro Olimpico was an academic reconstruction of a Roman theatre. It has a plain proscaenium at the front of the stage, dropping to the orchestra level, now usually containing "stalls" seating, but no proscenium arch. However,

2793-476: The theatre under licence from the liquidators. The theatre was reopened as The Little Germany Theatre . Be Wonderful announced that the Studio would be reopened in January 2012, as the "Isherwood Studio", in honour of former member Millicent Isherwood. A year later, in October 2012, Be Wonderful had had to close the theatre, but Clare and Jono Gadsby formed a new company Takeover Events & Theatre Ltd. to lease

2850-424: The theatre, took over its running as Purple Stage Theatres on 1 August 2016. Proscenium It can be considered as a social construct which divides the actors and their stage-world from the audience which has come to witness it. But since the curtain usually comes down just behind the proscenium arch, it has a physical reality when the curtain is down, hiding the stage from view. The same plane also includes

2907-421: The use of stage effects generated by ingenious machinery. It was the beginning of scenography design, and perhaps also it was also the origin of the use of backstage personnel or "stage hands". Went into administration As a legal concept, administration is a procedure under the insolvency laws of a number of common law jurisdictions, similar to bankruptcy in the United States . It functions as

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2964-543: The use of the revived term in Italian. This emulation of the Roman model extended to refer to the stage area as the "proscenium", and some writers have incorrectly referred to the theatre's scaenae frons as a proscenium, and have even suggested that the central archway in the middle of the scaenae frons was the inspiration for the later development of the full-size proscenium arch. There is no evidence at all for this assumption (indeed, contemporary illustrations of performances at

3021-505: Was announced that it was to close on 20 January. But a new board, led by Thomas Sandford, managed to secure a £40,000 bank loan, and this, together with £18,000 in donations, allowed it to stay open. It was relaunched under the new name of The Priestley , with the management of the building now separate from the various groups that used the building. The Priestley faced another financial crisis in Autumn 2008, and went into administration . It

3078-421: Was available as an alternative to administration, which has traditionally been a more rescue-oriented insolvency regime. This regime allowed the holder of a floating charge to appoint an administrative receiver to realise assets in his favour, and also to block an administration order sought by a borrower. This was felt to be too favourable to the floating charge holder at the expense of other creditors. Holders of

3135-399: Was considered a way of socializing, most of the court ballets finished with a ‘grand ballet’ followed by a ball in which the members of the audience joined the performance. Later on, the use of the proscenium stage for performances established a separation of the audience from the performers. Therefore, more devotion was placed on the performers, and in what was occurring in the ‘show.’ It was

3192-455: Was introduced in January 2009 to assist Insolvency Practitioners in pre-pack cases. It was designed to make the process more transparent for creditors, and to ensure that fair value was obtained for the assets. In November 2009, the Office of Fair Trading announced a study into corporate insolvencies, with particular focus on pre-pack administrations, to report on whether the insolvency market

3249-620: Was relaunched with a new board led by Jenny Wilson, reverting to its former name, The Bradford Playhouse . A grant of £51,000 from the Arts Council of England in July 2009 brought it out of administration. In September 2011, the Playhouse went into liquidation, with debts of £300,000. A former chairman of the Playhouse, Rob Walters, himself a creditor, agreed with the liquidators Clough & Co. that his company Be Wonderful Ltd. would run

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