The Grade II Listed Prince Edward Theatre in London’s West End was designed in 1930 by Edward A. Stone, with interiors by Marc-Henri Levy and Gaston Laverdet. It was converted to a dance and cabaret hall named the London Casino and returned to theatrical use following WWII bomb damage.

We investigated design options for making the existing Theatre stage door entrance and stage door keepers office more secure. Improving the security of the stage door entrance would include better incident containment, access control, surveillance and sight-lines.

The existing stage door keeper is ‘spaced out’ in a sense, confined to a narrow enclosure. Likewise, the stage door entrance is cramped, awkward and in need of interior design to improve Thespian, staff and visitor movement through this space.

The key security measures to be considered are primarily manual attack, ballast attack which includes use of fire arms and disorderly individuals who may be either intoxicated or suffer with poor mental health.

Our approach looked very carefully at the current local situation and its wider internal context, also looking outside the realms of architecture. Work-groups were held with the stage door keeper to better understand the stage door programme and understand the unique characteristics of the existing neighbourhood.

Key objectives were improving sight lines and flow of staff, visitors, deliveries and thespians through the space. The designs were to improve the stage door interior quality to equal that of the main spaces while rationalising and making better use of space, as well as more pragmatic provision of additional storage, counter space and kitchenette