The Iron, does it have to be shown?

[paulears]

This is rather an ancient topic, and so much has become flaky. Some theatre still have very old and complete licences with many layers of detail, and others have become diluted when attached to the premises licence. As the licence for each venue must be shown to the public, you should be able to read it. My experience from travelling around is that the big regional theatres have carried on the tradition for showing the iron, even when there is actually no legal requirement to do so.

 

I presume you went to a show, and they didn't do it - and this is what interests you? As the drive for 'correct operation' is often driven by the insurance companies, it would be strange to stop a process that doesn't really cause any grief. Add to this the fact that dropping the iron at the interval is a great way to do repairs and make noise on stage without annoying the audience and you can see why many drop the iron automatically. Sometimes, the decision to drop the iron or not is taken by the person in charge on practical grounds. As in my venue, showing the iron has not been a requirement for years, if somebody wishes to put a loudspeaker stack blocking the iron track, I usually go with it with few fears, but equally, the risk assessments of a show with fire eaters, for example mean blocking the iron track would be simply foolish.

 

Why not just wander around and find their premises licence and take a sneaky photo of it?

[kerry davies]

AR, welcome to BR and a few minor questions might help people to respond properly.

1. What is your name and can you tell us something about yourself?

2. Are you working in a venue with an iron?

3. Are you the appointed competent responsible person under the RRO?

4. If not what does your RA say about the iron?

 

As Paul writes, most of these ancient licence conditions pre-date 2003/2005 and since the RRO the emphasis has changed from prescriptive to self regulatory. It is almost impossible to set down hard and fast rules since there are 550 licensing authorities in the UK with about 500 different interpretations of fire regs.

 

This might help; Licensing enforcement enquiries: 0121 303 9611

[Jivemaster]

The "licence" should be understood by the person who applied for it, and likely only that person will be able to chat with the licensing authority to discus possible changes on a short or long term basis.

 

If you are the licence holder then you should know who your licensing officer is and how to contact them, if you are not the licence holder than you should ask the licence holder and work by their decision.

 

Sometimes the licence terms are hard to read, being written in various eras and usually in a specific form of legalese jargon.

 

The "licence" is extremely important to a venue, without it they are closed. IF there is an essential reason to ask their licencing officer the licence holder may ask for it from their licensing officer, any request from a visiting company needs to be made as soon as possible, far in advance of the show.

[J Pearce]

I suspect I know which venue this query relates to, and I would be very cautious about anything that prevents full use of the iron in that venue, due to the age of the venue, the materials is it made from and contains, and how the fire compartments were designed. Not showing the iron to the audience is a different matter, but often this request is on the basis of scenery/tech equipment in the way of the iron.

 

For those that do occasionally obstruct the iron it is worth considering whether your alarm system automatically drops the iron, and if so what chaos would ensue when the iron descends. False alarms are not unheard of...

[Jivemaster]

If you are a visiting company then assume that the iron will come down. A descending iron will kill a whole set. False alarms and intended fire alarm tests should bring the iron down immediately. If he venue has an iron then assume that it's needed to keep the licence therefore it is an essential and critical piece of the building.

[pmiller056]

I sure there were some theatres in the past (probably with a very crude fire alarm system by today's standards) which had a policy of leaving the iron down when the building was unoccupied. I do recall seing photos of the aftermath where there had been a major fire in an auditorium overnight and the lowered iron had done its job and saved the stage space from any significant damage. I'm not sure if anyone does this any more, although I would reasonably expect a serviceable iron to be automatically lowered whenever the fire alarm system operated, even just to provide compartmentation.

 

[Jivemaster]

The Theatre Royal in Nottingham (pre Royal Centre!) used the iron as screen for projecting local intermission advertisements.

[andy_s]

 

The Theatre Royal in Nottingham (pre Royal Centre!) used the iron as screen for projecting local intermission advertisements.

TR Nottingham not alone in this, back in the eighties one of my jobs in the theatre I worked at then was to operate the kodak carousel with kia-ora style adverts (still images only) onto the "screen" painted on the iron. (Pretty sure it was Pearl and Deane who supplied the ads and the theatre got some money for doing it)

 

with reference to the iron being brought in overnight, it can be a useful security thing, If a bad person breaks into the auditorium, they can't climb up onto the stage and easily access other backstage areas. (assuming pass doors are all secure)

 

regarding the prevention of destruction, the freshly restored Victorian auditorium of the New Tyne Theatre in Newcastle was saved from destruction by fire (which broke out in the flytower) because the chief had dropped the iron overnight. So the Grade 1 listed auditorium was saved...

 

Sadly the victorian stage machinery and panto sets on the stage side of the iron were damaged beyond repair. This was Christmas day 1985...

 

(ps the damage to the machinery wasn't actually directly due to the action of the fire; it was actually trashed by the collapse of the stage wall a few days after the fire, which had destroyed / weakened the structure and was therefore vulnerable to the high winds which blew... the masonry burst through the stage into the substage...)

Edited June 19, 2019 by andy_s

[GridGirl]

I sure there were some theatres in the past (probably with a very crude fire alarm system by today's standards) which had a policy of leaving the iron down when the building was unoccupied. I do recall seing photos of the aftermath where there had been a major fire in an auditorium overnight and the lowered iron had done its job and saved the stage space from any significant damage. I'm not sure if anyone does this any more, although I would reasonably expect a serviceable iron to be automatically lowered whenever the fire alarm system operated, even just to provide compartmentation.

 

The Opera Theatre at the Sydney Opera House did this nightly until the 2017 refurbishment which included removal of the iron.

[Just Some Bloke]

I worked at a venue where the local council were happy for us not to need to show the iron every performance, as long as the iron was regularly tested.

 

We tested it by bringing it in every night and taking it out the next day. Extra fire protection overnight and approved testing regime: 2 birds, one stone.

[johnlinford]

I'm slightly puzzled by some of the replies here in terms of overnight etc - surely the Iron is regarded as a crucial part of fire compartmentalisation and protection for the building and should therefore be in-place at all times when there is no requirement for the stage to be in use (overnight/during the day when the theatre is dark etc) - even during big fitups to avoid dust contamination of the auditorium can be good! Unless of course your FRA has deemed that the compartmentalisation is no longer necessary.

 

I know many older theatres when Irons were manually operated and based on a counterweight system had a second exterior handle to operate them if needed.