Wolverhampton Grand at 125: Cold War thaw brings ice to theatre
Ice is laid on the Grand Theatre stage for a show that ushered in a new era – all thanks to a thawing of relations between East and West.
A huge ice rink was being created for a visit by the Russian All Stars on their first-ever trip to the UK. It followed the Perestroika movement in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s which led to an easing of travel restrictions on its citizens.
The Russian All Stars were former competitive skaters who between them had won more than 300 Olympic, European and world championship medals.
They first performed in the UK in 1993 in Sleeping Beauty on Ice which arrived in Wolverhampton in March 1994 as part of a worldwide tour. The production featured 22 skaters reaching speeds of up to 40mph, 180 costume changes – and fireworks.
Our photograph shows ice engineer Paul Dower at the theatre where he and a crew of technicians were preparing the 40 sq ft ice stage. It took 12 tons of ice to build the rink, which had to be kept at a temperature of minus 14C throughout the visit.
The company went on to tour other shows, reaching audiences in places as diverse as Hong Kong, Monte Carlo, Australia and Denmark.
And they have revisited the Grand since, always preceded by two 45ft lorries containing their considerable equipment, including two industrial pool liners, almost 10 miles of flexible piping, gallons of anti-freeze and a couple of very large chiller units.
In our picture, bags of crushed ice are being laid over and in between the piping. The depth of the frozen surface will eventually be around three inches.
Due to the tilt of the Grand's stage, the front has always had to be built up to make the surface flat. It took 140 hours for Paul and his team to set up the stage and just 30 hours to take down.
* To celebrate the Grand's milestone anniversary, the Express & Star is running a weekly feature looking back at the venue through the decades in association with the Grand's own 125 Memories Project. If you have any stories or pictures of visits to the Grand, email 125@grandtheatre.co.uk or in writing to 125 Memories Project, c/o Stage Door, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, Lichfield Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1DE.
