Self guided room by room tour (page4) (Instructions in red)
2) The Patti Theatre
The theatre at Craig-y-Nos
Photograph by kind permission of Brecknock Museum
Built in 1891, the theatre was based on Wagners Opera House in Bayreuth, Bavaria.
The theatre at Craig y Nos is a remarkable addition and can hold 150 people. It was designed as a private auditorium where an international Queen of Song could enthrall, with her remarkable voice, all those who came to listen.
The opening ceremony took place on the 12th July 1891, when the list of guests included the Spanish Ambassador and Baron Julius Reuter, founder of the Foreign News Agency.
Sir Henry Irving was to have given the opening address but was unable to attend and a leading actor, William Terris, deputised for him. This unfortunate man was assassinated by a ‘madman’ outside the Adelphi Theatre in London, some six years later.
The ascending / descending auditorium floor is the oldest surviving example of moveable floors – a concept pioneered by Adelina Patti. Two Victorian hand-wound mechanical jacks raise and lower the floor. The floor is lowered when the room is used as a theatre, with the auditorium sloping down towards the stage. The original theatre chairs even had longer legs at the front than at the back, to allow for the tilt of the floor.
The floor is raised level when in use as a ball room. The hand-wound jacks, still in use today, are under the stage at the front of the auditorium and are accessible from the orchestra pit. The theatre is now licensed for weddings and couples can choose whether to have the floor sloping down to the stage or raised level with the stage for their ceremony. Most couples choose to have the floor lowered so they can ascend the steps on to the stage, where they are married.
Patti required both a theatre and a ballroom to entertain her guests in. So the theatre doubled up as a ballroom for her and her guests and for her to rehearse her performances in. After entertaining her