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Published: April 24th 2018
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A break from Flowers - Tour of historic Theatre "Baltazar Dias"
On February 9th 1882, The City Hall of Funchal made the decision to build a new theatre on the fields of the Old St. John's market. The project was commenced by the architect Tomas Auguster Soler from Oporto but due to his early death in 1883 the project was handed over to its fellow architect Jose Macedo de Araulo Junior.
The theatre follows the typical Italian model based on the "Sao Carlos Theatre" in Lisbon & "La Scala Theatre" in Milan.The construction was completed in 1887 but the theatre was not officially inaugurated until March 1888.The theatre's name changed several times. Initially in homage to the Queen of the time "Theatre D. Maria Pia".
Then came the Republican Revolution & the city hall thought the name of a queen wasn't suitable. The name changed to "Theatre Dr. Manuel de Arriage", the first elected president of the Portugese Republic. However, he did not accept the gesture and declined it !So in 1912 it changed again to "Teatro Funchalense" but with the death in 1917 of Mauel de Arriage the name came up again.In 1935 the city hall president
decided once more to give the theatre another new name "Baltazar Dias" as homage to the great blind poet & playwrite, born in Madeira and an essential reference of the Portugese theatre scene.
That name still stands but if you're ever asked in a quiz about the name of the theatre in Funchal you should now know the answers ! Enough about the history, let gets going with the tour.
We entered into the Foyer room which is also used for exhibitions and small concerts. The ceiling was beautifully decorated and a bronze plaque on the wall was of Baltazar Dias, the blind poet with his daughter who was also his aid when writing.
The auditorium is horse shoe shaped giving wonderful accustics. We were all listening intently to Vanessa our guide when suddenly a large group of school children arrived, the teacher having to Shoosh them as the piled into the seated boxes rather excited.
The chandelier has 128 bulbs and we were to see later in the tour the mechanism to lower the chandelier for cleaning & maintenance.
We had the opportunity to sit in the Presidential box as well as some of
the smaller boxes. As we entered up onto the stage, from our small group started to sing beautifully and we could then imagine the sound of the audience as we applauded.
We heard how years ago there was a prompter shell where someone would sit below the stage out of view and earshot of the audience and prompt any actor who forgot their lines. All done with earpiece technology these days.
Noble Hall was next, where dignitaries gathered & had a wonderful ceiling decorated with flowers and crest Showing sugar cane & vines.
We continued to some of the dressing rooms, one in particular was rather special for the Prima Dona and had been dedicated to a famous artist, Eunice Munoz . Well famous in Madeira!
An honour book was on display where artists could write their comments about performing in this iconic theatre.
We then climbed several flights of wooden stairs up high above the stage passing by rope pullies for scenery & lighting. It was rather steep but having reached the top Wow what a surprise. A circular room with a wooden roof and as mentioned earlier we could see the winch mechanism
that lowered the enormous chandelier. You couldn't get too close to the edge of the opening but hopefully you can see a little from the photo.
We were able to go outside onto the roof terrace, a popular place for actors & musicians to congregate. The rooftop views of Funchal weren't expected on the tour so it was wonderful to see the jacaranda trees in the park opposite looking so beautiful and of course a backdrop of Funchal looking rather splendid in the sunshine.
Our tour continued to the sub-stage & catacombs, where it is said many years ago that people would quickly go under the theatre to the tunnels to flee the invading pirates. The tunnel is said to go as far as Santa Clara Convent. I'm not sure of this location but one lady said "Wow that's a fair way out of the city."
The tour was scheduled to last 45 minutes but our guide was so good & informative, she obviously enjoyed showing people around the theatre. Time for a stroll around the public garden, it was getting busy do headed back to the hotel to enjoy the sunshine in the hotel grounds.
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