Grungy Almeida theatre gets a facelift

The Almeida theatre in Islington, north London, has long been the most glamorous of venues in the grungiest of surroundings.

Theatre-goers who flocked to see the likes of Kevin Spacey and Juliette Binoche tread its boards were protected from the elements only by a tarpaulin as they waited to go into the listed auditorium. The toilet block was like a grim relic from a Victorian school.

But now, the Almeida has been transformed. After two years' building and restoration work and at a cost of £7.6m – the final sums secured in the past few days – the venue is preparing to reopen on 8 May.

Yesterday, Michael Attenborough, the new artistic director, gave the first glimpse of how the experience will be much improved for the audience – and the actors backstage.

The auditorium remains fundamentally the same, though the seats, he says, are comfier. There are also a few more of them, an extra 18 to make 321, and there will be air conditioning for uncomfortable summer nights.

But the real transformation is in front and below. On arrival, audiences will be greeted by a smart glass and concrete foyer and an extended bar.

Backstage, which at the Almeida is largely below stage, the old system of one dressing room for the men and another for the women in a cast has been replaced by the comparative luxury of five dressing rooms, with showers. One will enable disabled performers to access the stage for the first time. "I'm absolutely thrilled with what's been done and almost entirely not responsible for it," Mr Attenborough said, paying tribute to his predecessors, Jonathan Kent and Ian McDiarmid, who began the refurbishment programme.

There was "nothing grand, nothing intimidating, it looks stylish, but it's not posh", he said. Anxious to win new and younger audiences, he stressed: "I want a comforting and welcoming theatre, but not posh."

And all had been achieved "without having to give our names away". While the Royal Court was forced to name its theatres after its major backer, the Jerwood Foundation, Mr Attenborough thanked the Almeida's sponsors and supporters, including Coutts Bank, for not insisting on such a credit.

Alongside the physical transformation, Mr Attenborough, whose father is Lord Attenborough, revealed yesterday that he also had grand plans for what he hoped to achieve with the Almeida. He said he was anxious at "the decline of verse-speaking", which he described as "desperately dying". He had asked Dame Judi Dench and John Barton, the director and Shakespeare expert, to give actors' masterclasses to tackle this dearth of technique, he said.

He has also offered a home to Push, an organisation promoting black artists, which will produce a festival of new work, including a play, opera, ballet and a television comedy, next year.

The theatre reopens with The Lady from the Sea, by Henrik Ibsen, directed by Trevor Nunn and starring Natasha Richardson. A new play, I.D., written by and starring the actor Antony Sher, follows.

The British premiere of The Mercy Seat, by Neil LaBute, an American playwright, is planned for October.