Embassy Freight finds theatre a moving experience

A SUTTON Coldfield-based freight firm has won the contract to transport the RSC’s ‘flatpack’ theatre to New York and back again.

Embassy Freight Services is currently overseeing the transportation of the Rotal Shakespeare Company’s Courtyard Theatre from Stratford-upon-Avon to New York.

The first containers were loaded on to ships at Liverpool last week and Embassy will manage the return journey after the company’s programme ends in 13 weeks.

The Courtyard was an ‘in-the-round’ temporary stage which housed all of the company’s shows in Stratford during the refurbishment of its main base in the Swan Theatre.

Now the company is to perform Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It and King Lear during a season at The Armory, on New York’s Park Avenue.

The first shipment is currently halfway through its journey, and is expected to arrive next week, with the final consignments expected at the Amory by June 17.

Once assembled in its temporary home, the RSC will perform a series of classic plays before the theatre is dismantled for Embassy to transport home again, after its 13-week stay.

The consignment is the largest and most complex in Embassy’s 10-year history.

Operations director Paul Wright said: “This is the first time we’ve shipped such a large auditorium. We’re shipping the whole stage, from the structure, through to the lighting, the seating and the props.

“In 14 months of planning with the RSC, we have developed a thorough logistics plan, with details on the 10 to eleven-day transit across the Atlantic, through to the storage and delivery for re-construction at the Amory.

“This is all being completed within a two-week window. We will track the consignment right down to the nuts and bolts.”