There is drama being played out behind the scenes at the Gaiety Theatre.

Enter stage left the Service Players who claim theatre management have lost sight of the original vision for saving the Gaiety for the nation in 1971.

They claim local groups are being sidelined and have been refused permission to stage shows over the pantomime period while local charities have had bookings turned down in favour of UK acts.

’It is suspected the VillaGaiety management are under constant pressure to provide positive cashflow to Treasury,’ the Service Players said in a ’discussion document’ distributed to Tynwald members.

’The contribution of the Gaiety to our local culture cannot be measured in simple pounds and pence.’

The Service Players are calling on the support of MHKs and MLCs before the curtain comes down on traditional stage equipment used for local productions.

Focus for the Players’ concerns is the storage of ’flats’, wooden batten frames covered with thin plywood which are used to construct traditional box sets.

In recent years they have been used for at least two shows a year by the Service Players and the week-long Easter Festival of Plays put on by the Manx Amateur Drama Federation.

Having historically been stored in a purpose-built rack at the rear of the stage, the flats were moved some years ago to a corridor on the upper floor.

But the Gaiety management have now asked for the equipment to be rehoused outside the theatre.

The Service Players say the flats are a ’fundamental part of the accoutrements of a working Victorian theatre’.

They have called for the flats to be stored on an interim basis in purpose-built racks in the paint floor or backstage area. About a third of the paint floor is currently used to store spare seat cushions.

But the Players also want to lead a fundraising campaign for a longer-term plan to restore the paint floor and its historic paint frame mechanism. Now decommissioned, the paint frame was used by the set designers to paint on a canvas without having to go up and down ladders. It was also used to lift the flats.

The Players say full restoration of the mechanism, which would likely take 12 to 18 months to complete, would complement the restoration of the theatre and provide a potential source of future revenue by hiring it to scenic artists as a unique historical facility.

The Players said the proposals would not involve any government expenditure.

But they added: ’Despite the pragmatic proposals put forward, including the offer to provide or find funding for the recommissioning of the paint frame, the response of the Gaiety management has been that there are "too many hoops to jump through".’

We have asked the Department of Education, Sport and Culture for a response. As the Manx Independent went to press we were yet to receive a response.