Venue: The Hexagon
Town: Reading, GB

The Hexagon is a multi-purpose theatre and arts venue in Reading, Berkshire, England. Built in 1977 in the shape of an elongated hexagon, the theatre is operated by Reading Borough Council under the name "Reading Arts and Venues" along with South Street Arts Centre and Reading's concert hall. The theatre was built in 1977 by Robert Matthew Johnson Marshall (RMJM), who also built the adjacent Civic Centre. The original design featured a proscenium but no fly tower. Upon opening, the venue was comparable to Derby's Assembly Rooms-which also opened in 1977-but the Hexagon was described as architecturally and acoustically superior. As the building was designed to operate as a multi-use venue, the arena-style seating was used to avoid limited visibility. This proved useful for sports such as snooker or boxing, but rendered a number of seats unusable during performances that utilised the proscenium. A review of the Hexagon's architectural design in a 1979 edition of the Architects' Journal surmised that dramatic performances were seen as a low priority in the design-despite an estimated quarter of all events being of this type. The stalls, which use removable and retractable seats, have less headroom than the balcony above. This results in shallow overhangs. The theatre floor, which usually holds stall seating, is adjustable to allow a contiguous service with the stage, providing a 517 square metres (5,560 sq ft) surface. The balconies, which are separated by gaps around the auditorium, are similar to those at Christchurch Town Hall in New Zealand. Similarly, the inclined panels around the room-to introduce reflections-may have been inspired by that venue. The venue allows a number of different seating configurations, which affect the capacity. For performances with a proscenium arch, the capacity is 946. This increases to 1,200 for an all-seated concert and 1,686 for standing with balcony seating. The various seating arrangements affect the auditorium volume-8,280 cubic