How the ice is made

Turning a theatre stage into a temporary ice rink is no easy task….

A question that is often asked is whether the rink is actually made of real ice? Well, be assured it is. In fact there is approximately 14 tonnes of it on the stage and, hidden beneath the surface, over 10 miles of pipe work and a few buckets of sweat, all at a working temperature of minus 15 degrees.

A strict timetable needs to be followed in order that the ice rink is ready in time for rehearsal skating at 5:00pm on our Tuesday opening night. Work starts every Monday morning at 7:00am when the technicians arrive at the venue and start unloading our two 45ft trucks with the help of eighteen theatre technicians. The trucks carry not only the ice rink, but also the costumes, sets, sound and lighting equipment for the show.

The work on piecing the rink together starts with the base and sides of the rink which is made of marine reinforced plywood and waterproof timber for the edging. We now have what looks like a giant baking tray into which we will lay our pastry; only our pastry is a 52ft x 52ft heavy-duty pool liner. The most awkward section of the work begins, as the 10 miles of pipe work mentioned earlier is now laid inside the tray and connected to the header pipes before being spaced out across the base of the tray and secured. The spacing is incredibly important and must be exact. If not, sections of the rink will not freeze and we would have some very unhappy and angry Russian skaters!

After everything is connected on the stage, we then connect the header pipes to our chiller units outside the theatre and start to fill the system with a mixture of glycol (antifreeze) and water. Once this is circulating throughout the pipes we turn the chillers down to a temperature of minus 15 degrees. The outside of the pipes will frost over and at this point we pop down to the local fish market and buy four tonnes of crushed ice which we spread over the pipes. This basically gives us a head start in the ice making process. The time now has usually reached 6:00pm on the Monday evening.

Overnight and throughout Tuesday, the rink is sprayed carefully every 15 minutes until it is approximately three inches thick. This will take until about 3:00pm in the afternoon, when final dressings are given to the top of the ice surface in order that it is perfectly smooth for the rehearsal and performance, some 34 hours after work began.

Whilst the spraying is taking place, our technicians are also working on getting the sets, lighting and sound in place, and our wardrobe managers are taking care of the more than 120 costumes which will be used during our performance of the show.

Once the rink is completed, the surface temperature is constantly monitored day and night throughout our stay at the theatre. In addition to this, during the interval and after each performance of the show, the surface is scraped and resurfaced with hot water to keep it as smooth as possible.

Tony Mercer
Artistic Director