Props in The Plaza

摘要

A delicate balancing act is being performed behind a mesh of scaffolding at a former music hall known as The Plaza on Regent Street close to London's Piccadilly Circus. Passers-by who peer into the site through the viewing windows in the hoarding could be forgiven for experiencing some confusion - for behind the listed Edwardian building topped by an elegantly tiled dome is a vast expanse of empty space. The entire frontage appears to be supported by nothing. It is a trompe l'oeil that would have baffled the most cynical of theatre audiences in the music hall's heyday. However, in engineering terms the answer is deceptively simple.