Beacon Arts Centre

This afternoon we attended the Open Day for Greenock's new multi-million pound Beacon Arts Centre.

We were able to get a behind the scenes tour of the building before its official opening on Monday 7 January. I managed to take this shot from the Control Room looking towards the stage. I like the stage lighting and the moving figure in the foreground. The main stage of the Beacon will be one of the largest in Scotland.

The Arts Guild Theatre -- the main arts venue in Inverclyde for more than 65 years -- was no longer fit for purpose. The Beacon is its state-of-the-arts replacement housing one of the finest mid-scale theatres in the UK. The Beacon has a 500-seat main auditorium, a 130-seat, flexible studio theatre, three large rehearsal rooms and a bistro.

From February onwards there is a full programme at the venue, featuring nearly twice as many performances compared with previous years.

The first performances in the preview season will be in early February from the Beacon's first co-producing companies Birds of Paradise, in the Studio and Vox Motus in the theatre, rehearsing and previewing their works before setting off on tour across Scotland.