Brian Rudman: Down in the stalls, viewing is a sliding sensation

The Civic Theatre has had its fair share of teething problems since its grand re-opening in November 1999, following a $42 million revamp.

First, foul lavatorial smells of old returned from the bowels, emerging for the first time, appropriately, during a gala screening of Gone with the Wind. Additional ventilation shafts eventually solved that.

Then came the little matter of the oversprung stalls floor, which, complained one councillor, bounced "like a mini-trampoline" when she and other over-exuberant oldies started bopping along with Buddy Holly.

Not only did the floor bounce, it also let through waves of sound from the downstairs Wintergarden venue into the main hall.

In time, both of these problems were rectified, which leaves the on-going saga of the anti-social seating.

Now it's true a good movie is supposed to keep you on the edge of your seat. But the Civic seats have taken this a step further, developing a propensity for trying to eject patrons off the edge and onto the floor.

This can be a bit annoying for someone like Herald reviewer Peter Calder, who was doing four or five hours a day in the place during the just-completed film festival.

To stop himself sliding off the seat he had to "literally haul myself up by my elbows in the course of a two-hour film, say 10 times. It's just phenomenally uncomfortable."

He's not the only one to suffer. Last week, Terry Mansfield, project manager in charge of the Civic revamp, had the same sliding feeling. He went home from his movie and messaged The Edge chief executive Greg Innes to say that the problem they thought they'd solved, lived on.

Which was a shame, because he thought the replacement of about 12 per cent of the foam seating squabs in the 2378-seat auditorium a year ago had done the trick.

Calder, who has probably sat in more seats in the key problem area of the stalls than anyone else in Auckland, argues that with the seat bottom being parallel with the sloping floor, the tendency is for your body to slide forward until your head is half down the back of the chair. Then it's either a remedial hitch, or a slide.

Edge officials - who don't want to be quoted while negotiations with the seat manufacturers, Wellington-based Effuzi International, continue - and Effuzi managing director Murray Treweek, acknowledge the problem. But both sides differ over cause and cure.

The Edge pinpoint variations in the firmness of the foam squabs as the core problem. It even invented a device, nicknamed the "international standard bum test" to simulate the impact of a body on each seat. The softest 12 per cent were then replaced, at Effuzi's expense.

Mr Treweek says problems at the manufacturing plant resulted in the variations in the foam's firmness - although everything was up to international standards.

But he argues the real problem is that the floor of the stalls is too steep for the seats. He says Effuzi suggested the solution was to put them on platforms. He points out that Effuzi provided sample seats, which were approved.

He agrees that using the firmer foam will help.

"When you sit in a chair with a flat floor your feet are on the ground and the loading underneath your thighs is only as great as the distance from your foot to your knees," he says.

"As soon as you slope that floor away, your feet want to move out in front of you and the front of the cushion starts to compress quite badly. If you have softer foam that will compress more."

This encourages the sliding process, says Mr Treweek.

While all the seats in the theatre were tested, and the softest seats replaced, the worst problem is in the stalls, particularly for movie-goers.

Upstairs, viewers are looking straight ahead to the screen or stage, so tend to sit upright.

But in the stalls, particularly with movies, you tend to lounge back so you can look up in comfort. Unfortunately, that just speeds up that slip-slide feeling.

With the festival now over, it's a bit late for advice. But future film-goers to the Civic might be wise to sit upstairs, or if they must sit in the stalls, wear crampons.