Watch: First glimpse inside new $35m theatre reveals dramatic surprises

Twenty-four secret trap doors are embedded in the new ASB Waterfront Theatre’s stage floor, allowing objects as big as a grand piano to magically appear before the 668 patrons, a project boss says. The Herald was yesterday taken on the first media tour of the $35 million Wynyard Quarter theatre opening later this year at the Halsey St/Madden St intersection. Alun Larsen, Hawkins Construction project manager, showed how the trap doors formed the ceiling of a ground-level room where equipment could be hauled in for a big surprise. “All these trap doors can be opened at once. You could have someone on a grand piano below the floor, coming up,” Larsen said, telling how each square or trap door could be independently operated, or else a giant chasm could be opened under the stage if all the trap doors were opened simultaneously.