Drama as stage school dresses builders in pink

 
P16 London Diary Catherine Zeta-Jones / Julie Andrews
Getty
27 February 2013

Has the Arts Educational Schools in Chiswick, known as ArtsEd, solved the problem of macho builders wolf-whistling at passing ladies?

The drama college boasts many distinguished alumni including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jane Seymour, Julie Andrews, Nicolette Sheridan, Cherie Lunghi, Martin Clunes, Nigel Harman, Will Young, Nigel Havers, Adam Cooper, Darcey Bussell and Bonnie Langford.

In November its president, Lord Lloyd-Webber, gave the drama college £3.5 million to refurbish its 200-seat main theatre, and recently the site, rebuilt in the Fifties after wartime bomb damage, has been alive with builders wearing vivid yellow overalls. Some drama aesthetes moaned that this was not quite right for so distinguished an institution so the school quietly agreed with the fitters and refurbishment specialists Overbury that workers on the site should wear bright pink jackets instead.

“It’s a lovely shade of pink,” says a spokesman for the schools. “It’s very fetching. It’s the best choice for the client and we are the client. Pink is one of our colours. It’s just a bit of fun.”

Perhaps surprisingly, Overbury was only too happy to see its men in pink, although the Londoner learns some of the builders do not share their bosses’ enthusiasm. “It’s a fun thing to do and it’s in the spirit of regeneration,” says a spokesman. “ It’s part of our culture to make things fun and pink is more fun than yellow. It also helps with security. Young people can tell our workers from other builders.”

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