A vision of what the refurbished Pegasus Theatre in East Oxford will look like has been presented at a special event at the theatre.

The first phase of a multi-million-pound revamp of the Magdalen Road theatre has now been completed, with the major construction work due to begin in May.

About 100 people came to the theatre on Tuesday to see a new scale model of the new Pegasus, along with artist’s impressions of how the interior will take shape.

Project director Simon Daykin said: “What was very good about it was the fact there was a good mix of people who had been to Pegasus before and wanted to see what was going on and what our plans were, along with lots of new faces.

“One of the things that is very important to us is to make sure that anyone local to the organisation and to the new building is given an opportunity to be part of it and have ownership of it.

“People were very supportive and I didn’t hear a negative word at all and that has been pretty much the case with the project for some time.”

Demolition work on 1960s workshops on the site began on January 15 and was completed last week.

The scheme, which is set to cost up to £7.4m, was put on hold in January 2008 to continue raising funds, and the project’s future was secured in November after receiving a £1.85m Government grant.

Among those inspecting the designs was David Lushington, from Abingdon, and his 12-year-old son Alex — a member of Oxford Youth Theatre.

Mr Lushington, who is also a trustee of the theatre, said: “It’s the first proper model we have seen and it really brings the thing to life. It is all very well looking at things in 2D, but when you see it in 3D it starts having a life of its own.

“Alex was obviously interested to see what it was looking like, and very excited. This has been going on in various guises for nearly 10 years and now to have the actual buildings starting is fabulous.”

As well as designs for the building, information about the programme of activities during the temporary closure of the theatre, such as summer workshops — along with some events planned for after the reopening in autumn 2010 — was on show.

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