Project summary

The National Theatre’s monumental London home was designed by Sir Denys Lasdun and opened in 1976. After over 30 years of intensive use it is now being refurbished and improved under the guidance of its Artistic and Executive Directors, Nick Hytner and Nick Starr. The refurbishment will enhance many of the backstage and front-of-house areas, as well as upgrading the technical systems throughout the theatres and improving the building’s carbon footprint, and will be carried out over a number of years to minimise disruption to the theatre’s operations.

A key element of the Future Project is the refurbishment of the Cottesloe Theatre. Following a generous donaction from Lloyd Dorfman of Travelex, the theatre is to be completely refurbished with new lighting, ventilation systems and seating, and will reopen as the Dorfman Theatre in 2014.

As Theatre Consultant to the NT, Charcoalblue is designing all of the new seating and technical systems for the refurbished theatre, including a highly innovative motorised seating system which will allow the theatre to create a number of different seating formats with the minimum of effort. The system will allow the creation, amongst others, of a "shallow-rake" seating format which was an important part of the original conception for the theatre, and which has been impossibe to achieve since the installation of a conventional retractable seating system in 1986.