The Dorfman Theatre at the National Theatre

Established at the Old Vic theatre in 1963, The National Theatre of Great Britain relocated to its current Sir Denys Lasdun-designed home on the Southbank in 1976. The NT Future programme, initiated by the Executive team of Nicholas Hytner, Nick Starr and Lisa Burger, saw a comprehensive redevelopment of the entire complex which included an ambitious equipment upgrade of the Lyttelton and Oliver theatres, transforming the Cottesloe theatre into the flexible Dorfman theatre, a new temporary stage in the theatre’s forecourt.

The Cottesloe Theatre - uniquely flexible and adaptable, its range accommodated both the epic and the intimate - has now been transformed into the reconfigurable Dorfman Theatre. The old steeply-raked retractable seating unit is now gone: instead, new folding seats and Serapid-driven motorised elevators for each row of pit seating allow multiple seating configurations to be created faster and more efficiently than ever before. This versatility also allows a ‘shallow rake’ seating format to be created for the first time since the mid-1980s, and a flat floor to be achieved quickly by folding all the seats into their floorboxes and setting all elevators at stage height.

Technical provision is enhanced with new walkways over the auditorium, providing storage space and improving technicians' access and safety. A big improvement to sightlines - especially from side seats - was achieved simply by cranking-back the balcony rail. Overall, the end-stage seating capacity was increased by around 70 seats in steep rake; and by around 130 in shallow rake.

In a long-term partnership with the NT, Charcoalblue also designed a new computerised point hoist system in the Olivier and new lighting bar ladder winches in the Lyttelton Theatre; together with technical facilities in the Clore Learning Centre.

We were also design partners in the creation of the Temporary Theatre (aka The Shed) and theatre consultants for the refurbishment of the National Theatre Studio.