JUNE 2006
ROYAL FURNITURE MAKER DESIGNS SEATING FOR RESTORED THEATRE ROYAL
In 1819 the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds, now owned by The National Trust, was one of the most elegant, sophisticated and up-to-date playhouses of its age.
As the starting date of the Restoration of the Grade 1 listed Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds draws ever closer, Bury St Edmunds Theatre Management Ltd is delighted to announce that they have developed a partnership with Luke Hughes & Company as seating designers who are designing stall, box and gallery seating for the scheme.
Theatre Director Colin Blumenau is delighted with the partnership: " I am convinced that in Luke Hughes & Company we have chosen an ideal partner for the Theatre Royal. Not only do they have great experience in designing furniture and seating for public buildings to very rigorous specifications, they also possess a thorough understanding of the requirements of a modern theatre audience. It is vitally important to everyone here at the Theatre Royal that we get the seating right and that our audience perceive that levels of comfort, sightlines and ease of access have not suffered when the Theatre re-opens. Indeed, we are very aware that the current seating is far from perfect and hope that the new designs will offer an improvement".
Justin Wharton, from Luke Hughes & Company, commented: "This is a very exciting project and we are delighted to be part of it. Developing new seating for the Theatre Royal is quite a challenge since it is actually reconciling apparent opposites: the constraints of a listed Georgian theatre with modern fire regulations, the aspirations for greater comfort with the complex geometry of the varied sight lines, the commercial pressures of providing viable numbers of seats with the practical issues of wheel-chair access, the requirements of harnessing craft-based furniture making techniques with hi-tech volume production. The answers to these challenges have been found by looking very closely at the Theatre's history, but also by looking at other contemporary theatres in Europe as well as the UK, and in part by a rigorous prototyping programme. "
The restoration of the Theatre Royal is due to commence in mid-September this year. The £5.1 million project will see the Theatre's auditorium returned to its original 1819 configuration and will re-create for audiences the most authentic experience of theatre-going in the 19th century anywhere in the UK. The Theatre is due to re-open in Spring 2007. During the course of the project the Theatre's management will continue to promote a programme of events at venues in and around Bury St Edmunds.
© Luke Hughes & Company, June 2006
