Theatre Royal, Nottingham

Built in 1865 by architect C. J. Phipps, Theatre Royal was extremely remodelled in 1897 by Frank Matcham. The hastiness of Matcham's work, combined with the theatre's reputation for discomfort persisted among performers and audiences, and its sad state of disrepair, had left it in need of extensive technical modernisation and decorative restoration. What emerged in 1978 was effectively a new 1,186 seat theatre within an existing shell. The renovation and reconstruction of this historic theatre included a new stage house, backstage and front-of-house. This renovation was a seminal experience in Theatre Projects' development, that opened the way to a new appreciation of classic principles of theatre design: intimacy and 'papering the walls with people'. We were also the theatre consultant for phase two of this development - the new 2,300-seat Royal Concert Hall.

Services

Programming, concept design, theatre planning, and theatre equipment design and specification

Owner

City of Nottingham

Users

Touring performances

Theatre Type(s)

Drama theatre

Seat Count(s)

1186

Construction Type

Renovation

• Auditoria: Designing for the Performing Arts
• Auditoriums (Architecture Thematique)
• The Theatre Projects Timeline
• Buildings for Music: The Architect, the Musician, and the Listener from the 17th Century to the Present Day