The Theatre Chair

Type
Furniture design

Client
The Royal Danish Theatre
The Danish Ministry of Culture

Acoustics
Gade & Mortensen Akustik A/S

Producer
Getama Danmark A/S

Year
2005-2007

Awards and nominations
2009 iF International Forum Design Award
2009 Red Dot Award

The chair for the Playhouse’s large stage is designed to accommodate the Royal Theatre’s wish to create an intimate auditorium and the possibility of including the entire hall as a stage space.

The theatre wished for the actors to be able to free themselves from the stage and move to the edge of the proscenium, all the way to the sides of the balconies and on exceptional occasions; to conquer the entire room.

The demand for this expanded range of movement changes the traditional lines of sight and places great demands on the audience’s ability to move when sitting in the chair. The result is a chair that may be modest in size but is designed with a spacious embrace.

The chairs are placed like pearls on a string and have an inviting shape, comfortable to sit next to, even when the neighboring chair isn’t occupied.

The armrests reach out when the seat is folded-up, bidding the audience welcome. The round seat and the one-piece sweeping shell, constituting both the back and armrest, enable an infinite number of sitting postures with great support of the upper and lower back, even when turning 45 degrees in the chair. The height of the back rest is adapted, making it possible to rest arms on top of the back rest, even in the 45-degree inclining position and obtain a more sprawled, yet still upright sitting posture.

The chair furthermore functions as a key acoustic element in the hall. It is designed to have the same acoustic impact as an average human body. In this way it is of no consequence if the hall is empty or full. In all circumstances the hall has the same timbre, giving the actors optimal conditions for rehearsing.

The frame comes in 12 different variants, while the padded parts are the same for all 658 chairs. The frame variations meet the need for differentiated sloping of the chair’s back, depending on where in the hall the chair is placed. Additionally, some chairs are demountable, some are extra tall whilst others have a foundation plate and stand detached on the floor.

Contrary to traditional theatre chairs, which are often upholstered in deep-pile silk velour, this chair is upholstered in woolen velour with a short, dense pile, precisely drawing the outline of the chair while maintaining classic theatre references.

The red is part of the Playhouse’s general color scheme also appearing on doors, walls and curtains. The red is intermixed with a bit of black, which is ideal for theatre-use, as the color and thereby the chair ‘disappears’ when the light is dimmed, and the magic begins.