what colour to paint our theatre

[CARWYN]

Hey Everyone

 

We are undergoing a refurb in our theatre and we have had a new floor put in and we're having a new bleacher seating unit installed tomorrow. the seats are purple. the floor is a very dark colour. what colour ould you paint the theatre. taking into acount that we hold weddings and conferences in the theatre as well. what do you all think

 

Thank You

Carwyn

[IRW]

Hey Everyone

 

We are undergoing a refurb in our theatre and we have had a new floor put in and we're having a new bleacher seating unit installed tomorrow. the seats are purple. the floor is a very dark colour. what colour ould you paint the theatre. taking into acount that we hold weddings and conferences in the theatre as well. what do you all think

 

Thank You

Carwyn

 

Do you have any photos of the venue as it is at the moment?

[CARWYN]

I havent got any photos at the moment. its a 300 seater venue with about 8 - 10m head room with about 20 seats in a row with 1m10cm isles

[Ali2580]

Slightly off topic here - Is is true that generally colour wise theatre's should be dark coloured walls? I was told this a while ago but wasn't too sure if it was true and applied to many theatres?

[IRW]

Slightly off topic here - Is is true that generally colour wise theatre's should be dark coloured walls? I was told this a while ago but wasn't too sure if it was true and applied to many theatres?

 

I think it depends on the architectural style of the venue, hence my asking about photos.

 

For example, an auditorium with lots of ornate plasterwork/carvings etc, would, in my opinion, look wrong if it was all painted darkly. Conversely, I think that studio theatres, and other 'modern' builds (think expansive plain plasterwork walls) have the potential to look a bit silly if they are decorated in anything other than block darker colours, with the exception of key colours on the features that do stand out (for example, hand rails, pillars etc).

 

Co-incidentally, I've just been repainting our main auditorium:

 

Before:

http://www.irwdesign.com/br/IMG_0399.jpg

 

After:

http://www.irwdesign.com/br/IMG_0404.jpg

 

And before anyone says anything, no we didn't buy the wrong fabric to recover some of the chairs, the architect designed them like that. We are in the process of slowly recovering them all red.

 

Apologies for the image quality, I only had my phone on me!

 

Edited to add:

 

I'm sure there was an article in The Stage a few months ago about how auditoriums are decorated...!

[Jivemaster]

If you also have weddings in the room, then you must consider the contracts that you already have for future weddings, and what the space was like when those clients viewed it.

 

The established spaces I like are done in deep colours towards the darker shades highlighted with golds and creams.

 

Modern studios can be black or almost black. Or they can be white with white beech wood furniture.

 

Mixed use may call for some compromise in decor. Don't mess with any contracts you already have -brides chatter.

[agermich]

I don't really think that there should be any hard rules on auditorium colour. Our main house has deep red walls (painted concrete block) with dark brown handrails and carpets, the large studio (120 - 160 seats) is grey concrete block and the small studio (60 seats) is unpainted 18mm spruce ply. All of the spaces use the same beige bench seats with dark brown frames. The only one that gets any real complaints is the small studio as it is a bit 'bouncy' for lighting designers, but then if the designers can embrace the ply (which many do) you can pull off an amazing looking design. The colour can make a huge difference to how a space feels in both size and atmosphere - since working here I'm no longer a great fan of the black box as it can feel so small even if your in a big room. I imagine that our artistic director had alot of input on colour choices alongside the architects when our refurb was done a few years back.

 

Mike

[TeeJay]

With weddings and conferences, you do need to be able to show off the theatre.

 

I've never been to the Grand but the few photo's I've found online seem to put it in a good light - is there a particular reason to consider repainting?

 

Darker colours aren't necessary as long as blackouts are possible - single colour spaces are something I'm not personally all that keen on but I doubt that's going to affect you in this case ...

[Just Some Bloke]

I've never been to the Grand but the few photo's I've found online seem to put it in a good light

I know Carwyn's profile says he works at the Swansee Grand, but looking at the pictures on their website it appears to be a most traditional venue with stalls and 2 circles (very attractive from the thumbnails). Certainly doesn't seem to have or need bleacher seating. I suspect we're talking about somewhere else. Can you give us any more details, Carwyn? Is the room ornate or functional for instance? Are there pretty aspects that will need picking out or do you want to hide flaws?