The Playhouse Theatre
Location: Edinburgh
Client: Clearchannel Entertainments

The Playhouse in Edinburgh is one of the City's premier theatres, hosting the largest of audiences and the biggest of productions. The previous external lighting scheme had reached it's end of life and Lightfolio were engaged to re-assess the external lighting, devise a new concept that was acceptable to Historic Scotland (the theatre sits within the boundary of a World Heritage Site) and deliver the scheme.

We looked at original photographs of the Playhouse including the one below and decided to recreate some of the details found there including the ornamental strips that run around the front door and the signage which was far more in keeping with the style and period of the building.

Lightfolio approached gifted sign maker Brian Mack of Sign & Light to help develop our concept ideas into something that was faithful to the original and robust enough for the environment.

Brian created a number of options which were vetted by the client and the local planning department before a design was chosen. The completed project looks stunning and has impact both day and night. The lighting technology allows for different colours to be selected for the strips around the doors, in the windows on the gable and at high level behind the signage to suit the theme of the show that is playing. These constantly changing colour effects although subtle, help capture interest again and again and add a sense of glitz and glamour.