Description:

Theatre Royal in nipaluna/Hobart is Australia’s oldest continually working theatre, serving, inspiring and supporting the arts in lutriwata/Tasmania for over 185 years. After the recent addition of ‘The Hedberg’, an architecturally-designed, multi-disciplinary theatrical space adjoining the theatre’s original Georgian-era structure, the Theatre Royal is set to take on a new role as Tasmania’s premier contemporary (and Australia’s newest) performing arts venue.

With this reset came the unique opportunity for Theatre Royal to reassess its outlook, challenge existing stigmas surrounding “the theatre”, and open itself up to new audiences and creative viewpoints. To do this, it needed to recognise its role as not just a curator and producer, but also as a youth educator and supporter of the artists. In order to facilitate this shift in direction, Theatre Royal needed an identity that could confidently announce its newfound sense of purpose and share their important story of transformation.

The result is an identity that finds inspiration in the tensions that exist between the two uniquely contrasting yet complimentary buildings, and the stories found within. It’s a juxtaposition of the classic and the contemporary, speaking to the theatre’s intent: to create a space that welcomes in and supports differences within the theatre.

Acknowledging these flexible needs, the brand identity system was designed to scale between brand-led and production-led communications. This shift between the communications is made possible by adjusting the prominence of the wordmark, monogram, messaging and colour — utilising the ‘TR Facade’ typeface as a link across the spectrum.

‘TR Facade’ is a custom, mixed-case, modular display typeface, inspired by the panelled, opalescent facade and interlocking forms of ‘The Hedberg.’ It’s intentionally untraditional in appearance, establishing a strong, contemporary graphic language for the theatre. The mixed-case usage was chosen as it allows Theatre Royal to communicate in the lowercase conventions used within palawa kani (the Indigenous language of luriwata’s palawa people) — establishing Theatre Royal as a contemporary and welcoming theatre for all Tasmanians.