Play House

Play House is a toy theatre, based on the 18th-19th century paper Theatres Popular. The dressing rooms, scenery and lifts can be enjoyed as a dolls’ house for imaginative play, or as a true theatre for children to stage performances. The theatre features working scenery lifts and curtains in the fly tower, making all floors accessible to its actors and audience. We hope that future owners might have fun creating their own worlds and stories within it.

The Play House is a toy theatre, based on the 18th-­‐19th century paper theatres popular in the days before television. The Play House’s dressing rooms, scenery and lifts can be enjoyed as a dolls’ house for imaginative play, or used as a true theatre for children to stage performances for their parents’ delight. The theatre features working scenery lifts and curtains in the fly tower, and back-­‐of-­‐house and front-­‐of-­‐house lifts which can be raised and lowered, making all floors accessible to its actors and audience. Swinging aside the auditorium and foyer of the Play House reveals the stage. The scenery which hangs there can be adapted, added to and remade. There is space under the stage to store the scenery of past and future productions.

The outer shell is formed of through-­‐colour black MDF, with a gloss-­‐lacquered finish. Its simple geometry is based on the golden section and the square. When closed, it forms a mute black cruciform object, which could sit anonymously in the home. When opened it transforms, revealing the inner workings of the back and front houses; a world of colour and amusement. In contrast to its austere exterior, the rooms inside are lined in a selection of coloured timber veneers which highlight the bars, foyer wall linings, workshops, dressing and green rooms. These high-­‐contrast colours also make the house legible for the partially sighted.

For the Play House, we have collaborated with Norwegian artist Anne Katrine Dolven. Her installation consists of several king crab claws which hang from the scenery lifts in the fly tower. These richly decorated found objects are chosen to echo the palette of the Play House interior, and can be considered either actor or scenery on stage. In looking back to the days before the cathode ray tube, the Play House provides a less passive alternative to the ubiquitous screen. We hope that future owners might have fun creating their own worlds and stories within it.