Thalia Theater

The Thalia Theater, named after the Greek muse of comedy, is one of Hamburg’s three state theaters. Originally founded in 1843, it was re-opened in 1960 after being destroyed in WWII. The theater is dedicated to artistically challenging productions, and the plays covered in their program reflect a deep interest in other cultures, social classes, and religions.
Bureau Borsche is responsible for the Thalia Theater’s corporate identity as a whole, along with their posters, program books, brochures, advertisings, videos, and their website. The logo and font are both closely related to the Thalia’s building. We spotted and old fresco on the theater’s walls and adapted it to a modern logo. The calligraphic font Lisbon cites the work of a stage painter, who had painted all signs behind stage with a quill. The idea was to create a new design from the spirit of the house and to take the essence of inside and show it on the outside. We defined a fixed font size for each medium to look as striking as possible. Regardless of separations, the words are always set in the same size. This may seem tough at first, but once the words disconnect in unexpected positions it gives a beautifully radical expression to the soul of the theater. All photography and layouts are black-and-white as an homage to 1930’s stage photography. To distinguish the independent and more experimental Gauss stage from the theater, each of its premiere publications is printed in a different color.