Tauranga's Baycourt Theatre is only days away from losing its reputation as an uncomfortable theatre for audiences.
The auditorium looked unusually bare today as it awaited the arrival this week of 582 new American-made seats.
Baycourt manager Megan Peacock Coyle said the terraces that held the seats had been sanded and polyurethaned to match the rest of the exposed wood in the theatre.
We tested them on some decent-sized bums.
It will be the third generation of seats installed in the theatre which opened in 1983. This time the council was determined to provide seats offering patrons more leg room.