AC Assists Wycombe Swan

Opened in October1992, the Wycombe Swan Theatre in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, has made a major upgrade to its lighting system. The theatre is a receiving house for a rich diversity of acts and shows, which appear for runs ranging from single evening shows through to productions with eight performances spread over six days. The original lighting console, installed when the theatre opened, had given good service, but a decision was taken to invest in a new console which more closely matched the current needs of the venue. "We needed a console that was more acceptable to a high proportion of our visiting acts," said Carlos Queiroz (pictured), technical manager of the Wycombe Swan. He continued: "Many shows arrive with their lighting programmed on a disk for a Strand 500 Series console and therefore this became our obvious choice."

Considerations to upgrade the console became the catalyst for the theatre to review its range of lanterns, as some of these had been in situ for nearly nine years. Carlos particularly wanted to use ETC Source Four Zooms, but did not believe this could be achieved within the overall budget available. Discussions were entered into with AC Lighting to discuss the desirability list and potential problems in relation to the available budget. This resulted in a package proposal from AC Lighting that fully achieved the needs of the theatre. The package comprised a Strand 520i Series memory console equipped with 500 channels and 30 ETC Source Four Zooms, 16 of which were specified with 25/50° zoom and 14 with 15/30° zoom. The equipment was delivered and installed on 24 July and was put to immediate use with Marty Wilde and The Wildcats when their ‘Born to Rock ‘n’ Roll’ tour visited the Wycombe Swan the following day.

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