Designed by award-winning Kerry Hill Architects, the design delivers a building which not only provides a functional and inspiring venue for performers and their audiences, but is also a defining architectural landmark for Perth.
Jands supplied and commissioned all the technical equipment throughout the venue except for the in-house audio installation, which was supplied by Jands, but installed by Perth-based Vizcom Technologies.
The Heath Ledger Theatre is a traditional proscenium arch stage, measuring 12m wide and 9m high although this space can be minimised with a false proscenium and borders. The stage measures 25m from wall-to-wall and 18m from the back wall to the front edge of the forestage. There are extra wing spaces due mostly to the lack of any manual flying system at stage level.
Above the stage, the 54 onstage fly-lines and four full-length panorama bars are suspended on Jands electric drum hoists controlled by a Stage Technologies Nomad system that allows complete programming and automation of fly cues. The Nomad includes a proprietary console and display using Windows-based software. A 3D image of the stage and a colour-coded graphic of the flybar positions is a straightforward interface and by simply pressing command keys you can easily control the fly lines and bars. Two camera feeds of the stage area use infra-red to keep the flying system visible during black-outs.
"The simplest way to describe the Nomad is that it is an amazing interface," remarked Boyd Midgley, head flyman at the State Theatre Centre. "It's a fantastic platform for making shows clean cut, in fact the Nomad is a Flyman's dream - perfect every time. Through the Nomad's technology shows can have more versatility within the State Theatre Centre plus the ability to move multiple bars safely and effectively is a great attribute within shows."
Twenty metres overhead, ranged either side of the grid in separate winch rooms, are two banks of Jands SP650 hoists. A hyper-sensitive lanyard offers instant shutdown of the system should anything untoward happen in this area.
"The hoists have been working really well since their installation and we've had no issues at all with them," commented Graham Piper, Technical Manager at the State Theatre Centre. "They really do everything that they should be doing and they do it well and quietly!"
Lighting for the main stage comes from three FOH bridges and additional circuits on the circle rail and in the perches. Overhead the lighting bars are made up of 24 Jands JLX PRO bars - these are 3.5m long sections with a dozen dimmer outlets on each and while a standard lighting rig is always in place, the JLX PRO allow for much more flexibility.
The theatre has 360 channels of Jands 2.5kW HPC12 dimmers and 48 channels of Jands 5kW HPD6 dimmers configured in a 'dimmer per outlet' setup eliminating a load patch.
A Pathway Pathport DMX-over-Ethernet network handles DMX512 distribution, protocol conversion, merging and routing. The lighting console chosen for the Heath Ledger Theatre was an ETC EOS 5000.
The profile spots in the lighting rig consist of 80 15°-30°and 20 25°-50° ETC 750W Source Fours as well as seventy 70 ETC 750W Source Four PARs.
Moving lights consists of six Vari*Lite VL3500Q and six VLX LED wash lights with the VLX chosen not only for its energy efficiency but also because of the long life offered the LED light sources.
The main L/R FOH speakers in the Heath Ledger Theatre are the first installation in WA of the new JBL VerTec 4886 array speakers, com
