The theatre's home for the past five years has been a none-too-elegant former Tesco supermarket building in Gardner Street, in the vibrantly bohemian North Laine district at the heart of Brighton. Inside is a different story, with the upper floor a traditional end-on 200-seat theatre complete with a small bar, and the downstairs room a smaller cabaret, music and comedy space.
Director Tim Hawkins explains: "The theatre's only used around three or four days a week, but that's still quite intensive compared to many. We decided to look at the theatre again, to solve some of the problems such as the bar being a bit poky and make it a more friendly space. We also wanted to have the ability to use the space 363 days a year, and have a space which could be changed between a theatre and a cabaret space quite quickly. The other objectives were to improve our theatre lighting, raise the ceiling to give us more height, and create a bigger movable stage in order to be able to do in-the-round as well as end-on."
The original electrical installation had been carried out by general electricians who, Hawkins adds, "didn't understand our odd requests for having switches all over the place." For the re-fit, theatre specialists were required and Stage Electrics was brought in to design and install both production and architectural lighting. "It was a bit more expensive than using a standard domestic company, but we thought it was well worth doing, as we would get the electrics exactly the way we wanted them."
The upper floor has been redesigned so that the lighting system extends out from the theatre into the bar area, which can be combined for cabaret performances, and has the flexibility to light, for example, a small band or performance in the bar itself. Stage Electrics specified a rig that includes Prelude 28/40 Profiles, 12 each of ETC's Source Four profiles, Quartet Fresnels and Quartet PCs, plus Source Four PARs with narrow, wide and very wide lenses, six Coda Floods and a mirrorball. The desk is a 48-channel Zero 88 Frog and there are 48 channels of 2kW dimming and a total of 98 circuits.
It's matched by a new sound system, designed by Orbital, comprising a 12-channel Spirit Folio Sx with d&b CI8 speakers and a d&b E12 sub, all powered by E-Pac amplifiers. A pair of d&b Max12 monitors serve the stage and there's the usual CD and MD playback machines in the rack. The downstairs room - described by Hawkins as a "low-ceilinged, smoky cabaret bar" - will have been refitted come summer's end to enlarge and enhance the space and its ambience. "We haven't used a single penny of public spending," he adds, "all the funds have been privately given or raised - there are no lottery bids or local authority money at all.
"The changes will make the Komedia a better theatre, with slightly fewer seats, but much improved lighting and acoustics, and that'll create a better relationship with the audience. Next year we'll be increasing our programming from 500 events to 800-900, so we're going to make full use of it all"
