The Bondi Pavilion was originally constructed in 1928 and included "dressing accommodation," Turkish baths, shops and a ballroom. Revitalised by the Waverley Council in the 1950s and reopened in 1978 as the Bondi Pavilion Community Centre, it is now a vibrant arts and entertainment venue and includes an art gallery as well as the Bondi Pavilion Theatre. The theatre seats 230 in raked format onto an end stage that can also work as a proscenium.
The Bondi Pavilion precinct presents a broad range of public entertainment, visual arts and community events including professional and community theatre, theatresports, dance school concerts, a Schools' Shakespeare Festival, open air cinema, a South American cultural festival, and a vast array of music and craft programmes.
The theatre falls under the watch of Sydney lighting designer, educator and consultant Tony Youlden. In his role as venue technician, he had to solve a major dilemma as the control room has the dimmers mounted immediately behind the lighting operator. The existing dimmers were far too noisy and the audible sounds spilled to nearby audiences when the control room window was left open during performances. Following the auditorium's acoustic treatment the problem was worse and it was clear that the noise coming from the existing dimmers was unacceptable.
Youlden's first comment once the new LSC iPRO dimmers were commissioned was that he "could actually hear the show". The added benefit was that with their pulse transformer fired dimming technology, the iPRO dimmers are capable of handling whatever load is patched in. We now have 48 x 13 Amp dimmer channels in the same wall space as we previously could only just fit 36 x 10A channels and there is room for another 24 x 13A channels when required."
(Jim Evans)
