"We had such positive feedback from performers and patrons alike regarding the upgraded lighting in the Opera Theatre that we wanted to get the Drama Theatre up to the same level," said Dylan Heaton, lighting technician for the Playhouse. The Opera Theatre is the largest of the three theatres in the complex, with a seating capacity of 1,224 on three levels including a balcony - the Drama Theatre seats 474.
"The new equipment makes a great difference on all levels, not only adding to the quality of the shows, but also saving us significant time and money," says Heaton. "It used to take us the good part of a day to re-focus the lights for a show, but now it can be done instantly at the push of a button."
The cost savings in terms of electricity consumption are equally impressive. Heaton comments, "Previously it took a lot of power to light one little area with three colour washes i.e. amber, blue and red, and then needing to create pink, for example. With intelligent lights, however, the power supply is constant no matter what you do, which radically reduces electricity usage. With our old kit the needle on the amp meter always hovered around the halfway mark, but with the new kit, it registers way down near the bottom. The consumption is nominal by comparison."
Leading theatre lighting consultant Denis Hutchinson specified the new line up of equipment for the Drama Theatre, and Electrosonic Durban was able to supply the equipment required.
The array of new equipment for the Drama Theatre includes more than 50 Martin automated luminaires, comprising four MAC 2000 Washes, 28 MAC 700 Profiles and 20 MAC 700 Washes.
Electrosonic Durban also upgraded their existing Maxxyz control desk and supplied the Playhouse with the latest incarnation of the Maxxyz, the half size Maxxyz Compact. Final additions to the equipment list were two Jem Glaciator X-Stream low lying fog machines.
(Jim Evans)
