Dave Carpenter, deputy head of lighting & sound at the theatre, says, "We were looking around for a replacement for our old desks, which were becoming old and difficult for our suppliers to support. Trying an Eos at ETC's offices in London proved it to be a perfect replacement. It had a familiar programming syntax, making it really easy to learn."
The theatre, which is the national theatre of Ireland, already had Cat 5 cabling installed, which meant that installation was as simple as plugging the desk into the gateways which Cine Electric installed around the venue. "I love the fact that the desk has direct select buttons," continues Carpenter. "They make programming so much quicker."
"We tried a new desk from same company which manufactured our original one, but even when it was being demonstrated, it crashed a number of times. Because we'll be touring with the desk and need it to be absolutely reliable, that immediately meant we had to discount it. The Eos, on the other hand, has always been both stable and dependable."
The Abbey Theatre was the first state-subsidised theatre in the English-speaking world and plays a range of dramas throughout the year both at its venue in central Dublin and across the country.
(Jim Evans)
