The transformation of the hall was designed by Tim Foster of Tim Foster Architects, well known for their theatre work, particularly the Tricycle Theatre and the associated Tricycle Cinema in Kilburn, the re-development of the Theatre Royal in Norwich, the adaptation of London's Whitehall Theatre into the Trafalgar Studios and many more.
At Kingsmead, they were asked to develop much needed performing facilities for a school that had recently been awarded special status for the performing and visual arts. The result is a rectangular open-space stage with fixed seating for three hundred people which can be used both by the school itself for performances and lectures and rented to outside groups in the local community.
White Light designed and installed the entire technical infrastructure for the theatre. "The aim was to provide a flexible infrastructure for lighting, sound and video," notes White Light's technical sales manager, Roger Hennigan. "We wanted to make sure that the installation could easily cope with the many uses the school envisaged for the theatre, which included everything from talks and presentations to full-on theatrical productions, while keeping the work required to set up these kind of events to a minimum."
The resulting lighting system includes a custom internally wired grid with 15A outlets connected back to the two LSC EKO 24-way dimmer racks; lighting control is from an LSC maXim console with an LSC ePlate outstation system controlling worklights and houselights. There is a comprehensive sound infrastructure plus a 5500 lumen video projector with electric roller screen. "The school now has a very good base installation, to which they can easily add equipment on a temporary or permanent basis as needs and funds allow," Hennigan adds.
(Jim Evans)
