THE NATAL PLAYOUSE

The Playhouse theatre is the theatre with the largest number of moving lights in SA! 

During 2006 The Natal Playhouse in Durban upgraded its Opera Theatre with more than 64 Martin Intelligent Lights and a Maxxyz Control Desk from Electrosonic. The spotlight was turned on the Drama Theatre in 2008.

"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 complex, able to seat 1224 on three levels including a balcony, and with an orchestra pit able to accommodate 85 musicians. The Drama Theatre seats 474 and has an orchestra pit for up to 25 musicians.

"The new equipment makes an enormous difference on all levels, not only adding to the quality of the shows, but also saving us significant time and money ", said Dylan. "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. "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 metre always hovered around the halfway mark, but with the new kit, it registers way down near the bottom. The consumption is nominal by comparison."

Having experienced all the benefits of the new equipment in the Opera Theatre, it was only a matter of time before plans were afoot to upgrade the Drama Theatre. Dylan and his colleagues made a point of asking the opinion of touring technicians regarding which equipment they thought stood head and shoulders above the rest in theatre lighting. "They all confirmed our own opinion that Martin Professional intelligent lights are undoubtedly the best."

Following the obligatory tender process, leading theatre lighting consultant Denis Hutchinson specified the new line up of equipment and, after a bit of negotiation due to the volatile exchange rate, Electrosonic Durban was able to supply the equipment required. "What is so fantastic about Electrosonic - both the Jo'berg team and the Durban team - is that they know their products and their service is outstanding. I can call anyone of them up at any time - or even give them a missed call - and they respond instantly. They're even prepared to re-work quotes any number of times to get the right stuff at the right price".

In the end, the array of new equipment for the Drama Theatre included more than 50 intelligent lights from Martin, comprising the following

4 x MAC 2000 Wash 28 x MAC 700 Profile 20 x MAC 700 Wash 

Electrosonic Durban also upgraded the hardware of the existing Maxxyz control desk to the lightning fast Maxxyz + version - with all new ‘brains' inside - and supplied the Playhouse with the latest incarnation of the Maxxyz control desk, the half size Maxxyz Compact. This extremely powerful and flexible desk allows for the effortless swapping of shows between the two desks.

Final additions to the equipment list were 2  Jem Glaciator Extreme Low Fog Machines.

"We can't wait to have all the lights installed and operating. The data cables are in, the network is in, the control desk is in .... but the theatre is so busy that we're battling to find an open time slot to install the lights!" exclaimed Dylan.

Totaling up the new equipment in both The Opera Theatre and The Drama Theatre, The Natal Playhouse now boasts the largest inventory of Moving Lights of any theatre in Southern Africa, with a grand total of 116 Martin moving lights, ranging from the MAC 250 Entour right up to the MAC 2000 Performance.

July 2008