SYDNEY — Eternity Playhouse, the new home for the Darlington Theatre Company, is housed within the renovated Burton Street Tabernacle. The theatre company opted to install gear from JBL’s VP (Venue Performance) Series to optimize the sound within the space. The venue has also been equipped with a Soundcraft Si Expression 2 digital mixer for FOH mixing. Jands’ account manager Rod McKinnon led Jands’ technical resource team on the project.
More details from Jands (www.jands.com.au):
Sydney’s beloved Darlinghurst Theatre Company has firmly settled in to its new home – the beautifully renovated Burton Street Tabernacle, now known as the Eternity Playhouse. The theatre is named for ‘The Eternity Man’, the mysterious figure that chalked the word ‘Eternity’ in copperplate across the city from the 1930s to the 1960s. The graffiti was eventually revealed to be the work of one Arthur Stace, whose religious zeal was inspired by a sermon heard at the Tabernacle.
Darlinghurst Theatre Company lovingly nurture the most creative up-and-coming directors, designers, companies and productions. As such, their technical facilities need to be up-to-date, flexible and capable of handling anything. That’s why they turned to Jands and The P.A People to design, provide and install a sound system built around high-quality delivery, ease of operation and integration with complex show designs.
“Theatre shows always push the boundaries,” said Liz Jenkins, Associate Producer and Production Manager at Darlinghurst Theatre Company. “There are productions coming up that will test the PA system. But its’ a system that can adapt and be rearranged to suit their needs. It’s what we always wanted – a PA system that can handle whatever crazy idea a director or sound designer comes in with.”
Handling all the crazy that can be thrown at it is a loudspeaker system from JBL’s VP (Venue Performance) Series. Self- powered with amplifier technology developed by Crown, two 12” models drive FOH with two 10”s used as fills. The low frequency extensions are handled by a VPSB7118DP 18” subwoofer. Keeping the system tuned and protected from enthusiastic designers that like loud SFX are two dbx DriveRack 220i processors.
For the sound operators, a Soundcraft Si Expression 2 digital mixer sits at the mix position. 24 mono mic inputs and four line inputs can be mixed to LCR, 20 sub or aux busses and 8 matrices, offering a huge range of options to the designer. Darlinghurst productions often utilise QLab, the theatre-industry-standard system for audio, video and show control, which integrates beautifully to the Expression 2. Portable, rack mountable and expandable via option cards and remote inputs, the Expression 2 gives Darlinghurst Theatre Co the ability to expand audio requirements when necessary, for example in the upcoming Mardi Gras production of the musical Falsettos.
Guiding Darlinghurst Theatre Company through all their technical options to arrive at the perfect solution was Jands’ Account Manager Rod McKinnon and Jands’ Technical Resource team. “Rod and the team were great in understanding the needs of our company and what we require for sound design” complemented Liz. “We went with Jands and The P.A. People because of their knowledge of the space and their ability to recommend great equipment that complements the space itself. The design is versatile, and we’ve had a lot of complements on the system and the sound quality. It’s been going really well!”
