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Marquee Provide New PA for Chatham’s Historic Central Theatre
The managers at the Central see Marquee and the Turbosound PA as a winning combination, having had the opportunity to evaluate the merits of different systems, brought in by various touring production crews, at first hand.
Chris Stevens, technical manager at The Central Theatre, said: “These days we get a lot of musical shows, amateur productions of musicals and ’70s bands coming through and so we needed a flexible, essentially rock ’n’ roll PA. We had been exposed to a lot of Turbosound systems, which deliver a good sound, and when we were ready to upgrade the old system, one of the visiting sound engineers recommended that we include Marquee Audio in our list of companies.”
The Central Theatre had devised a ‘wish list’ which included a health and safety compliant structural upgrade to the theatre. When the funds became available, Marquee Audio was among those to receive the venue’s exacting specification.
The Shepperton-based company responded by specifying a Turbosound TQ system. A flowncentral cluster of three TQ-310’s is reinforced at FOH by TQ-315s, with TQ-308s at front of stage. Four ground-stacked TQ-315s handle the sub-frequencies, while balcony delays are provided by a further pair of TQ-315s. As with the previous system, the entire set-up is powered by QSC’s PLX series amplifier.
But the component that has made the biggest change to life at the Chatham venue is the introduction of the BSS Soundweb. A SW9088ii (configured Line/Line) has been supplied by Marquee Audio with a 9010 ‘Jellyfish’ remote panel, up in the control booth.
“Marquee’s proposals included Soundweb because of the multi-purpose nature of the theatre,” continued Chris, who has been at the venue for ten years. “It enables us to programme different presets for different users and lock them off, so that touring sound engineers can come in without disturbing the sound. The Jellyfish sits next to the sound desk, and among other functions, will allow us to push a paging button, and the PA immediately shuts down.”
The Central Theatre certainly needs to store a number of different gain settings. As a receiving house it hosts, regular folk, jazz and orchestral nights as well as theatre and cinema.
The work was planned around the installation of the new seating and the whole system went in, with onsite training, in three days. It has already received positive feedback from clients, customers and the front-of-house staff alike.
The Central Theatre is owned and operated by Medway Council. Councillor Wes Hollands, Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Culture said, “This has been a major achievement. It has now given us back a theatre that artists and customers are pleased with and which fits nicely with the cultural programme that is developing within Medway.”
9th December 2004
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