News
We are proud of what we do and on this page we thought we should share a small selection of our work.
St George’s Battery Point – Audio Visual Upgrade 2024
We recently undertook a significant upgrade of the audio-visual system at one of Hobart’s most significant historic landmarks, St George’s Anglican Church in Battery Point.
The colonial neo-classical building designed by government architect John Lee Archer 1838 had its challenges.
The installation included Electro-Voice EVH Speaker system to provide optimum intelligibility and even pattern control in the large space while minimising visual impacts. The installation also included large format BenQ displays with Extron Electronics switching and control, Panasonic PTZ Camera with Black Magic Design Atem Switching for Live Streaming.
Rosny College – Auditorium Upgrade 2024
As part of a major package of works to upgrade the performing arts facilities in Dwight Brown Auditorium GK Productions undertook a number of major works. These works included a large new lighting inventory including Vari-lite Leko LED Full Colour Profiles and Cantata Full Colour Fresnels, and Martin Mac Aura XB and Era 300 Moving Lights.
The works also included the installation of new sound system. The new audio system selected was an Electro-Voice package including 3 suspended hangs of EVH-D series horn-loaded enclosures plus a pair EVF double 15” Subwoofers, EVC 8” Front-fill Cabinets, and EVF-D 12” speakers for delays into 2 lecture theatres. The system is powered by the new Dynacord MXE-5 Matrix Mix Engine with Dynacord C-Series Amplification.
The system has been integrated with our previous installation of an Extron control system providing simple recall of audio system presets depending on room configuration and requirements.
186th Royal Hobart Regatta – February 2024
We provided complete concert Production for the 186th Royal Hobart Regatta. Including fantastic entertainment from the Australian Army Band Tasmania and the Royal Australian Navy Band and many others.
The package included Sound, Lighting, Stage, Crowd Barrier and Roof Structure.
Hybrid Professional Development for Catholic Education Tasmania – 2023
We again provided audio-visual production services for the Catholic Education Tasmania’s Insight Professional Development Day. With 9 rooms running across 3 venues across Tasmania. We had local content running in all 9 rooms plus broadcasting a live stream from Launceston to all regions.
The Insight program develops staff “High Impact Teaching Practice” based on the “Science of Learning” with the bold goal of becoming the most improved education system in Australia.
MacQuarie Point Development Corporation – 2023
In an increasingly connected world having quality audio for meetings is paramount. We were approached by the corporation responsible for development of MacQuarie Point to improve the microphone audio in their boardroom to allow better communication with their stakeholders.
We installed the Sennheiser TeamConnect Ceiling 2 Microphone. It worked fantastically, with it’s 28 Electret condenser microphone capsules it provides perfect speech intelligibility using beam steering to focus on the person talking and also cancel out unwanted noise as programmed during commissioning.
The TeamConnect Ceiling 2 worked perfectly with the previously installed Microsoft Surface Hub, being certified for MS Teams (and Zoom and others).
Westbury Baptist Church – January 2022
The AV system at Westbury Baptist Church was long due for an overhaul. We were engaged to undertake a complete redesign and installation of a new sound system and AV control along with replacement of the existing projector.
The new audio system consisted of Dynacord TS200 enclosures along with SUB112 Subwoofers, running from Dynacord C-Series Amplifiers. The new system is not only discrete but sounds great providing a massive increase in intelligibility.
A Bosch 100v Line amplifiers and wall mount speaker provides audio through to a cry room area.
An Extron collaboration system provides automated vision switching feeding the audio into a Midas MR18 audio mixer for iPad control of the sound system.
Variety Carols By Candlelight – December 2021
The Variety Carols By Candlelight in the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens was extra special for us this year being the launch event for our brand new Midas Heritage D HD96-24 Live Digital Audio Console. This amazing console boasts 144 input channels and 120 mix bus outputs. The console is a significant investment in our audio capabilities and is one of the first in Australia.
The Hutchins School – August 2021
We recently completed the installation of technical services into the new Hutchins Middle School drama facility. The installation included Electro-Voice speakers, LSC Control Systems Mantra-Lite, APS Power distribution, and Redback Patch Panel, Strand Lighting PLFresnel1 lighting fixtures, Extron Electronics, Panasonic Laser projector, Lighting Bars and Theatrical Curtaining.
St Mary’s College – August 2021
We had the pleasure of undertaking a significant upgrade of the audio-visual services in the St Mary’s College Nagle Centre. The installation included new large format Screen Technics projection screens with high-output Panasonic laser projectors. Electro-Voice and Dynacord audio system. The system is operated from a user friendly iPad interface via an Extron Electronics control system.
Northern Christian School Installation – August 2021
We were absolutely delighted to recently undertake another project for Christian Schools Tasmania, the new multipurpose hall at Northern Christian School. This new hall is a fantastic asset and meeting space for the school community. We designed and installed an AV system that can grow with the schools evolving needs. The system includes Electro-Voice EVH speakers powered by Dynacord C-Series amplifiers, Sennheiser G4 Wireless microphones, the new Strand Lighting Leko LED FC stage lighting fixtures, LSC Control Systems power and data distribution. Panasonic laser projector and Screen Technics Electri-Cinema screen.
The system is integrated and controlled by an Extron Electronics matrix switcher and control processor providing simple control of Audio, Audio-Visual, and Stage and room Lighting from a simple user friendly iPad interface.
This installation also included one of the brand new LSC Control Systems Mantra Mini. This device we used to control not only the stage lighting but also the room lighting via a Dynalite interface.
GK Productions Light Les Misérables – January 2021
(The following has been reproduced from an article published by the Australasian Live Industry Alliance.)
For their 10th Anniversary, Musical Theatre Crew, a musical theatre training school for young people based in Hobart, decided to stage Les Misérables at Hobart’s Theatre Royal. The show was the largest production the school has produced to date and GK Productions supplied the majority of the lighting rig.
“I was engaged to join this show very late in the production process (on Christmas Eve!) and this severely cut down my usual pre-production processes,” commented Gareth Kays of GK Productions. “The brief was brief – create a large impact on a very, even more limited budget than usual, especially with Covid-restricted audience sizes.”
Gareth only saw a single run of the show prior to drawing up the design. With very limited plotting time and a finite amount of time from bump-in to opening night, it was a balancing act between time constraints and the flexibility and benefits of bringing in some of his own hire inventory to undertake the job with minimum stress and effort.
“From the moment I was engaged I knew the priority for this design was going to be flexibility,” said Gareth. “Especially as I had limited knowledge of spacing, blocking and costumes and set etc! The biggest challenge was the budget which meant no follow spots! This resulted in a large amount of programming to draw the audience’s attention where it was required using a reasonable number of generic specials and wash while containing the amount of front of house wash on stage.”
Gareth utilised the Theatre Royal’s stock of tungsten halogen profiles to undertake FOH duties and a provide a number of specials on LX1 downstage. The rest of the gear he supplied himself including six Strand PLFresnel1 RGBW Fresnels, a fixture Gareth loves, located in a box booms position in the Royal’s ornate Royal Boxes. Four Showline SL Wash 350 provided overhead and colour in-front of a downstage scrim as well as set lighting when the scrim was out. Overhead there were eight Showline SL Beam 300FX for wash and eight Showline SL LEDSPOT 300 supplying lots of gobos.
Eight Vari-Lite VL800 EVENTWASH provided a strong backlight from upstage and gave Gareth some great beams to use so much so he wonders why they aren’t called an EVENTBEAM!
Six ShowPRO Quad-7 Pars were used to backlight some windows in the set. As there was zero space available in the wings for booms, eight ShowPRO Fusion Par Q XII were vertically rigged as side-light from the panorama bars downstage. Despite being a very narrow shot they certainly added some nice punchy side-light to a limited area downstage.
“I had four ShowPRO Fusion Wash Q XLVIII (48) as footlights which was a quick and dirty solution,” added Gareth. “However the diffusers on these fixtures are excellent, a little overkill perhaps – I don’t think they went over 5%! 16-bit dimming would have been a bonus – hint hint ShowTech! They are reasonably new fixtures to my inventory but they have proved themselves incredibly useful and I certainly intend to purchase more into the future.”
A Showline SL510 Nitro Strobe was used for effect and atmospherics came from a Lightwave Research F100 Fog Generator and two Smoke Factory Tour Hazer II.
“I refuse to use oil crackers around my fixtures, the Tour Hazer’s have been an excellent machine,” added Gareth. “I usually would use more fog generators but increasing these to a high output when required minimised bringing in more equipment.”
Control was Gareth’s compact and very powerful Avolites Quartz console with two LSC Nexus 5 Port Nodes.
The programming was mostly undertaken in a single day, with a run of the show in the middle, followed by two part-days to complete and refine it. Gareth ended up with around 275 cues for the show which he also operated.
“Despite the challenge of not having follow-spots for a production such as Les Mis, I felt there was still some really nice transitions between scenes within a scene with a lot of people still on stage nicely complementing the blocking and direction,” he said. “My favourite moment was probably the end of the barricade sequence when everything slows down including my lighting. I had backlight beams doing a very slow searchlight style effects across the barricade which produced some really nice tableaus as the lights hit various characters.
“It was great being back in the Theatre, it’s almost 12 months since lighting a large production of Mamma Mia last January.”
Tasmania Police – Radio Despatch Services – 2021
The new facility built for Triple 0 call taking and despatch for Tasmania Police required a Pro AV solution for the distribution of video signals within the facility. The Extron NAVigator system was the chosen solution bringing into the system numerous input sources to be displayed and arranged on a large video wall array.
The NAV system is a no-compromise Pro AV over IP solution for distribution and switching of ultra-low latency, high quality video and audio signals over an Ethernet network at low bitrates. It delivers groundbreaking performance with real-time, lossless video over IP at resolutions up to 4K @ 60 Hz with 4:4:4 chroma sampling and ultra-low latency.
The installation included a large number on endpoints providing inputs and outputs plus KVM control, with massive amounts of future expansion options. The addition of an Extron IPCP Control Processor and TLP Pro Touch Screen allows comprehensive control capabilities into the future.
Hobart College Refurbishes with GK Productions – 2020
Mount Nelson Theatre, built 1972, at Hobart College in southern Tasmania was well and truly due for an upgrade. A major redevelopment was undertaken by the Department of Education with architectural works undertaken by Cumulus Studio. We provided consultation and advice to the college on system design and new equipment selection and integration.
The majority of equipment dated from the original installation including many ’classic’ Strand Pattern series lighting fixtures.
Highlights of the new equipment we provided included:
Stage Lighting
- Avolites Tiger Touch II
- Robert Juliat OZ LED Follow Spots.
- Martin Professional ERA300 Moving Profiles
- Martin Professional Aura XB Moving Wash Lights
- Strand PLProfile4 MKII LED Profiles
- Strand PLProfile1 MKII LED Profiles
- Strand PLFresnel1 MKII LED Fresnels
- Strand PLCyc1 MK LED Cycloramas
- Strand Rama LED Fresnels
- LSC Control Nexus Ethernet DMX Interfaces
- LSC Control APS Power Distribution
- LSC Control Redback Patch Panels
- Smoke Factory Tour Hazer II
Audio and Communications
- Electro-Voice EVF Loudspeakers
- Dynacord C-Series Amplifiers
- Midas M32R Digital Mixing Console
- Backstage and Foyer Distributed Paging and show relay system utilising Bosch Plena Matrix and Bosch speakers and Electro-Voice EVID Speakers in foyer.
- Telex BTR700 Wireless Intercom System
- Jands Ezicom Master Station
Audio Visual
- Extron CrossPoint84 Matrix Vision Switcher and control processor.
- Screen Technics ElectriCinema XL Projection Screen
- BenQ and NEC Commercial Display Panels
Respect for Victoria Police – May 2020
After the tragic loss of 4 Victoria Police officers in the line of duty we were truly honoured to provide our services to Tasmania Police to light their buildings blue at the State Headquarters and at the Tasmania Police Academy.
Mamma Mia – January 2020
In January 2020 we travelled to the Greek Isles for the Show Company’s production of Mamma Mia! For the Tasmanian premiere of this production we provided the lighting designed and supplied almost 100 lighting fixtures including 48 Moving Lights. We also provided the speaker system, radio microphones, and digital audio consoles for the production. The show featured 22 of ABBA’s greatest hits and was a massive success.
Salvation Army Glenorchy Corps – 2019
We were engaged to provide a complete audio-visual integrated system into the new Glenorchy Corps. The system covered the chapel as well and common areas and meeting rooms with AV routing between rooms provided by simple touch-screen user interfaces.
The installation was based around an Extron Electronics matrix switcher and control processor. Some of the other equipment included LG Commercial Displays, Sennheiser and Electro-Voice microphones, Speakers in the main Chapel were from Dynacord, with Electro-Voice Evid ceiling speakers covering other areas.
St Virgils College – 2019 (Electro-Voice Press Release)
GK Productions recently provided a major upgrade Audio-Visual to St Virgil’s College Joyce Performance Centre what follows is a press release published by Electro-Voice and Dynacord.
GK Productions upgrades St Virgil’s College Auditorium with Electro-Voice and Dynacord
20 November 2019
St Virgil’s College is one of Tasmania’s oldest and most respected boys’ schools. Founded in 1911 as a Catholic day and boarding school, today St Virgil’s provides a contemporary, engaging and fun-filled education for day students which continues to honor the school’s rich history and traditions. More than 750 boys aged from 8 to 16 are enrolled, all engaging in first-class educational opportunities and experiences set within modern, purpose-built learning and teaching facilities.
As the school has expanded, St Virgil’s found that they did not have enough seating in their auditorium to comfortably seat the entire student cohort for assemblies. The solution involved seating some of the students on the stage area and conducting visual presentations from the back of the stage. This posed various audio-related issues for the audience. The original sound system, installed in 2000, required an urgent upgrade. In line with the school’s high-quality education standards, St Virgil’s sought a high-quality solution to address the audio-visual needs of the Joyce Performance Centre. A great result would ultimately improve the auditorium’s usage, including production of assemblies and a busy schedule of musical concerts, musical theatre and dramatic performances.
“The EV and Dynacord range enables us to choose the right box and amp for every situation.”
GK Productions, founded in 2012 by Gareth Kays, was approached about the job. As one of the largest integrators and installation specialists in Tasmania, with over 20 years of experience and a solid reputation in theatre production and sound installation, Gareth was well suited for the execution of St Virgil’s audio requirements.
Why Electro-Voice and Dynacord?
After examining the auditorium and noting the complexity and various design aspects of the job, Gareth turned to the Electro-Voice product catalog. “There’s really no other brand of speaker boxes that I’ve come across that provide the same amount of choice in their range,” says Kays. GK Productions have a long-standing relationship with Electro-Voice and Dynacord and have acquired an extensive amount of product over time for both installation and production inventory.
“The EV and Dynacord range enables us to choose the right box and amp for every situation.” In this particular case, GK Productions’ primary goal was to fill the stage and auditorium with high-quality audio in a manner that was not obstructive to dramatic performances and the shows that the school hosts.
System selection and installation
The installation is centered around EVF (front-loaded) and EVU (ultra-compact) series enclosures from the Electro-Voice EV-Innovation family of acoustically and aesthetically matched installation-dedicated loudspeaker solutions. Due to the venue‘s excellent acoustics, an EVF-1122D system was chosen and integrated into a main left-center-right configuration, due to the width of the room. A pair 60° x 60° cabinets are used for the left and right hangs; a 120° x 60° cabinet serves in the center, with its horn rotated and mounted horizontally to minimize obstruction of sightlines, lighting and data projection. This enclosure covers most of the auditorium from a single point source. To mount the EVF, custom-engineered steel brackets and beams were placed between timber trestles, as the existing structural points in the room were already occupied by curtain tracks and other equipment. The stabilizer brackets on the EVF helped with overall installation synergy.
On stage, EVU2082 and EVU1082 under-balcony boxes are installed underneath the lighting bar borders, providing a very discrete solution without compromising sound quality and coverage. As the auditorium is quite steep, a further set of EVU2082 and EVU1082 enclosures are installed as delays towards the rear of the auditorium. Completing the speaker design, a pair EVF1151S subwoofers provide low-end extension to the system. “Having a one-brand solution for the mains, delays and in-fills allowed us to achieve a very similar sonic result across the performance area,” Kay adds.
To power the system, C series DSP amplifiers from EV’s sibling brand Dynacord are integrated into the control system with a simple contact closure for power on/off. Loading FIR filters into the amps further streamlined the project and ensures optimal performance from the Electro-Voice speakers. An Electro-Voice NetMax processor handles delays and matrix switching, with multiple presets recalled via the control system.
Moving forward
This project required a well-thought-out solution to make sure the coverage patterns and correct throw and volume were achieved. The results of the project have further strengthened Gareth’s belief and reliance on Electro-Voice and Dynacord products. “I certainly don’t have any plans to look elsewhere for audio supplies,” he says. “The gear simply does what it is supposed to do and does it very well.” As for GK Productions, their plans for the future are simple. “We will continue to expand our inventory. We are very driven by what our clients are asking us to do and that’s our key for growth. We certainly have a very good reputation amongst schools, theatres and houses of worship, and due to word of mouth we are entering into more and more verticals in installation and production.”
St Aidan’s Church – 2019
We’ve recently completed a very well deserved and much needed upgrade of the Audio-Visual facilities at St Aidan’s Church. The main speaker enclosures are Dynacord TS400 Vertical Array, chosen for their stunning acoustic performance and aesthetic minimal design. The system is powered by Dynacord C-Series amplification and controlled by a Midas MR18 mixer with iPad tablet interface. Electro-Voice Polar Choice gooseneck microphones, Sennheiser Evolution G4 wireless and Klark Teknik DI boxes completed the audio.
Twin 75” BenQ commercial displays were chosen for the vision mounted on full motion articulated Peerless-AV brackets. Switching and distribution technology was from Extron Electronics.
Mary Poppins Lighting a winner at Tas Theatre Award – 2019
We were very humbled to be acknowledged at the Tasmanian Theatre Awards for our Lighting Design on the Show Company’s production of Mary Poppins. As well as lighting design we also provided a large number of LED and Moving Light fixtures, projection, media-server, Front of House speaker system, radio microphones and digital audio console.
Carols at Blundstone Arena – 2018
For Christmas we were given the complex challenge of providing staging, lighting and concert audio production for Carols at the conclusion of the Twenty20 Big Bash Cricket Game, won by our Hobart Hurricanes.
With an extremely tight timeframe to complete the setup, with much preparation and planning and great work by our crew on the night we comfortably achieved this complex job in the allocated timeframe with great success.
The Carols starred Croon (John Xintavelonis, Colin Dean, Andrew Colrain) with Matthew Ives and his Big Band. with special guests
Nicole Farrow, Samantha James-Radford, and Mikaela Campbell.
Lindisfarne North Primary School – 2018
This is one of two Electro-Voice EVH speaker system installations we have undertaken so far this year. The EV EVH enclosures are horn-loaded, this allows us to focus the audio where it’s needed, in turn this produces high quality intelligible audio in highly reverberant spaces such as this school hall at Lindisfarne North Primary.
The audio system is controlled by a user friendly Bosch plena-matrix iPad interface. The install also included Sennheiser wireless mics, a very large Screen Technics projection screen, a Panasonic projector as well as Extron control for the projector and screen.
We Will Rock You! – 2018
We were thrilled to rock the lighting for the John X Presents production of ‘We Will Rock You’ at Hobart’s Theatre Royal. We provided the lighting design and supplied over 100 lighting fixtures for this phenomenally successful sellout production.
Huon Anglican – Audio Visual Install – 2018
We were engaged to give the Huon Anglican Church a well earned upgrade of their Audio Visual Equipment. The installation included some large format BenQ commercial displays with Extron video distribution. The sound system is a Dynacord TS200 Vertical Array system with a Electro-Voice SB122 Subwoofer powered by the new Dynacord L1800 Amplifier. The audio mixer is a Midas M-Air with a selection of EV wired microphones and Sennheiser wireless.
Croon 3: Holywood to Broadway – 2017
Andrew Colrain, Colin Dean and John Xintavelonis with Matthew Ives and his Big Band were back again at Hobart’s Theatre Royal along with the Croonette dancers, guest vocalists Di Richards, Stephanie McCorkelle, and Nicole Simms-Farrow. This is the third fully staged production of Croon which we have designed and supplied lighting for. Nothing compares to the glitz and glamour of Croon!
St Mary’s College – St Peters Hall 2017
St Mary’s College have been converting the historic St Peter’s Hall into a new drama area. St Peter’s Hall was built in Hobart’s Wapping district in the 1850’s and then moved to it’s present site shortly after 1900. We were engaged to design and install some basic technical infrastructure. We installed new lighting bars, technical patch panels and stage curtaining. We also supplied some new equipment including Philips Selecon PL1 LED Fresnels, LSC Lighting Systems Mantra-LIte Console, Electro-Voice ZX5 Speakers and amplification driven by a Behringer X32 Console. (Cabling installed by the projects electrical contractor)
The Hutchins School – Terrance Butler Auditorium 2017
We were approached to make recommendations on replacing the existing system in the schools main auditorium, we recommended and installed Electro-Voice QrX153-75 horn loaded speaker enclosures for their excellent patten control in the large room. We used a DC-One processor and CPS amplifiers to drive the new system. The upgrade has delivered fantastic results with huge improvements in not only intelligibility but appearances also.
Illawarra Primary School – Multipurpose Hall 2017
We were engaged to replace the dated hall audio system with something fit for purpose and easy to use. We selected some Electro-Voice ZX3 enclosures in white with new amplifiers and Sennheiser radio mics all controlled via an iPad interface through a Bosch Plena Matrix. We also installed a new projector and Screen Technics motorised projection screen with Extron control.
Wicked ‘the untold story of the Witches of Oz’ – March 2017
We received some international exposure for our lighting work on the Show Company’s production of Wicked ‘the untold story of the witches of Oz’. Both renowned manufactures Avolites and Philips covered our work. Press releases are reproduced below. (Some images courtesy of Photomakers – Tony McKendrick)
Avolites Quartz creates magic for Wicked the Musical in Tasmania (Avolites Press Release)
08 March 2017
Australia: One of Tasmania’s leading lighting designers, Gareth Kays, used an ultra-compact Quartz console from British manufacturer Avolites to programme the magical lighting and special effects on the Australian island state’s production of blockbuster Broadway musical Wicked. The show ran at Hobart’s Theatre Royal from 27 January to 11 February.
Featuring spectacular staging and a 17-piece orchestra, the musical was put on by local production company The Show Company. Kays was brought in to design and programme the entire lighting package. The owner of GK Productions, Tasmania’s premier performance technology consultancy, Kays controlled the show using an ultra-compact Avolites Quartz console running the latest Titan V10 software.
“There were a number of reasons that the Quartz console appealed to me,” explains Kays, who had invested in the console in 2016 from Australian distributor TLC Global. “Firstly, it doesn’t need to run on a laptop, which avoids Windows doing unwanted updates. It was super compact, but still had the full capabilities of Titan, and it was a lot quicker and neater than my existing set-up – which had a mountain of interconnecting cables. One of the great advantages of the Quartz is that it is available at a realistic price point for a fully featured professional console.”
For the Wicked production, Kays added an additional touch screen and the Avolites Titan Mobile Wing during the design and programming stages of the show.
“Adding the Titan Mobile Wing and touch-screen gave me more ‘real estate’ during the programming of the show,” he explains. “However the Quartz’s well designed, full-functionality meant that I could disconnect these when I moved to my operating position. I then used my remaining faders for a few ‘on the fly’ specials, some basic FOH washes for curtain calls and an array of fog machines located around the stage.”
Kays was faced with the challenge of limited programming time, he started plotting on a Monday afternoon, with the musical opening on the Friday. During this time there were five runs of the show, which further cut into an already limited time frame. He consequently had to adopt a highly efficient approach using pallets and programmed the entire show on a single cue list. The rig was spread across eight universes of data, conveyed via Art-Net.
Kays relied heavily on Titan V10s latest ‘Shape Tracking’ feature in cue lists – which allows designers advanced intuitive programming capabilities. The feature means that when creating a cue list that includes shapes, the shapes automatically track and follow the normal tracking rules. The ‘Playback View’ shows where they are blocked and tracked – meaning a designer has the option to block the shapes, preventing it from tracking to the next cue.
“It makes transitions in and out of shapes a breeze,” Kays says. “Titan is the best it’s ever been.”
Kays was first introduced to Avolites consoles 15 years ago, when he started working with Sapphire 2000s and Pearl 2000s. In his opinion, a key benefit of the Avolites Titan software is that it has retained the same intuitive, easy-to-use, interface over the years – while accruing increasingly powerful features.
Wicked is described by The New York Times as “the defining musical of the decade”, and is one of Broadway’s longest running and best-loved musicals. It tells the story of the Witches of Oz – Glinda the Good Witch and Elphaba the infamous Wicked Witch of the West. Based on a 1995 novel of the same name by New Yorker Gregory Maguire, it serves as a prequel to the classic children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. It reveals the astounding happenings in the Emerald City before Dorothy and Toto were dropped there by a tornado.
(Reproduced from Avolites Media Release)
Defying gravity: Philips Lighting delivers magical in-air lighting effects on Australian production of Wicked (Philips Press Release)
Philips Entertainment Lighting luminaires from the Philips Selecon and Philips Showline product lines leave audiences spellbound on The Show Company’s Australian production of Wicked, the Wizard of Oz prequel
Tasmania – Philips Lighting (Euronext Amsterdam ticker: LIGHT), a global leader in lighting, today announced that its LED stage lighting added to the drama and detail of an award-winning production of the hit Broadway musical Wicked at the historic Theatre Royal in Hobart, Tasmania – Australia’s island state.
In the role of both lighting designer and technical supplier was Gareth Kays of GK Productions, Tasmania’s leading performance technology consultancy. His brief was to create an impressive, Broadway-style production on a comparatively small stage.
“One of my main challenges was disguising the ground support system which allowed lead character Elphaba to take flight during the number Defying Gravity,” Kays explained. “I used Philips Showline SL BEAM 300fx moving head luminaires at full zoom for back lighting Elphaba as she rose into the air. Light radiated out from her, masking the mechanics and giving the impression she truly was flying. I then used the Philips Showline SL LEDSPOT 300 luminaires to light the downstage in a dappled gobo wash, which added to the radiating backlit look.”
Kays also used the Philips Showline SL LEDSPOT 300’s advanced effects system and CMY color mixing to bring the staging to life. “In a lot of the scenes I used very strong colors and large gobo effects to create a magical storybook feel. I found the stock gobos in the Philips Showline SL LEDSPOT 300 gave me plenty of creative options; I used the brick gobo for a not so subtle yellow brick road, and utilized the same gobo with a cyan for the interiors of the castle scenes to break up the stage floor. The framing shutter system is also fantastic for my theatrical work.”
Kays also selected Philips Selecon PLfresnel1 MKII high output LED Fresnel fixtures for front of house lighting from the ‘box boom’ position. He commented: “the fixtures provided a great color palette from natural skin tones through to saturated deep colors.”
Colin Kavanagh, General Manager Philips Entertainment Lighting said: “We are committed to leading the transition to energy efficient entertainment lighting and Wicked in Hobart was a perfect example of how our LED technology is a formidable match for tungsten in a theatrical environment, at a fraction of the power consumption. From precision shutter framing to sophisticated color rendering, our theatrical LED luminaires offer designers true energy-efficient creativity.”
Wicked ran from January 27 to February 11 at Hobart’s historic Theatre Royal – Australia’s oldest continually operating theater, which celebrates its 180th anniversary in 2017. The production also won several awards at the Tasmanian Theatre Awards (also known as the ‘Errols’ after legendary Hollywood actor Errol Flynn, who was born in Hobart) on Sunday March 12, including Best Production.
(Reproduced from Philips Entertainment Media Release)
ExitLeft Hobart Carols By Candlelight – 2016
For the second year running ExitLeft Productions turned to us for provision of production services for their carols event. Staged in the spectacular Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens amongst the trees around 10,000 people attended. We utilised a distributed audio system consisting of over 40 speaker boxes to cover the venue which provided excellent coverage amongst the trees and obstacles covering in excess of 100m from the stage. We provided radio microphones, stage lighting, site lighting and communications. We also provided audio splits for the broadcast of the show.
Police Academy Stays Within The Law – 2016
Tasmania police upon investigation found their wireless microphone systems at the Police Academy were outside the legal limits for broadcast set by the Australian Communications Media Authority. We supplied new Sennheiser Speechline systems for the auditorium and dining room. Speechline is a digital system specifically designed for speech. It runs in the DECT frequency range and automatically manages it’s own frequencies making it an effortless operation. The system also has 256-bit AES encryption available to keep communications secure and charging docks to keep it sounding fantastic whenever it’s needed.
Rock Of Ages – April 2016
We were stoked to be behind the lighting for this high octane rocking show at Hobart’s Theatre Royal. Providing a large moving light rig and special effects to blow the audience away.
Emmanuel Christian School – Performing Arts Centre 2016
Complete greenfield site installation of new audio, video and lighting into their new performing arts centre: These images were taken during the final stages of our installation of technical services. This new facility will provide excellent learning opportunities for students. It will be used for school productions, assemblies and classes. It is also the new exciting place of worship for the local church Grace. It will be no doubt a fantastic asset to the greater local community.
The Audio included Electro-Voice EVH and EVF speakers for front of house, ZX3 enclosures in the music room, Evid Ceiling speakers in the foyer, The system processor is an Electro-Voice Netmax 8000, The main mixing console is a Midas M32.
Lighting fixtures included from Philips Selecon PL1 Fresnel and Profile, PL4 Profile, Philips Showline SLPAR155, Controlled via a LSC Lighting Systems LX300 Clarity Console with Nexus nodes and MDRX Data Splitting.
The visual system was controlled by an Extron Crosspoint 84 matrix swithcer with TLP 520pro touch screens, Displays included a huge Screen Technics Electri-Cinema XL motorised screen.
This installation was featured in the January 2018 edition of the Pro AVL Asia Magazine.
