Before - Permus
After - LD90s!
Designed by architect Michael Reardon and built with an anonymous financial donation, the Swan Theatre opened in 1986 providing the RSC with a third theatre in Stratford. Its thrust stage and galleried seating, built within the shell of the original Memorial Theatre which had been destroyed by fire, were intended to provide a suitable space for Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. The theatre has served this function well in the fourteen years since.
That time, and the RSC's relentless repertory schedule of shows, had started to take its toll on the original Strand Permus dimmer installation. The Swan's Electrics team, headed by Chief Electrician Wayne Dowdeswell, did, however, opt to continue to use Strand equipment, and White Light Projects provided them with 14 new Strand LD90 racks, extra non-dims control, circuiting throughout the venue and an expansion of the existing ShowNet network previously installed by White Light. With the RSC's usual tight schedule, the Swan had just one scheduled dark week - and the new dimmers were successfully installed and commissioned in that week by The Service Company's Antony Bridges, working with electrical contractors CLI.
The Swan installation continues the close working relationship between White Light and the RSC. White Light Sales have already supplied Strand 500-series control systems to both The Pit at the Barbican in London and to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon, with those systems also being commissioned by The Service Company. White Light and The Moving Light Company are also currently supplying equipment, including Martin MAC500 moving lights, to the RSC's new musical The Secret Garden, currently playing in Stratford with a lighting design by Chris Parry.