The Evan Theatre at Panthers Penrith is a premium, purpose built entertainment venue, available for private hire and public shows. It features a permanent theatrical stage, fully licensed bar, seating for up to 850 patrons and the services you would expect from a full-production theatre.
Over the years, the venue has hosted an array of leading entertainers including John Farnham, Boys II Men, The Wiggles and David Strassman. Fifteen years ago, the venue purchased some Martin MAC500 and MAC600 fixtures w
hich have managed well over this time – as have their Claypaky Golden Scan 3 fixtures! However, it was definitely time for an upgrade to a more state of the art rig and the decision was made to purchase eight Claypaky A.leda B-EYE K10 high performance wash lights, ten Martin MAC Quantum Profiles and for control, an MA Lighting grandMA2 light. Finally, to complete the awesome package, a Robert Juliat Super Korrigan 1200w followspot was also added to the purchase.
“One of the first conversations with Wayne was to look at what types of acts were coming through the venue and what was required of them from a lighting rig point of view,” explained Stephen Dallimore, Show Technology’s Business Development Manager. “Venues such as Panthers are having more and m
ore high profile touring acts coming through, so the need to have equipment that is rider spec’d and matches the major city venues, is very important.”
In fact, it is quite common now for venues throughout the country to offer leading fixtures from Martin, Claypaky, Robert Juliat and MA Lighting and it has become the bench level for any new venue.
“The club was updating the room in terms of furniture and décor so we decided to also buy new lighting equipment,” commented Wayne Campbell, Production Manager at Panthers. “We conducted a shootout with a few moving head profiles and the Quantums really stood out, which was great as I’ve always been a Martin user and saw no reason to change.”
Wayne noted that the choice of gobos with the Quantum Profiles is fantastic and that their punch is incredible. Darcy Cook, a regular audiovisual contractor employed at Evans Theatre added that t
he Quantums have a really nice colour-rendering index. “The red is actually a red and the green is green, whereas with the old MAC600’s the greens were too dim to use,” he added.
Wayne particularly took a likely to the zoom capability of the MAC Quantum Profile, which allows him to fill the venue’s cyc with light and colour using only two fixtures. Another highlight is using the Claypaky A.leda B-EYE K10 not only as a wash but also as eye candy, delving into using the dual colour wheels and also the beam libraries. Darcy has also had fun using them, most recently on a dance festival. “I’ve been using the kaleidoscope effect rotating the front lens for some really cool looks,” said Darcy. “If you throw a gobo in the Quantums and then put the kaleidoscope effect through it, it creates a dispersed, beamy look. It creates a lot of nice beams throughout the whole stage and you can get away without having a lot of front wash as there’s still a lot of light around the stage. It’s great for dance, no front light just overhead and side lighting.”
The Robert Juliat Super Korrigan followspot has certainly impressed Wayne, who says it throws a beautiful punchy beam from 30 metres away. “It’s a great followspot – very smooth and the intensity of the fixtures is spot on,” he commented. “It probably has twice as much light output as our previous followspot!”
Wayne describes the MA2 light as more user friendly and versatile than the venue’s previous console plus of course, it’s on most riders. “The MA console is pretty much industry standard and is spec’d by most LD’s,” he said. “I had to learn it over the past three months but it’s quite easy to pick up. Darcy has been teaching me a whole bunch of stuff I didn’t know it could do but I certainly got the basics of it with no problem at all.”
The guys at Evan Theatre at Panthers Penrith certainly sound impressed with their latest purchases, looks like the venue has made a great upgrade.
Photos: Darcy Cook
