There’s nothing to beat the moment when the curtains open and the stage lights come up at the start of a show. Our old stage lights are not quite as elderly as the theatre itself but they are definitely ‘vintage’ with some having been ‘hand-me-downs’ from the old Festival Theatre on Paignton’s seafront, which closed in 1998!
With energy efficiency in mind we have been going through a phased programme of upgrading the old lights (up to 1200w) with new LED lights (200w). Like all businesses we absolutely have to be future-proof in these changing times of high energy inflation but also want to operate as sustainably as we can. These new lights also mean that colour changes can be programmed at the flick of a switch, rather than our technicians climbing ladders to change colour ‘gels’ over the front of the lights.
The picture shows Louis Sullivan of NLS, our supplier, and Technical Manager Clive Simmons in the midst of swapping round the stage lights. It’s quite a job, and quite an investment too, so we hope to complete the final phase in 2023.
