Whether it’s a state-of-the-art, newly built in-the-round theatre or a historic cultural centre with decades of history, theatres are among the most versatile venue types of all. This technical and artistic range is also embodied by two recently completed theatre installations in England, which were implemented using solutions from the Adam Hall Integrated Systems portfolio: while the newly opened Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre in the London district of the same name uses audio solutions from LD Systems, the time-honoured The Coro in Ulverston has employed lights and signal distributors from Cameo to modernise its lighting technology.
The Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre, newly built in 2025, has 1,200 seats arranged around a central circular stage. The audio installation is based on a multi-zone system for the front-of-house and back-of-house areas, which was designed and realised by AV service provider Excite Audio Visual Ltd.
LD Systems CICS 52 and CICS 62 100 V in-ceiling loudspeakers are used for sound reinforcement in the back-of-house (changing rooms, etc.), providing uniform and unobtrusive yet powerful coverage for announcements, operating information and programme-dependent recordings.
Signal amplification in the back-of-house is handled by LD Systems IPA 424 T 4-channel 100 V installation amplifiers, which allow several speaker lines to be operated easily and efficiently and neatly integrated into the audio zone structure. The IPA amplifiers are also equipped with X-EDAI ethernet control expansion cards to guarantee system communication and controllability in the network.
“This was the first time we have used LD Systems for a project of this size. We were extremely impressed by the performance of the equipment and the ease of programming the DSP,” Jason Williams, Excite Audio Visual Ltd.
The LD Systems ZONE X 1212 D DSP audio matrix with Dante integration is at the heart of the audio installation in the Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre. The matrix handles the complete signal routing, distributes the various sources to individual zones and enables flexible allocation for different scenarios. This means that front-of-house areas can independently play background music, while back-of-house zones are managed centrally for organisational processes or production-related communication. An LD Systems DIO 22 Dante interface is also used for the Dante connection and other input and output paths.
Announcements are realised via several PAM paging microphones, which are designed for clean and reliable voice transmission in a wide variety of environments. Two LD Systems QTP 8 touch panels were also integrated so that the team on site can react quickly during day-to-day operations. Typical functions such as zone volumes, source selection and announcement workflows can be intuitively controlled via the touch surfaces.
“For this project, we particularly valued the support from the Adam Hall Group team throughout, from initial planning to final deployment and project sign-off,” Jason Williams, Excite Audio Visual Ltd.
In contrast to the Troubadour, which is a modern new-build musical project, the Coro in Ulverston is a venue steeped in tradition with a wide-ranging programme of theatre, live music, film screenings and community events. This diversity was also the central challenge for the new lighting technology that the venue operators brought to Gary Sharpe at Creative Production Solutions: modernise it, make it future-proof and at the same time allow it to remain flexible enough to realise a wide variety of stage layouts and lighting moods at short notice.
The team relied on Cameo STUDIO PAR 4 G2 LED PAR lights for the foundation of basic light, coloured areas and uniform illumination, which, with their basic colour moods, provide a reliable lighting basis on which a wide variety of looks and scenes can be built, depending on the production. AZOR S2 spot moving heads and AZOR SP2 spot profile moving heads from the compact AZOR series are used for dynamic effects, striking accents and technical show highlights. While the AZOR S2 provides fast, clean spot looks, the AZOR SP2 expands the design spectrum with focused accents that can be used to specifically highlight and emphasise the performers. The Cameo EVOS W3 LED wash moving heads come into play as soon as more light output and more extensive coverage are required in the Coro, for example for powerful colour and feature looks or to illuminate larger stage areas quickly and evenly.
“We selected Cameo as it offered the right balance of performance, flexibility, and fixture variety, allowing the venue to meet the diverse technical and creative requirements of its programme while future-proofing the lighting system for years to come”, Gary Sharpe, Creative Production Solutions.
The flexible routing of the DMX signals is a key component in the flexibility required by The Coro. For this, Creative Production Solutions relies on the combination of Cameo iDMX T3 W-DMX & CRMX transceivers and Cameo iDMX STICK G2 receivers for wireless DMX transmission to quickly reposition fixtures and efficiently adjust setups depending on the production. In addition, a Cameo XNODE 8 8-port DMX ethernet node is used to route multiple DMX universes and expand the entire setup if required.
