Hamer Hall renewed

Last year in January, I had the privilege to visit Hamer Hall as it closed its door for renovations. I blogged about it here. Once again, I was able to do a technical tour of the newly refurbished Hamer Hall a few weeks ago. Here's my simple review of the technicals....

While the redevelopment team has maintained many of the heritage features, including the gold finishes in the ceiling, there was massive improvement to the facility in terms of opening up of spaces and creation of new zones for better people flow and management.

Some of the heritage elements

The most obvious improvement was the creation of a grid over stage, called the 'technical zone'. Previously, technicians had to crawl into the roofspace of this concert hall to hang hoists, now a full height grid with beam trolleys allow for ease of use and maintenance.

View from house looking up to the technical zone

View of the technical grid

The other change was the adjustable canopy over stage that has the ability to fold itself and fly up into the grid at a press of a button. This canopy allow for a change of heights and angles for different programmes. Unfortunately, I was too excited looking at all of the other technical embellishments, I did not manage to get a shot of this. There is a video by Robert Shook introducing the system here.

Lighting bars down for maintenance

Varilite VLX, ETC Lustre, Seachanger fixtures on a stage bar

Technically, it is probably the most advanced space in the Southern hemisphere in terms of lighting, sound and staging. LED fixtures were used for the house lighting, as were some of the moving lights and stage washes. A equally impressive Meyer rig was featured throughout the hall with Milo and Mica line arrays performing front of house duties. A notable feature is the main system is able to glide forwards and backwards in relation to the stage position.

The house LED lighting is spectacular

I'm really looking forward to attending performances in this space - both contemporary and classical. Sightlines and acoustics have improved tremendously; the space feels a lot more open and friendlier. It's a real thrill to see refurbishments of this quality.