After many years of reconstruction the Voronezh drama theatre finally re-opened this year. This is one of the oldest theatres in Russia and since 1959 it has carried the name of the Russian poet Alexey Koltsov. In the 19th century the Voronezh drama theatre was called the State Winter theatre. The building was designed and built in 1886 by Moscow architect Chichagov M. N. by request of the town council.
The old name ‘Winter’ is reflected in the whole interior: from semitransparent capitals as if made of ice and sparkling chandeliers to the general grey and silver colour spectrum reminiscent of white frost. It is comfortable here for both spectators and authors who has got unprecedented technical opportunities.
In one of his interviews Vladimir Petrov, the theatre’s artistic director, said, ‘The beauty of the interior is no doubt important, but the technical part of the theatre, i.e. light, sound and stage machinery, is of utter importance. It is these things that can help a man of art working in the theatre implement his most adventurous ideas.’
During the year DOKA, Clay Paky distributor for Russia, participated in the reconstruction and restoration of the Voronezh drama theatre. In the course of the work the Main hall was completely reconstructed, the Small hall was designed and rebuilt. As a general contractor for stage technologies DOKA Center implemented a full range of work on design, delivery, assembling, testing and commissioning of all theatre’s technological systems. The whole work was completed in time with proper quality, which is an inherent feature of DOKA’s professional team.
The theatre’s stage lighting system includes lighting equipment of the world’s leading producers. And these are above all intelligent luminaires Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE and Alpha Wash with 300W and 700W lamps, equipped with an exclusive graphic system. These fixtures constitute an integral part of stage equipment in the majority of Russian theatres.
In the Voronezh drama theatre there are as many Clay Paky fixtures as 157!
In the Small hall there are 36 Clay Paky fixtures – 18 Alpha Wash 300 and 18 Alpha Spot HPE 300. They are installed on 9 specially designed and assembled square trusses that represent some kind of lighting bar. 121 fixtures are mounted at the stage of the Main hall or are a part of the mobile set, which allows to implement any artistic idea of both lighting designers and stage directors.