The Lithuanian National Drama Theater (LNDT) intends to invite the audience to the renovated Great Hall for the new season. Specialists who applied many modern technological solutions in the fields of both lighting and sound in the New and Small LNDT halls say that implementing them in a building that contains many cultural heritage-protected values poses certain challenges, but there will be no shortage of innovations in the Great Hall as well.
Mindaugas Indrašius, the technology manager of the company "Sonus exsertus", which installs the necessary technical equipment for the theater, does not hide that one of the biggest challenges that his team had to face was how to integrate modern systems into the historical spaces of the theater, included in the protected heritage, and individual decoration details.
When incorporating modern solutions, architects and cultural heritage specialists were consulted. The result pleases the professionals - the protected architecture has remained intact, and the viewers' attention will not be distracted by the visible technological equipment.
"This is the biggest project we are implementing. And not only in the technological sense. The reconstruction of the Lithuanian National Drama Theater is probably the largest modernization project of a cultural object during the entire period of independence. At the same time, construction works were carried out, engineering systems were updated, new technological equipment was installed, and even a completely new hall was built," emphasizes M. Indrašius, head of technology at Sonus exsertus.
Composer Jonas Jurkūnas, who worked in LNDT's New Hall, is happy that the newly installed software provides much more opportunities: "After installing modern technologies, the work goes much faster. You do a lot of tasks in the studio, and when you come to the theater, you can immediately test and adapt ideas, and you can play music while sitting at the console. It used to be much more complicated to do all this. Today, the sound can be spread in an interesting way and the sound space can be shaped in a different way, the general acoustics of the sound can be changed, and the actors can be voiced. It changes the acting as well. This whole acoustic space can be controlled, making it more interesting, the sound can be sent in different directions to the audience. The "turnover" of musical ideas is much faster. High-quality dubbing allows you to convey the most subtle sounds exactly as the composer has created them.
So what innovations will await LNDT in the Great Hall? It is already equipped with special lighting of the audience part controlled from the country, which will ensure uniformity and allow creating various effects, for example, a candlelight atmosphere, and the installed sound system is so powerful that it will allow even heavy music concerts to be organized in the theater.
There are also plans to install four moving stage platforms to replace the old stage wheel. They will enable new technical possibilities for performances that require a change in the level of the stage floor, as well as facilitate the transportation of scenery. The stage equipment will be complemented by new movable balustrades and orchestra pit platforms.
In addition, all the spectators are in for a surprise - according to photos, found fragments of details and memories of theater employees, the restorers managed to restore the design of the old chairs of the Great Hall, created by architects Vytautas and Algimantas Nasvyčiai, only they will have the usual comforts of a modern theater: a new ventilation and heating system has been formed namely under the audience seats.
Iwan Wyrypajew, the director of the play Girti, which premiered at LNDT earlier this year, praises the latest light and sound systems and emphasizes that the service staff will have a lot to learn before the opening of the Great Hall.
"It is obvious that the Lithuanian National Drama Theater is one of the main theaters in Europe. At the same time, I want to say that specialists who can work with such quality equipment are needed. In this direction, the theater will need to work more so that the people serving keep up with the controlled equipment", the director shared his observations.
M. Indrašius, the technology manager of the company, which has implemented several projects of national importance, has no doubts that the theater specialists who are open to innovation will quickly work with the latest systems.
"We work directly with equipment manufacturers, we consult with their specialists, theater representatives, so that the installation process is smooth and the result is flawless. We understand that in the theater, where the whole action takes place "live", the requirements for the technological part are particularly high, so we carefully organize and supervise the entire equipment installation process and train specialists on how to work with new equipment", says M. Indrašius.
