About Technological upgrade at Vilnius Puppet Theatre

Vilnius Puppet Theatre invites the audience to the new autumn season with a significant renewal. Lighting and audio structures were the subject of this major renovation and modernization by Sonus exsertus.

Alchemy and Synergy for the lighting renewal

After several years of renovation work that was delayed due to various circumstances, the theater now boasts new stage technology lighting and sound systems.

According to Vilmantas Juškėnas, Head of Vilnius Puppet Theatre the newly installed modern technologies will help to ensure an even better quality of performances for theatre visitors. I am happy that the positive impact of lighting technologies – various types of spotlights, effects-creating devices – has already been felt by the audience, creators, and theatre art professionals.

“After finishing the renovation of lighting technologies, the creative conditions improved significantly. The lighting possibilities of the Great Hall have expanded, providing new conditions for image quality and artistic nuances. Therefore, we can now invite those well-known professionals in our field with whom we could not cooperate before, because we could not provide the appropriate conditions for them. Perhaps it is symbolic that our first play was created with the new lighting equipment and was called “Choice”. At the beginning of this year, the lighting artist Vilius Vilutis was nominated for the presitgious theatre award Golden Cross of the Stage for the lighting design of this performance”, says V. Juškėnas.

Audio system upgrade

A special importance is dedicated to the sound in the Puppet Theatre – the theatre’s repertoire includes several musical performances for which music is composed by well-known Lithuanian and foreign composers. Therefore, the manager of the theatre is happy with the installation of a new stage sound system by a world‘s leading American manufacturer Meyer Sound.

“The new sound quality, with its depth, clarity of sound and effects, is extremely important to us. In the past, it happened more than once that we heard the real sound of the performance, the nuances of its music, not even in our own hall, but as guests, during tours, in other spaces with more modern equipment. It is great that we will finally be able to enjoy the same quality at the Puppet Theatre. We have moved to another level of quality,” says the theatre manager.

Modern technological lighting and audio solutions were installed in Vilnius Puppet Theatre by the specialists of “Sonus exsertus” company (www.sonus.lt).
The team has designed and implemented stage technology in many Theatres and Culture Houses of state importance – the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre, the Juozo Miltinio Drama Theatre, the Vilnius Keistuoliai Theatre and many more.

The project

Tomas Fabijonavičius, Project Manager at Sonus exsertus is open that the work of upgrading the technologies of Vilnius Puppet Theatre was not an easy task. We had to solve the mistery of an incomplete implementation of the outdated technology that was once installed.

Technology installation work was made more complicated by the fact that the premises of the Puppet Theatre are cultural heritage. The walls of the theatre, housed in the historical complex of the Oginskii Palace in the capital’s old town, are specially protected. Therefore, sound technologies had to be implemented with minimal intervention.

Satisfied with the result, the Theatre Manager V. Juškėnas hopes that the Theatre, after receiving the necessary funding, they will be able to finish the rest of the installation of sound equipment and update the video projection systems in the next stage.

Currently, the total value of repair and technology renewal of Vilnius Puppet Theatre is over 2.2 million euros. The theatre renovation project is financed by the State of the Republic of Lithuania, under the coordination of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, in consultation with the Lithuanian Cultural Infrastructure Center.