Theatre Technical Specifications

Room Hire | Corporate Opportunities | Theatre Summer School | Youth Theatre | Exhibitions | Gift Vouchers | Theatre Tours | Theatre Technical Specifications

Contacts List

Technical Manager:
Mr David Thomas
Tel: (01270) 537051
Mobile: 07826 511288
David.Thomas@cheshireeast.gov.uk

Stage Manager:
Mr Kevin McFarlane
Tel: (01270) 537336
Kevin.McFarlane@cheshireeast.gov.uk

Chief Technician:
Mr Carl Knapper
Tel: (01270) 537336
Carl.Knapper@cheshireeast.gov.uk

You can download a blank A3 stage plan (PDF 1.59MB) Please send or preferable email all Technical Riders to: Kevin McFarlane and Carl Knapper with cc to David Thomas

Stage Specification

The stage is a normal 1 in 18 Rack.
Prompt corner is D/S/L or prompt side (this is a fixed position which CAN NOT be moved)
The Stage Manager desk consists of:

Metro Audio intercom call facility which goes to all dressing rooms, technical office, crew room, green room, band position under stage, rehearsal room.
Metro Audio Communications System (CANS). Positions are: - prompt desk, 3 points around the stage, flys, pit, LX, sound, follow spots and in the crew room.
Metro Audio Cue-light system. (8 Fully Patchable ways) Positions are: - 6 points around the stage, flys, pit, LX, sound.
Monitor for pit camera which shows Musical Director in the pit. (Black & White Picture)
Monitor for the infer-red camera. Camera is positioned on the gallery F.O.H lighting rail which shows all of the stage - pros to pros (Colour Picture)

All show relay goes though the calling facility

Stage Measurements

The front 1350mm of the stage (Forestage) removes to uncover an orchestra pit which is:-

Width of pit wall to wall – 7390mm
Length of pit from back wall to pit rail – 2140mm
Height of pit – 1850mm
The pit covers are 1000mm wide and 6 cover lids make up the forestage so a variety of pit sizes is therefore possible.

Please not when the pit is covered a forestage is available but follow spots do not hit this area because of angle of gallery balcony.

Measurements for the stage when using the forestage is

Front of forestage to rear wall – 11460mm
Front of forestage to last fly bar (Hemp 24) – 10360mm
Front of forestage to safety curtain – 2170mm
Front of forestage to house tabs – 2500mm
Front of main stage to rear wall (Pit uncovered) – 10110mm
Front of main stage to last flying bar, Hemp 24 (Pit uncovered) – 9010mm
Width of main stage with black side masking in – 10500mm
Stage right wing – 115mm
Stage left wing – 3500mm (Please note that the cradles for the counterweights are on the S/L wall which are: - Height 3200mm & Width 650mm)
Height to fly floor S/R & S/L up stage – 6100mm
Height to fly floor S/R & S/L down stage – 6480mm
Height to grid U/S – 13080mm
Height to grid D/S – 13480mm
Proscenium width – 8550mm
Proscenium height – 5600mm

Up stage right scene dock area: -

Width – 2440mm
Depth – 3650mm
Height – 3000mm

There is a walk around of 920mm at the back of the stage if you use hemp 24 as your last bar, if access is blocked due to set being laid off on U.S.R back wall only (Fly floor ladder is on U.S.L wall) there is an access to sub stage via stairs which is covered by a trap door on mid stage left wing. This allows the option of an underpass crossover to the dressing room block and on to mid stage right wing.

The main fly floor is S/L, The Fly floor S/R is for electrics. There is an upstage crossover linking the fly floor on the back wall.

GET IN is via three dock doors from Hill Street at the side of the building which leads onto down stage right wing.
The outside road leading into the get in doors is a cobbled street.

Street door: -

Width – 1800mm
Height – 2700mm

Alley doors: -

Width – 1780mm
Height – 2400mm

Stage doors: -

Width – 1550mm
Height – 3500mm

There is optional get off treads both D/S/L & D/S/R leading into the auditorium, which can be covered when not in use.

Vehicle Access and Parking

Road access to the Lyceum is not ideal, as the theatre is adjacent to the Crewe outdoor market on Hill Street,
opening times are:-

Monday – 8am till 5pm
Tuesday – Not open
Wednesday – 8am till 4pm (car boot)
Thursday – Not Open
Friday – 8am till 5pm
Saturday – 8am till 5pm

Whilst this does pose a SMALL problem for unloading it is advised that you inform the Stage Manager (Kevin McFarlane) or the Chief Technician (Carl Knapper) of get in time and the size of your lorry so they can cone off the area and inform the Police. To have a vehicle: please have your lorry facing the Oscars Pub on the get in door side of the road at 7am of the load in day. A 16 amp land line is available please ring if needed.
Minimum of one weeks notice is required failure to do this may result in a parking ticket as well as no space to unload your vehicle.

Drapes and Masking

The house tabs (permanently situated on counterweight 1)

1 x white cyc – Width 10m, Height 8m
1 x white fibre optic star cloth – Width 10m, Height 8m (split in centre)
1 x full set of black tabs – Width 10m, Height 8m (split in centre)
1 x full set of gold tabs – Width 10m, Height 8m (split in centre)
4 x black boards with ties – Width 10m, Height 2m
1 x black house boarder with ties - Width 10m, Height 2.5m (permanently situated on hemp 1)
5 pairs of black legs with ties – width 3m, Height 9m
1 x 12m tab track opening centre to out, controlled form stage level
2 x hard black surge masking – 4” x 15”

The stage is fully masked with up & down black tabs on S/R and S/L with D/S M/S & U/S splits for entrances, more legs can be hung if needed.
Also available:-

Medium tallescope 4.6m-7.5m
Zarges ladder 3.0m-6.9m
2 x risers 3”x 6” with 1, 2 and 3 foot legs

Flying Stage

All bar lengths are approx 10m wide 24 bars of 3 line sets, with a maximum weight of 150kg on each hemp (evenly spread across). These are operated from the fly floor S/L.
4 double purchase counterweight bars, with a maximum weight of 250kg on each bar (evenly spread across). These are operated from the fly floor S/L.

Layout of Bars on Stage

(all measurements are from Iron Line)

Counterweight 1 – 600mm – 1’ 11” (Used as House Tabs)
Hemp 1 – 830mm – 2’ 8” (Used as House Header)
Winch 1 – 1200mm – 3’ 11”
Hemp 2 – 1360mm – 4’ 5”
Hemp 3 – 1560mm – 5’ 1”
Hemp 4 – 1750mm – 5’ 8”
Hemp 5 – 1950mm – 6’ 4”
Hemp 6 – 2150mm – 7’ 0”
Hemp 7 – 2360mm – 7’ 8”
Hemp 8 – 2590mm – 8’ 6”
Counterweight 2 – 2760mm – 9’ 0”
Hemp 9 – 2880mm – 9’ 5”
Winch 2 – 3250mm – 10’ 8”
Hemp 10 – 3620mm – 11’ 10”
Hemp 11 – 3830mm – 12’ 6”
Hemp 12 – 4050mm – 13’ 3”
Hemp 13 – 4200mm – 13’ 9”
Counterweight 3 – 4500mm – 14’ 9”
Hemp 14 – 4700mm – 15’ 5”
Winch 3 – 4950mm – 16’ 2”
Hemp 15 – 5180mm – 16’ 11”
Hemp 16 – 5400mm – 17’ 8”
Hemp 17 – 5550mm – 18’ 2”
Counterweight 4 – 5840mm – 19’ 1”
Hemp 18 – 6050mm – 19’ 10”
Winch 4 – 6550mm – 21’ 5”
Hemp 19 – 6910mm – 22’ 8”
Hemp 20 – 7140mm – 23’ 5”
Hemp 21 – 7400mm – 24’ 3”
Hemp 22 – 7590mm – 24’ 10”
Counterweight 5 – 7800mm – 25’ 7” (Used as Star cloth)
Hemp 23 – 8120mm – 26’ 7”
Hemp 24 – 8340mm – 27’ 4” (Used as White Cyc)Lighting Specification

Lamp and other technical stock:-

20 x 19 degree ETC source 4 profile 575 w
20 x 26 degree ETC source 4 profile 575 w
3 x 36 degree ETC source 4 profile 575 w
6 x ETC source 4 profile Zoom’s 15-30 degree 750 w
8 x Selecon 1K PC
32 x Selecon Rama 1.2K fresnel
6 x Selecon 2K fresnel
20 x Thomas 1000w par cans (CP 62 lamps)
14 x Coda floods 1K
8 x Thomas howie batterns
2 x 18inch mirror balls
1 Sweep fog haze machine (fluid contraed)
1 Mini mist smoke machine (fluid contraed)
2 Jem Pro haze machine (fluid contraed)
Full LeMaitre pyro system (contraed per use)

Lighting bars and power:-

4 x hand winches on stage for LX use, with a maximum weight of 250kg on each bar (evenly spread across).

Measurements are:-

Winch 1 – 1200mm
Winch 2 – 3250mm
Winch 3 – 4950mm
Winch 4 – 6550mm
2 x pros booms S/R & S/L with a rigging height limit of 2500mm.
2 x side booms front of house with 6 x 1000w CP 62 Thomas par cans on each; they are 4000mm from iron line and situated in the circle. These are a PERMANENT fixture.

Front of house LX bar is a continuous horse shoe bar along the gallery with 22 x ETC source 4 profiles 15 – 30 degree on it. These are a PERMANENT fixture.
Our entire stock is socaplex multicore plug & sockets.
We have various TRS cable in all sizes.
125 amp TP&N CEEFORM supply U/S/R.
12 x 16amp non dims MCB U/S/R (if these are used the 125 amp TP&N is not available).
32 amp TP&N CEEFORM supply with RCD D/S/L.
Various 13 amp 240v sockets around the stage.
8 x lighting stands, with a maximum of a 2 meter rigging height
Control position for the lighting is at the back of the stalls
in an control box, or next to the sound desk in the 8 x 4
foot sound area just outside if there is room.
The lighting desk can be pulled out to the stalls or circle level for programming and plotting if pre production is done at venue.
All the lighting is controlled by DMX 512 protocol distribution network.
House lights can be controlled on the desk.
2 separate feeds of DMX can be sent from FOH position to on stage.
Control desk is an ETC Congo, 999 Scene shots can be Programmed and triggered with a GO button. A wireless remote is used for focusing.
Follow spots are Selecon Quartz 2000w and positioned in a box the back of the gallery level.

Dimmers:-

104 x 2.5Kw on stage outlets
48 x 2.5Kw FOH outlets
Our FIXED general lighting rig consists of a 4 colour wash on stage and front of house (L106, L139, L132 & L105) with a 6 colour par can wash from side booms (L106, L139, L132, L105, L136 & L181) incoming productions and designers will be allowed to re-colour, focus and number the front of house rig, but this is all FOH is a PERMANENT rig.

Please send a lighting plan to the Chief Technician no later than 2 weeks before your production is due at the Crewe Lyceum. When possible have all circuits and gel colour CLEARLY MARKED.
Any GEL required for your production will be brought and contraed to you at source. Please be advised that Crewe Lyceum has a minimum amount of stock gel.

Other equipment:-

Assorted cabling and converters. Barn doors. Colour frames. Various Go-Bo’s & Gobo holders. Irises.
Sound Specification
Sound stock:-

Mackie TT24 digital sound desk.
2 x C7 D&B subs.
2 x C6 D&B speakers (stalls)
4 x C7 D&B speakers (circle, gallery)
4 x E3 D&B front fills.
4 x stereo D&B D12 amps.
1 x Tascam MD-CD1 MKII player.
2 x Tascam MD 350 M.D player.
Furman HD56 pit headphone system (6 base stations with 12 headphones)
24 x tie lines XLR sends at desk end – male.
8 x tie lines XRL returns at desk end – female.
32 x tie lines XLR sends at stage multi D/S/L – female.
8 x tie lines XRL returns at stage multi D/S/L – male.
18 x tie lines XRL to pit.
2 x Martin LE400 monitors.
2 x ML Pro 12 monitors
6 x monitor points (2 D/S/L, 2 U/S/L, and 2 D/S/R) all return to desk on XLR.
8 x SM 58 mics.
6 x SM 57 mics.
4 x Behringer D.I boxes.
4 x Behringer stereo D.I boxes.
10 assorted mic stands.
3 x Crown plate boundary mics.
4 x Sennheiser E604 drum mics.
2 x Sennheiser MD 421 over head mics.
1 x Sennheiser E602 kick drum mic.
1 x 12 way Van-Dam multi stage multi box.
Various jumpers and other sound cables.

Sound Power:-

63 amp SP&N CEEFORM with MCB. D/S/L (clean power)
32 amp SP&N CEEFORM with RCD. D/S/L (clean power)
16 amp SP&N CEEFORM with MCB. D/S/L (clean power)
3 x 13 amp 240v. D/S/L (clean power)
6 x 13 amp 240v at the front of house sound area in stalls. (clean power)

Other sound information:-

There is a 6 x 4 foot sound position at the back of the stalls.All the front of house speakers is delayed to the iron line.
The sound multi run from D/S/L to FOH needs to be at least 30 meters.
We have a Sennheiser SZI 1029-EU infrared RF hearing loop system, Radiators for this in at stalls level.
Front of house racks and desk need to go though the front doors and into the back of the stalls. (there are no steps this way)
The stage is raked so please be aware of this when wheeling flight cases and cabinets onto stage, They have been known to roll off! Any more information about the Venue Please gets in touch with the stage Manager or Chief Technician.

Dressing rooms

Ground floor:-

• Local crew room / office
• Gentleman & ladies toilets

First floor:-

• Dressing room 1 – shower, toilet and wash basin.
• Dressing room 2 – shower and wash basin. (Please note this Dressing room does not lock as there is a fire exit in here)
• Dressing room 3 – shower and wash basin.
• Dressing room 4 – shower and wash basin.

Second floor:-

• Dressing room 5 – shower and wash basin.
• Dressing room 6 – shower and wash basin.
• Green room – kettle, washing machine, dryer and kitchen sink.

All dressing rooms have clothes rails fixed to the walls and all have mirrors with lights around them.

Dressing room keys are kept on the left hand side of the company notice board which is situated in the alley area as you come in. PLEASE replace these at the end of each night. Lost keys will be contraed to the company.

Other information

A production desk can be pulled out to the stalls or circle level with communication to everyone. (8” x 5” Desk)
The safety curtain has to be shown at some point during the show; at least 1 member of the public has to see this. The iron line has to be clear of lighting & sound equipment at all times. It’s at your discretion on when to drop the iron at the start or interval and if to bounce or keep it in for a length of time. Please advice our Stage Manager upon arrival.

Health and safety information

Crewe Lyceum theatre is committed to a policy of good health and safety and is striving to attain the highest standards of safe working practice.” In accordance with provision of health and safety at work etc Act 1974, Crewe Lyceum state that is their policy to provide and maintain, as far as practical, safe and healthy conditions. To ensure the absence of risk to health in connection with the use, handling and storage of equipment: to offer training supervision and instruction to staff and to monitor the effectiveness of the policy to ensure that its provision is adhered to. Crewe Lyceum operates a strict NO SMOKING policy. Crewe Lyceum theatre will expect visiting management to make their best endeavour to take all necessary steps to ensure that all such sets and other properties which the visiting management provides, shall meet all known current British and European Standard. Scenery shall be fireproofed to the appropriate standards and ALL CERTIFICATES OF FIREPROOFING ARE AVAIABLE FOR INSPECTION.

A Manual handling and risk assessment should be carried out for all appropriate areas of activity and should be made available for inspection.
All electrical equipment and appliances should comply with the I.E.E regulations and the electricity at work regulations and should be P.A.T tested. Certificates of P.A.T test should be available for inspection.
Any structural steelwork contained within the visiting management’s scenery should be capable of being earth bonded.

General information

Catering

Apex partnership Ltd operates the Harlequin restaurant and Bars.
The restaurant is open from 10am to 8pm on performance days and 10am to 4:30pm on non-performance days. Reservations can be made by phoning 01270 537340.

Backstage access

Unfortunately the Crewe Lyceum has NO pass door, however you may use the door thought the kitchen area when this is NOT BUSY. At any other times please use the dock doors.

Smoking

Crewe Lyceum operates a strict NON-SMOKING policy.

Emergency procedures

Please familiarise yourself with the dressing rooms and back stage escape route against the unlikely event of having to evacuate the building.

Technical office

The resident technical office is on the Ground floor of the dressing room block and has a dedicated telephone line 01270 537336. This number can be put into dressing room 5 & 6 acting as a company office. Calls made on this line will be charged to the company via contra account.

Complimentary tickets

The Lyceum has a very strict policy regarding complimentary tickets. Any request for comps should be made though the company manger to the box office.

Company mail

Company mail arriving at the theatre will be passed to the company manager on a daily basis or can be collected at the box office.

Office equipment

The theatre has a fax machine and a photocopier in the administration office at the top of the F.O.H building at cost.

Facilities for people with disabilities

The Lyceum has toilets for disabled people on all floors of the front of house facilities. There are currently no toilets for disabled people back stage. There are two lifts giving access to the F.O.H area and to ground floor only back stage. Wheelchair spaces are available at stalls level and we offer two tickets for the price of one to all wheelchair users and their companions. The Theatre has an infrared system for people with hearing impairments.