Keistuoliai Theatre

Keistuoliai Theatre is the first independent professional theatre in Lithuania, founded in 1989. The theatre’s home was the old building in Vilnius, which, after 30 years of operation, has undergone a spectacular transformation in 2019.

Now more than 100 new fixtures illuminate the renovated stage of the Keistuoliai Theatre’s main hall during performances. They are hung on ten lighting bars and the front lighting bridge is formed by impressive curved trusses several metres long; the entire lighting system is mechanised, with 27 Verlinde lifts lifting the lighting equipment.

The installation of the lighting system was subject to the highest quality requirements, and the task was completed by the event technology experts Scenos techninis servisas (StS).

“During the renovation process, which lasted for more than two years, Keistuoliai was given a new lease of life,” says Julius Gružinskas, Head of the StS Design Department. He notes that the biggest challenge in this project was the layout of the hall: the unique amphitheatre hall and the circular stage required a non-standard lighting system design.

Darius Malinauskas, the lighting designer of the Theatre, had the idea for the lighting system, and StS managed to fulfil the requirements formulated by the client. In order to make the most efficient use of the existing space and to install a versatile system of devices, non-standard stage constructions were required. Aluminium trusses with different bends were specially manufactured for this project. The lighting system for the Grand Hall of the Theatre of the Strangers is unique and there is no other such system in Lithuania.

The curved trusses for this order, as well as all other trusses for this project, were manufactured by StS’s trusted partners Sixty82 from the Netherlands.

This system is exceptional not only in its form and the abundance of lighting equipment, but also in its mechanisation. In order to allow for easy replacement and different fixing of the lighting fixtures, a lifting system was installed: the lighting fixtures are lifted by 27 Verlinde chain hoists and a control system from the manufacturer SRS Group.

Verlinde is a French company, an experienced manufacturer of lifting mechanisms, which also produces lifts for the stage.

The lighting system for the Keistuoliai Theatre  consists of Chauvet Wash, Chauvet COLORdash, Chauvet Maverick profile, Chauvet Ovation, and Ayrton Levante series fixtures.

StS designers also offered a custom lighting solution for the hall. Around the entire semicircular hall, circular LED lighting strips were also formed. By varying the colours and intensity of the lighting in the hall, it is possible to create and change the atmosphere of the entire hall accordingly.

After the reconstruction, the theatre also has a small auditorium. In the small hall, a special frame for the lighting system was designed and built around the entire perimeter of the hall. The construction of the frame allows the lighting fixtures to be fixed in various ways, and the whole frame is also lifted with hoists.

The lighting system for the small hall consists of Chauvet and Ayrton lighting fixtures.

StS also installed the video equipment in the Theatre: video projectors and screens; and the stage drapery, front curtain and side backdrops. The lighting effects in this theatre are enhanced by fog machines.

Non standard solutions in public and cultural spaces are undoubtedly StS’s strength. An experienced design team finds the best solutions, and StS’s long-standing partners in the production of stage equipment help to bring ideas to life.

In this lighting system, the fixtures are from Chauvet Lighting and Ayrton, the frame is made of trusses from the Dutch manufacturer Sixty82, the lifting system is from the French manufacturer Verlinde, and the lighting control system is from the British ChamSys.

“The renovation project of the Keistuoliai Theatre is the result of successful cooperation with the client and partners,” says Julius Gružinskas, Head of the StS Design Department.