The Demands Of Power Distribution In Theatre

As you’ll know if you’ve ever been to a show, stage lighting is by far the largest electrical workload, with stage machinery usually coming a close second. Huge reserves of power need to be put in place to meet the maximum demand of each of these, but in almost every case the average electrical demand is much lower. It’s rare that absolutely every light is going to be on full blast at once, for example, but the system needs to be able to handle that sort of load if it needs to. (Our rubber boxes, incidentally, are particularly hardy conduits for these sorts of loads, and our systems are scalable so that you can only use however many you need!)

Although obviously the actors and performers are the ones commanding the attention of most of the audience – and rightly so – nobody is able to see them unless the lights are on. It’s fair to say, then, that effective power distribution is vital to the success of almost any modern performance, which is why there needs to be such massive redundancy measures in place. If the show is stopped due to a loss of power – even temporarily – it can be massively damaging to the theatre company, both in terms of finances and reputation. It’s just one more reason why an efficient, potent power setup is vital in modern theatres.