The Mill at Sonning

The requirement

The Mill at Sonning is a truly unique building. For hundreds of years it was an active Mill and appears in the Doomsday book. As the only dinner theatre in the UK, it has gained unrivalled praise nationally and internationally.

The intimate theatre seats 215, with the layout fully immersing the audience in the performance. All productions are created on the premises and guests can enjoy performances from both up-and-coming and experienced playwriters.

In the summer of 2017,  the Technical Manager at The Mill prepared a specification for a complete technical refit of the theatre to modernise the venue.

Henley Theatre Services felt the job was a  perfect fit for its Theatre Services experience and, with much delight, won the highly competitive tender to provide the technical installation.

The set-up

Henley Theatre Services designed and installed the refit to include:

• New made-to-measure bespoke lighting bars,  perfectly fitting this special building. The curved and straight lighting bars were powder-coated a custom colour and provided by Andolite.
• A Dimming system, which had to be of excellent professional quality with the ability to operate LED, Specials and  traditional tungsten lanterns.
• Power distribution from the ETC ColorSource range. The 230V ColorSourceTM ThruPower cabinet is an easy-to-use wall-mount rack that would meet all of The Mill's power control needs as their rig technology changes over time.
• A Zero 88 FLX lighting console that works perfectly with Colour changing LEDS and Generic fixtures.

Show time