Hosting the Nanta (Cookin’) comedy show, the Nanta Theatre – on South Korea’s Jeju island – is using a new sound reinforcement system based on a range of loudspeakers from French manufacturer APG.
A non-verbal comedy show that incorporates traditional Korean percussion, Nanta premiered in Seoul in 1997 and has since been staged in 18 countries – including a run on Broadway. Run by PMC Production, the show is also performed daily in four Seoul theatres, making it the longest-running show in Korea’s theatre history.
Built for Nanta performances exclusively, the 659-seat Jeju Theatre has welcomed over a million visitors since opening in 2008, and recently completed an upgrade of its sound facilities. Korean integrator Soundplace was appointed to refurbish the theatre auditorium, selecting a full APG set-up:
‘For the Nanta shows, the traditional samul nori music is performed with improvised instruments such as cutting boards, water canisters and kitchen knives, so sound is at the very heart of this hugely popular musical,’ says Soundplace CEO, Sangwoo Do. ‘PMC Production wanted to immerse the audience in the show in order to rejuvenate the experience.’
Soundplace installed LR line arrays each comprising two APG UL115B bass speakers, five UL210 top speakers and one TB218S subwoofer. Multipurpose DX15 coaxial speakers cover as fill on each side of the stage, while a further two ultra-compact MX0 coaxial loudspeakers reinforce first ranks as front fill.
‘Soundplace successfully achieved an efficient sound design and great tuning despite a big challenge,’ says APG Marketing & Business Development Director, Grégory Dapsanse. ‘In such a mid-size venue, the system has to be compact and discrete while providing enough SLP with large headroom to reflect the huge dynamic range from the percussion. Because of the nearby walls, the Uniline directivity control was critical to avoid reflections and ensure high intelligibility and sonic precision all the way to the last row.’
‘We have been working with APG since 2014 and we have consistently been impressed by the capacity of their speakers to reproduce a pure sound that truly represents the vocals and instruments. The Uniline range is particularly interesting as it provides great sound control within a compact size’, Sangwoo Do observes.
