When Dead Puppet Society, Australia’s trailblazing theatre company, set out to reimagine the Tony Award-winning musical Peter and the Starcatcher at the Capitol Theatre, they knew they needed a sound system that could keep up with their inventive, design-led storytelling. Dead Puppet’s Creative Director David Morton and the team engaged the services of Gold Coast-based specialists Captivate AV who chose a full NEXO rig to deliver crystal-clear voice reproduction, enveloping surround effects, and earth-shaking low end across all 2,000 seats.

“Because the Capitol is a shell venue, we had to import every loudspeaker,” explains Captivate AV Audio Engineer Isaac Ogilvie.

In a large venue like this speaker cohesion is so important so, from the front field to the main hangs to the delay speakers, we knew that we wanted one manufacturer to cover the lot. For this production, we’re using an entirely NEXO rig.

“We’ve got NEXO GEO M12 for upper left and right and lower left and right coupled with MSUB18 subs. We’ve got NEXO P18s running infill left and right and double stacked L20s running subfield left and right, then NEXO P8s for our singular delay ring under the balcony.

“We also have a fleet of NEXO ID14s and ID24s providing a surround sound experience for the audience both in the stalls and in the balcony” continues Isaac.

“We had no doubt that GEO M12 was the box of choice for this venue. Running active we knew that we were going to have the coverage we needed horizontally and coupled vertically to cover the room from the front row to the very back. Running the box in active mode gives us the ability control the crossover at the amplifier rather than inside the box.”

As Dead Puppet Society’s Creative Director David Morton says, you will feel like you are inside the story. Imagine Tinkerbell first as a glimmering light onstage, then a fully articulated puppet—and hear that transformation in the rich, layered soundscape created by Matt Erskine, the production’s sound designer. You will hear every whispered plot twist and jungle-sound Foley effect as though you have been dropped into a tropical rainforest with Peter and friends.

“When designing a speaker system for a theatre show there are three things that we’re primarily concerned about: coverage, image and tone” comments Isaac, returning to the subject of the sound system.

“When choosing the surround package for this venue, we knew the NEXO ID series was going to be perfect for this room. We needed a lightweight, small profile box that was still going to have the punch necessary to cover in the room.

“In this room we’re using flown MSUB18s coupled with the M12 to provide some low frequency extension and the L20s on the forestage are designed for sound effect and special effect purposes.

“The P18s on the forestage are being used to bring the image down a little so that we can locate the performer’s voice from the stage and the front fill also contributes to that whilst also providing some high frequency clarity for the audience sitting in those front few rows.

“The M12 centre cluster helps to bring the image in and allows the actor’s voice to be centrally located. In the back of the stalls, we have a ring of NEXO P8s which are providing some vocal clarity to those sitting in the back few rows.

Isaac adds, “With NEXO’s active-mode crossover control via NeMo software, we fine-tune coverage, imaging, and tone for every cluster—ensuring that from front row to back row, the actor’s voice sits naturally in your ear. And for the first time ever at the Capitol, we have flown GEO M12 arrays—and the results have blown us away.”

Onstage, the innovation continues: P8s serve as foldback monitors for the cast, while ID24s deliver onstage special-effects ambience. And behind the scenes, NeMo gives the team intuitive, per-amplifier control so they can tweak levels and zones on the fly.

“Matt couldn’t be happier with the system and package that we provided and is very much looking forward to using this system again.”

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