The Seabrooke Theatre is a 100-seater auditorium used by the School’s Dramatic Arts Department as well as by amateur and professional companies and groups.

In 2007, Durban High School Old Boy and theatre lover, Christopher Seabrooke, funded the conversion of the DHS Chapel into Seabrooke’s Theatre, which quickly became a popular venue for many local productions in the city. In 2020, thanks to another generous contribution from Mr Seabrooke, a much-needed renovation and equipment upgrade was made possible and commenced at the start of the Covid-19 South African lockdown. The theatre has been repainted, seats reupholstered, a green room/dressing room has been built, and on the technical side, a state of the art lighting and audio system has been installed.

Seabrooke’s is an intimate theatre, which lends itself to being the perfect venue for drama productions, motivational talks, presentations or comedy evenings. The recent upgrade ensures that the Theatre will cope with the many demands that modern stage productions require. All the lighting fixtures are LED and the sound system is small, robust and deceptively powerful for its size. These considerations will go a long way to keeping the doors of the theatre open when our energy crisis raises its head again as the lighting and sound equipment are not power hungry so electricity costs can be kept very low.

The lighting rig was designed with complete flexibility in mind. Long runs of shows are a thing of the past so moving a new show into a venue is all about how quickly it can be done, allowing the opening of the show to be fast tracked. A versatile lighting rig goes a long way to shaving off hours of unnecessary repositioning and refocusing of lighting fixtures for every new production.

For the technically minded, the lighting rig comprises of 6 Robe RGBW (Red, Green, Blue, White) moving head washes and 13 Robe RGBW Static Colour changing Led units, all 19 of these units have a 3.8 to 60 degree Zoom facility which makes them extremely flexible. Added to these fixtures are 4 x ETC 25 to 50 degree Colorsource Spots which have been included for the all too familiar request for gobo breakups, either from the FOH position or from the back lighting bar. The control system is the ever popular MA DOT2 OnPC platform which makes for fast and powerful programming opportunities. There is also a Le Maitre MVS Hazer for atmospheric effects.

The Sound System is the ever popular Australian brand, Quest. It comprises of two 12 inch Subs and two double HPI 25’s, driven by two Quest Stereo Power amplifiers, this combination makes the Audio system perfect for the intimate nature that Seabrooke’s offers. The Audio console is a Digital 16 Channel Allen and Heath. Included in its inventory, Seabrooke’s also has a series of Audix Hand Held Dynamic Vocal Radio Microphones.

A projector and screen will be installed as a permanent fixture. This will allow the theatre to be a fully functioning film screening venue as well as offering theatre makers the added opportunity of incorporating multimedia into their set or theatre piece. And added benefit to having a high tech projector installed is the fact that as a school, it will extend the venue to being able to present future presentations.

The seats in the theatre have been refurbished and recovered in a comfortable yet hardy fabric, the auditorium itself has been repainted and the previous air conditioner ducts have been removed, thus improving the sightlines of the theatre. The stage has been rebuilt and painted and brand new curtains have been draped on either side of the stage. The foyer of the Theatre has been upgraded, as well as the dressing rooms and bathrooms.

We are so excited to relaunch the Theatre with upcoming productions involving the likes of the legendary Aaron McIlroy as well as Durban’s most loved and respected theatre company, KickstArt.

For more information on the theatre , or to make a booking, please contact Liesl Coppin via email: liesl.coppin@durbanhighschool.co.za