Backnang, Germany (August 25, 2025)—When the U.K. production of Fiddler on the Roof moved to its new indoor home, the Barbican Theatre, sound designer Nick Lidster had to switch his previous P.A. solution to a line array.
Unlike many conventional proscenium houses, the Barbican relies on chain hoists to fly a P.A., making a line array the preferred solution. Sound supplier Autograph offered Lidster the very latest technology, in the form of d&b’s CCL (Compact Cardioid Line Array) system.
Lidster was happy with the prospect, having had a positive experience with the XSL, the smallest member of d&b’s SL-Series. “I had used the XSL cardioid system in the States and had enjoyed the extra headroom on the radio mic system before feedback,” he explains. “They also sounded good. So, when Autograph offered the new CCL for the Fiddler on the Roof run at the Barbican, I was happy to try them.”
Fiddler on the Roof won the 2025 Olivier Award for Best Sound Design for its previous staging at Regents Park Open Air Theatre.
Lidster was confident that this new system would deliver the control he needed. The CCL achieves its directivity, for the first time, in a passive design, enabling increased efficiency in amplification. “With the CCL system I would be able to use one D40 amplifier channel to drive two boxes,” he says, “which is far more efficient for a theatre P.A. system, and for Autograph as a hire company.”
This efficiency meant the two main hangs, each of 16 CCL, were powered by just two of d&b’s 4-channel D40 amplifiers per side, one channel per pair of cabinets. As an experienced, long-term customer of d&b, the Autograph team required little support from the manufacturer, reaching out only to obtain a 3D CAD file of the Barbican Theatre via d&b’s ArrayCalc software. The two main arrays, each with 12 CCL8 cabinets (80° dispersion) above four CCL12s (120° dispersion), were complemented by an additional center cluster of four CCL12s for down-fill, with LF reinforcement from six CCL Subs. Finally, a selection of d&b Y7P and the wider dispersion Y10P point source cabinets serve the gallery truss system and side-fills, completing the desired consistency for the audience.
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The system’s promised cardioid performance delivered real benefits. For this show, Lidster is employing a mix of miniature boom and lavalier microphones for the 27 cast members. He says, “The rear rejection from the PA certainly helps to even out the difference between them. The level and clarity differences between the two types of microphone systems is, to an extent, equalized.”
