The last service held in the Donatus Catholic church was in November 2015. After this the Stiching TOP, Stiching SMB and some 160 volunteers managed to transform the church into a theatre in little over a year.

It is an impressive story. A large group of volunteers who transformed an old church into their new home through their own efforts and with community sponsorship. In the space of a single year, they have managed to achieve what many professional companies would consider to be enormously difficult. The volunteers completely stripped the church and literally rebuilt it from the bottom up.

This is what they achieved in Bemmel. Kilometres of cables and pipes were installed in the floor and steel beams were installed in the roof. The volunteers spared no effort. The wind was in their favour as Bemmel is a very musical village, and so there was a huge goodwill factor when it came to the theatre. There were experts in every field among the volunteers, including many retired theatre, design and construction specialists who were not afraid to get involved during their free time. There were also companies who heard of this unique project who spontaneously became ambassadors. Goods were provided with discounts and maintenance contracts were offered for free. This created a lot of buzz in and around the community.

Fairlight got involved when plans got underway for the lighting and sound systems. They first looked at the needs and requirements. The purpose of the theatre is to be multifunctional. Lots of activities take place there beyond those connected to the theatre, such as film nights, markets, conferences, parties and even funerals.

For Fairlight's project manager Marcel Zandbergen, creating a suitable light and sound system for the site is an interesting challenge. One of the issues we often encounter in theatres in the Netherlands is that conventional lighting is a must. 'LEDs!? They'll do nothing!' is something you hear a lot. The Stichting TOP was open to all possibilities, including LEDs. In the final plan a healthy combination of LEDs and conventional lighting was made, which makes for a beautiful light display.

Although many visiting theatre groups were sceptical at first when they heard the theatre had LED lighting, in the end hardly any of them ended up disappointed! Some of them were pretty enthusiastic in fact!

For the lighting in the hall , Strand Studio 1kW Fresnels, Niethammer HPZ115 profile spots, Martin moving heads and CLF Lighting LED fixtures were chosen. A nice little extra is that the vaults in the hall and the café area are lit by dimmable CLF Lighting LED washes. The building lighting outside the hall is provided by CLS.

Sound was the priority for Stichting TOP. After much searching, a powerful L-Acoustics Kiva set was finally chosen. This will ensure the Kerktheater will have the perfect sound for whatever activity it hosts. By using presets the Stichting TOP technicians can quickly switch speakers stands, for example switching from theatre to movie preset.

All trusses, grids, screens, lights and sound systems are suspended  by using Chainmaster hoists. This was not as simple as it sounds however. The ceiling of the church is arched, making it even more of a challenge in terms of installation. In the end steel beams were lowered in through the roof and fitted about the ceiling arches, from which all hoists can be securely fitted using beam clamps.