Lightware MX2 in action at Teatru Astra by Mad About Video

Mad About Video brings Puccini’s Tosca to Gozo’s Teatru Astra, using Lightware MX2 to manage all live AV signals and ensure the perfect timing for every cue

In operation since 2011, Mad About Video has grown from a show-day specialist to the provider of full creative and technical solutions for theatres, museums and large-scale public productions worldwide. At Teatru Astra, Gozo’s premier theatre venue, Mad About Video used Lightware systems to deliver precise and reliable AV signal routing.

The company’s long-running partnership with Lightware began in 2014. Meanwhile, the annual opera at Teatru Astra has become one of Mad About Video’s regular projects. This year it was the turn of Puccini’s Tosca to grace the stage.

“We’ve been doing this show for over ten years, and there’s always a large video element. We provide the projectors, we create all the video content and Lightware handles all the signal transmission between the media servers and projectors,” says Gerald Agius Ordway, co-founder at Mad About Video.

For this project, Mad About Video supplied four Epson projectors, two Disguise media servers and Lightware’s MX2 system for the handling of all signal management. Alongside this technology, the company used OPTJ extenders for long-distance transmission.

The system design relied on a Lightware MX2-8×8-HDMI20-L matrix switcher. Its HDMI 2.0 support, fast switching and advanced signal diagnostics granted Mad About Video the precise control required for a live production environment where visual cues must be triggered without delay and with ultra-low latency.

For long-distance transmission, the Mad About Video team used Lightware's HDMI20-OPTJ-TX90 and RX90 optical transmitter and receiver extenders. These extenders are Lightware’s ultra-stable fibre-optic solution, capable of carrying signals over distances up to 1200m. The same reliable backbone was also used to feed an additional projector dedicated to powering the opera’s subtitles.

The creative brief for the opera called for a complete background projection covering the full upstage wall, complemented by an additional front projector used to layer textures. Mad About Video developed all video content and the team arrived on site a week before rehearsals to create and assemble the technical environment directly in the theatre.

For Teatru Astra, Lightware’s support processes gave Mad About Video the peace of mind they needed on the project. Combined with robust signal routing, long-distance fibre transmission and reliability, Lightware was the clear choice for the famous opera.

Find out more at lightware.com/en