Ravál, located at the top of the stairs above Sydney’s historic Macquarie Hotel, is a purpose built entertainment venue and cocktail bar designed to house a variety of live entertainment including music, cabaret, burlesque, theatre and comedy.

Ravál is the brainchild of general manager Mandy Wheeler who has worked at the Macquarie Hotel for ten years. Previously an under-utilzed function room Mandy was given the go ahead by the hotel owner to transform the space.

Mandy took her inspiration from a few Melbourne bars designing a bar that she would like to drink in. Rather than employ an interior designer, the hotel owner put all of his faith in Mandy.

“I went with a burlesque feel with dark walls and ceiling, parlour suites and chesterfields,” said Mandy. “The name Ravál comes form the 1920’s underground, speakeasy venues in Spain. As the hotel is heritage listed I kept things looking old. I have to admit that I kind of winged it although I had a vision of what it was going to look like.”

Furniture was sourced from a variety of places. The hotel owners had a lot of the furniture in storage from when their parents died and Mandy was allowed to take what she wanted.

“I think the overall ambience in the room works really well,” said Mandy. “One of my favourite features is the original leadlighting which was never noticed before.

The intimate size, comfy surrounds and fantastic production make for an entertainment experience unlike any other in Sydney. Its’ small stage needed a compact yet versatile lighting system and Luke Everingham of Everingham Audio delivered with a neat, tidy and cost effective package from Show Technology.

Installed above the lush velvet curtains backing the stage are six Pro Shop LED Strips that colour wash the stage along with six standard Kupo Par56 cans and a Kupo Profile HO has been supplied to be used as a follow spot. The LED Strips feature 252 ultra bright LEDs divided into three segments that can be controlled separately. The unit can also be used as a strobe and the on board dimmer allows accurate electronic control of the light output.

Four of the new and improved Planet One Mark II dimmers are used featuring simple DMX control interface, preset dim levels, dimming limits and switching options, and newly developed software that ensures the dimming curve is as smooth as ever.

A Martin Freekie controller was chosen for its’ easy-to-use features and with its’ ability to control up to twelve fixtures, each with twelve channels - plus a smoke and strobe button you can customize to control two additional DMX units – it was the ideal option for this venue.