TARTU, Estonia – Estonia’s Vanemuine Teater launches its new production of “Grease” with more than 100 Robe moving lights. The installation is part of a much wider upgrade program which has seen all eight Estonian state supported arts and culture venues receive a major lighting refit – with Robe moving lights deployed across all sites.
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TARTU, Estonia – Vanemuine Teater in Tartu, Estonia, launches its new production of “Grease” directed by Georg Malvius, featuring a vibrant lighting design by Palle Palmé who is using more than 100 Robe moving lights.
These are part of a new installation at Vanemuine in the theatre’s 660-seat Big House venue.
The installation is part of a much wider upgrade program which has seen all eight Estonian state supported arts and culture venues receive a major lighting refit – with Robe moving lights deployed across all sites.
Involving more than 500 fixtures distributed around the country, this been coordinated by Robe’s Estonian distributor, Tallinn-based E&T Ltd.
Palle Palmé is based in Stockholm and works internationally on a wide variety of shows across theatre, live music and corporate event sectors. He has been working on shows at The Vanemuine Teater for the last 10 years. This is the first time he has used the new lighting rig.
He could hardly believe his luck this time around, with 55 LEDWash 1200s, 30 LEDWash 600s, 20 MMX Spots, 10 600E Spots and 24 600E Washes – all from Robe’s latest Robin series – at his disposal. ?
The LEDWash 1200s and 600s are being used generally for strong rear and side lighting and cross stage washes. These are all hung on the house LX bars. Eight of the 600s are in ‘shin-buster’ positions on the floor for low-level washing.
There are 14 MMX Spots used mid-stage for back beam effects and for texturing the stage and set, designed by Ellen Cairnes. The other six MMXs are positioned on three FOH bars and used for front key-lighting, for which they are equally effective as well as more set and stage treatments.
Palmé has been using Robe products in his work generally for around 10 years and appreciates the reliability and good engineering. However, this was the first time that he’s used Robe’s MMX Spots.
“They are excellent,” he comments. ‘Very powerful and bright, great for both front and side lighting and highly versatile when using the graphics wheels and gobos.”
He also programs his own shows at Vanemuine, on this occasion using a Wholehog 3 console complete with more than 400 cues, and from that perspective, having the Robes in the house also “really accelerated the process.” The show is being operated in the Big House by Kaspar Aus.
He likes the color range of the LEDWashes and likes the whites, especially when combined with rich primaries like red, which really accentuates the crispness of the white.
It is Palmé’s fourth production of Grease but the first with director Georg Malvius, which whom he regularly collaborates on other productions.
