PRETORIA, South Africa – The South African State Theatre in Pretoria has added more Robe LED fixtures to its lighting inventory, specified by Head of Lighting Simon King. The State Theatre’s lighting crew appreciate the new Robes because they are light in weight and easy to handle. The new Robes are distributed around the theatre’s different spaces – the majority on the two main stages.
More details from Robe (http://www.robe.cz):
PRETORIA, South Africa – The South African State Theatre in Pretoria has added more Robe LED fixtures to its lighting inventory, specified by Head of Lighting Simon King. The latest purchase includes 12 MMX Spots, four DLX Spots and four ROBIN 300 LEDWashes and follows quickly on the heels of 40Robe LEDForce 18 PARs and eight new ColorSpot 250E ATs.
The Theatre also now has a total of 36 LEDWash 600s, the first batch of which were purchased in 2011 from Robe’s SA distributor DWR, after being specified by King who was keen to embrace the many advantages of LED stage lighting.
The State Theatre – in the heart of the city – has five main performance spaces, the largest two being the 1,3000-capacity Opera Stage and the 650-capacity Drama Stage.
Dr. Quinton W Simpson was appointed as the organization’s new CEO in 2012 and was conducive to Simon King’s proposals to move more toward LED lighting as the fixtures became brighter, more efficient and more cost effective.
The theatre is 75 percent a receiving house and 25 percent producing, staging around 30 major productions per year, several with long runs, plus a variety of other shows and performance. So flexibility is a key to any new lighting investments.
“LED makes sense in terms of reducing power consumption and on-going maintenance costs,” says King, adding that it’s a bit of a ‘no brainer’ really considering the pace and direction of LED development.
It also helps with the justification of future cap-ex allowances if they can demonstrate an overall cost saving. Apart from all these positives, especially with drama shows, having low noise equipment is essential – and once again, LEDs win out.
Another “major reason” they chose Robe is the “superlative service from DWR,” King says. “Any product is worthless without good service and support.” Not that they have needed much to be fixed with the Robes, as the fixtures have proven reliable.
The new Robes are distributed around the Theatre’s different spaces – the majority on the two main stages.
The four DLXs and two of the Robin 300 LEDWashes are in the Arena Theatre together with six LEDForce 18s, while the eight ColorSpot 250E ATs are in the Rendezvous Theatre, and two more LEDWash 300s are in the Cabaret venue.
The MMX Spot is currently King’s favorite moving light. “The punch and the zoom are lovely. Together with the color mixing, the gobos and of course the dual graphics wheel,” he says, adding that it’s an “ultimately flexible” unit ideally suited to their needs.
The State Theatre’s lighting crew appreciate the new Robes because they are light in weight and easy to handle.
King lights around 50 percent of the shows staged in the State Theatre’s venues as well as having his own international lighting design clients.
