The Teatr Narodowy (National Theatre) in Warsaw, Poland, has invested in a total of 40 Robe DL7S Profile moving lights which are part of a lighting upgrade to replace over 100 halogens and gel-scrollers in their rig with new LED light sources, a graduated process taking place across all three of the theatre’s three performance spaces.
In addition to modernising their house lighting systems – including some previous moving lights that had been in place for nearly 20 years – they were essentially looking for quieter fixtures, stated head of lighting, Zbigniew Szulim.
They considered all the options, and apart from the silent running of the DL7S, also liked the colour rendering and the smoothness of its dimming.
They also wanted a luminaire that could replicate the effect of halogen lamps. The DL7S Profile – and all the DL7 series – have excellent tungsten emulation effects. So much so that many would be challenged to tell the difference!
Robe’s DL has been specially designed for theatre and performance applications, and a huge amount of attention to detail and meticulous research have gone into developing this highly refined luminaire.
The powerful 800W LED engine has seven colours for smooth, stable and even colour mixing and a very high CRI of 92. From the deepest to the lightest colours, the fixture provides a rich and full colour spectrum experience.
Four fast framing shutters within the optical path are individually controllable for position and angle and the entire framing module can be rotated. Crisp or soft frames can be used on projections, and a host of new effects are possible using a selection of pre-programmed shutter blade shape and movement sequences.
As with all the DL luminaire range, the multiple LED light source is completely homogenised for the best quality of light.
The National Theatre Warsaw, one of five in Poland, each associated with a major city, stages nearly 500 shows a year across all its stages – Bogusławski Hall (Big Hall), the stage at Wierzbowa (Small Hall) and the Studio Stage – a mix of own produced shows and those received from other companies.
The capacities of the Small Hall and the Studio are 120 and 100 respectively, and in these rooms, the audience is sitting very close to the lights, so having less ambient noise coming from the fixtures is a real bonus for those watching.
The Theatre’s current building in Teatralny Square was reconstructed after a major fire in 1986 – the fifth in the theatre’s history – and it reopened in its current format 11 years later in 1996.
This is when Zbigniew Szulim joined the team. He works with a lighting crew of 10 across all of the stages.
They have had some Robe in the building prior to this latest acquisition – six DL4S Profiles and 18 x MMX Blades – on the large Bogusławski Hall stage and in the Studio. As with these, the DL7S Profiles’s were delivered by Robe’s Polish distributor, Prolight.