The Piccolo consists of three venues: the Sala Grassi, the 19th-century Teatro Fossati, which reopened in 1986 under the name Teatro Studio Melato, and the Teatro Strehler.
The Teatro Studio Melato started life as an experimental theatre, a training ground for the young students from the Piccolo Theatre School, and home to the international master classes which are held there annually. Its circular design is greatly appreciated by directors from all over the world for the special relationship it allows actors to establish with their audience. The theatre was recently equipped with Clay Paky Alpha Profile 800s for the show E io dico no: ogni notte ha un'alba (And I say 'no, every night has a dawn).
The lighting designer and lighting department manager Claudio De Pace explained how he made his choice: "I had recently used Clay Paky 700s in some shows staged outside our theatre, especially in conjunction with the Milan Furniture Fair for a production at the Teatro dell'Arte. I was very satisfied with their reliability and luminous efficiency.
"When it came to equipping the Teatro Piccolo with a new set of lights, I decided to do several tests on site with other brands, but in the end I opted for Alpha Profile 800s. First, Clay Paky is an Italian company known worldwide for the excellence of its products. Second, I chose them for their reliability and small size. What they can do in such a compact case is truly remarkable."
De Pace stressed that loads on the battens and handling limitations have to be taken into serious consideration in the Teatro Studio: "thanks to their lightweight, we were able to move the Profiles around and install them in the theatre with considerable ease. Each light could be carried by a single person. Our concern was that we would have to do without the performance of large lights, but we soon realized there was no risk of this: the Profile's lamp is extremely bright, and the light is equipped with all the effects and features of a 1200-1500 watt light, if not more."
The final rig includes 14 Alpha Profile 800s. For the show E io dico no: ogni notte ha un'alba, they have been arranged on the catwalks and are used as back-lighting and semi-front-lighting. One is placed in the middle of the third tier and four others are used as side lights.
This show stands out for being completely devoid of scenery; everything is done exclusively with lights. The Alpha Profile 800s are used both as stage effects lighting and as accent lighting. In two or three moments during the show, De Pace uses them "on the faces of the leading players with the CTO filter. Lastly, I also use them as follow-spots, after saving the actors' movements in the memory".
(Jim Evans)
