Gearhouse Splitbeam rocks on with Tetra2
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Gearhouse Splitbeam has played an instrumental role in the entire production right from the start, with the show kicking off in Singapore and the Philippines, to its current full houses in South Africa and then ending in Israel. The company’s managing director, Alistair Kilbee, is also the tour technical director who is heavily involved with the crewing for the full tour as well as the local crew in South Africa.
“The greatest challenge for this show has been the ‘new’ style of touring where the production has a full physical set, props and costumes but pick up technical elements including lighting, audio, AV and rigging locally in each country,” explains Alistair Kilbee. “This creates major equipment challenges in each and every set-up. So being back in South Africa where we can have one rig for both Johannesburg and Cape Town from Gearhouse Splitbeam makes the life of the touring crew a lot easier.”
A new addition to the rig in South Africa are 16 Robe Tetra2 LED Bars supplied by DWR Distribution. The Tetra2 is a linear bar built on the Spiider and Tarrantula technology.
Alistair’s first introduction to the Tetra2s was at the Robe Theatre Workshop, held across South Africa in 2022. It was the single product that caught his eye. “We had been planning on buying the Tetra2s for a while now, and when We Will Rock You came along at just the right time, we made the purchase,” he says.
The Tetra2 fixtures are rigged on three lighting bars in a straight line with seven units on LX2, five units on LX4 and three units on LX6, to give the designer an even wash across the stage.
“The broad blades of light generated by LED battens remind me of the old digital light curtains (DLC), which I loved and we used on the original We Will Rock You about fifteen years ago,” Alistair reminisces. “Luckily, the Tetra2 is way more advanced than the DLC which makes them a joy to work with. As always the service we received from DWR was nothing short of amazing and they managed to deliver the units in a very short lead time, which in this post-COVID world is not easy.”
Ends Duncan Riley, “I’m very happy for Gearhouse Splitbeam. It’s wonderful to see theatre on the road again! Thank you for your support.”
