Patronaat invests in Robe Esprites
- Details
The new fixtures were actually delivered at the start of 2020, but with successive Covid-19 lockdowns over the last 18 months, they have only started being used extensively since re-opening, explained head of lighting Robin van der Plas.
Lighting designers and the Patronaat’s own house lighting crew – including senior lighting technician Frits Barends – are loving the new moving lights.
Twenty-four Esprites are installed in the main 950-capacity main hall, with the other 12 in the smaller second hall space, making up a total of 36 luminaires, all of them making a major difference to the way shows can now be lit.
They effectively replace the first Robe fixtures in the house – 36 x MMX Spots purchased in 2012 from Robe’s Benelux distributor, Controllux.
In the two years before 2020, 14 Robe Spiider LED wash beams and 48 x LEDBeam 150s had also been added to the house rigs, together with 26 x ParFect 150s
Frits is delighted to have the Esprites in the rig. “Reliability is key,” he stated, adding that he likes the intensity, colour mixing and the shutters as well as “the speed of the fixture for programming”.
A Road Hog console provides control in both venues, and the small hall lighting rig is a scaled down version of the large one, with the 12 Esprites plus LEDBeam 150s instead of Spiiders.
During the pandemic, Patronaat’s core staff stayed busy, working on re-branding, maintenance and hosting livestream concerts and digital gigs. Shows have gradually been able to re-start as audience numbers have increased slowly.
