Robe Helps Save Pigs in Goteborg

	Photo: Jan Ellsinger

Spargrisarna kan rädda världen (Saving Pigs Can Save The World) is the newest revue style production being staged at the well-known Lorensbergsteatern in Goteborg, Sweden. Produced by Kulturtuben, four actors deliver blisteringly witty and intelligent political satire and critiques of topical issues at breakneck speed backed by an 10-piece orchestra.

Lighting is designed by Michael Sevholt, the venue's technical manager, and a partner and founding member of Kulturtuben, who has included eight Robe DL4S Profiles and 14 x LEDWash 300s in his rig.

After reading the script, he realized that he needed moving head profiles to effectively key out the actors and also a moving wash light for illuminating the musicians located on a platform that changes places onstage during the show.

Initially he was considering using a competitor product which he'd used before on several occasions and knew would produce excellent skin tones. However ... on receiving a demo of DL4S by Robe's Swedish distributor Bellalite, he changed his mind and decided to spec this luminaire which is built for theatre.

He really liked the colors and the skin tones in particular. The DL4S brought a big additional bonus in being silent running and cool (no heat emission). As one of the musician riser positions is very close to the fixtures, utilizing this LED lightsource ... he can still have the lights on full without melting the band!

The set -- designed by Rolf Allan Håkanson -- is mainly lit with conventional fixtures. During the rehearsal period, he worked on creating a good balance between these and the Robe LED sources, which really make the presenters pop out from the background.

The second half of the show however is almost devoid of set pieces, just the musicians and the backdrop behind the performers, so all the lighting is from the LED sources and follow spots, giving Sevholt the crisp contemporary style and freshness he wanted.

This is his first time using DL4Ss ... and he is well impressed.

"I like the colors which are vital to this show. The lights are really easy to handle from the console; they are cool, and they are silent, which is crucial for the dialogue-only segments of the show."

He reckons the DL4S Profile is the first moving head fixture he has been able to work with in a truly theatrical environment for some time.

Having now given them a good run in, he goes as far as to state, "It is a real profile. I think that the DL4S has the potential to change theatre lighting as radically as the scroller did in the 1990s."

He has used the LEDWash 300s once before on a theatre show, and the combination of the two fixtures works well for him as the color palettes match, bringing a "fully unified color look" to any show.

One of the challenges was utilizing the Robe luminaires so the audience would be unaware of them moving, but he says they have blended seamlessly into the show, and are also giving all the stand-out effects exactly where intended.

The DL4Ss and LEDWash 300s were supplied by locally based rental company, KSE.

In addition to these, Sevholt's design incorporates a selection of generics including 2K and 650W profiles, PAR 64s, 1 and 2K fresnels, and AC 1001 cyc floods, all controlled from an AVAB Congo console upgraded to Cobalt which was programmed by Sevholt working closely with Lorensbergsteatern's chief LX, Annika Tärnström.

Sevholt's lighting design career started in 1982 with Skruven är lös when he was also a founding partner of the company that became Kulturtuben, which produces its own shows and manages the lively arts program at the Lorensbergsteatern.

Kulturtuben currently has 11 partners who provide all the acting, creative, and technical talent behind the shows, and since 1982 has produced 8 major theatrical performances plus 6 feature films and three TV series for SVT.

Sevholt has designed lighting for the Kulturtuben Lorensbergsteatern shows, and as well as his technical manager duties, is in charge of the films and TV-series productions. In addition to being an LD, he's a film editor and postproduction supervisor with several TV-transmissions and shorts to his name.

Kulturtuben was the first company in Sweden to invest in an Avid digital nonlinear editing system and has a healthy tradition of blazing a trail with new technology.

Lorensbergsteatern also has a bit of a reputation for embracing innovation, when completed in 1916 with its stage revolve, circular cyclorama and 1000 capacity, it was regarded as one of the most modern performance spaces in Europe.

The stage revolve is now out of order and the capacity revised to 800, but .... The circular cyclorama is being used in Spargrisarna kan rädda världen for the first time since 1932.