Robe lights up Innibos 2015
Published: MEA
SOUTH AFRICA: Johannesburg-based MGG supplied nearly 150 Robe lights for the 2015 edition of the Innibos arts festival – one of the largest Afrikaans events in South Africa, drawing over 107,000 people to Hoërskool Bergvlam in Nelspruit over five days.
LD Johan Ferriera worked alongside the festival’s creative team, with the starting point for the stage lighting design being the biggest night of the festival – Saturday. Central to the brief was that the organiser didn’t want a large central slab of LED upstage. Instead they wanted all the drama and impact of the performance to be reinforced by lighting. They also wanted a touch of vintage rock ‘n’ roll.
The 17m wide by 12m deep stage offered 12m of headroom from the ground to the grid, and Mr Ferriera decided on six upstage/downstage truss ‘fingers’ all raked at different angles to provide the primary lighting positions, plus a front truss and three ‘totem’ (vertical) trusses down the sides.
The front truss was rigged with 14 Robe LEDWash 1200s which provided a general stage wash. The fingers were each loaded with four Pointes with 44 LEDWash 600s dotted around for reinforcing the back and mid-stage washes. Another six LEDWash 1200s were added to the upstage sections of each finger, specifically for band washes. The side totems were rigged with 48 LEDBeam 100s, used for effects, accenting and punctuation. Another four LEDWash 1200s were rigged on the downstage four totems with two LEDWash 600s each on the back pair. Theatre is strong in Mr Ferriera’s blood, so side lighting is one of his ‘fundamentals’. The set also had a rock look to it, with lots of risers, walkways and a prominent thrust coming off into the audience. For control, he used a grandMA2 full size.
Mr Ferriera has used Robe in his work for some time and is a big fan. ‘I use Robe because the lightsources are very bright and they just work… and work … and work! You never have to take them off the rig for repair, and that is essential for a show like this which is fast moving with very little “tech” time.’