Robe took
a completely different approach to the 2015 PLASA London expo, creating a fully
immersive piazza environment in their ‘Arena’ space – the largest stand on the
exhibition floor – which became a showcase for the latest products built for theatres
from the Czech manufacturer, including the new DL7S Profile, the latest DL4
range and the BMFL Blade amongst others.
The stand
design was inspired by the magnificent decorated marble and painted stucco of
the Palacio Nacional (National Palace) in Mexico City, the seat of the federal
executive which is located on the city’s main square, El Zócalo. Much of the
current Palacio’s building materials are from the original palace that belonged
to Moctezuma II during the Aztec Empire.
To
replicate this as practically and effectively as possible at the ExCeL Centre,
Robe collaborated closely with drapes specialists J&C Joel who provided
some elaborate digitally printed scrims, plus ‘cobbled’ flooring and black
drapery which was installed by their crew.
The show-stopping
stand lighting was programmed to accentuate the environment and included a full
transformation alternating between night and day, complete with custom
soundscape birds tweeting during the day, crickets stridulating at night, etc.
This
highlighted the many subtleties, nuances and the intricate detail that can be
achieved by utilising the range of featured Robe fixtures, as well as
underlining the importance of the theatre market.
Centre stage of the product line-up was the powerful
new DL7S Profile luminaire. This LED fixture is impressing key players in the
theatre and performance lighting community with its homogenised source, ability
to produce perfect skin tones, its excellent tungsten emulation, subtle and intricate
full spectrum colour mixing and high
colour rendering index. All these are ideal characteristics for theatre and TV applications.
The flow
of people around the stand was carefully calculated and managed. Inside the ground
floor arches of the Piazza were a series of demonstration areas, where visitors
could receive full product demos and also see the products close up.
Other
arches provided integrated yet distinct areas for Anolis, Robe’s architectural
LED sister company, and for haze and fog specialists MDG which is distributed
by Robe UK.
The
positioning of Anolis enabled this area to function as a relaxed independent-but-related
meeting space, and the set-up also encouraged interest from those wanting to
discuss potential architectural and architainment projects.
Robe’s
hourly rock lighting show – an exhibition favourite – was concealed behind a
set of theatrical tabs which also resembled the Palacio façade. These opened ahead
of an extremely energetic lightshow revealing various other new and launched products
– including Square, the ColorStrobe, the PATT 2013 and the BMFL Blade – blasting
around the stand, drawing enormous crowds every day.
Another
big hit with the audiences was the “One Man One Light” performance, staged in a
separate ‘black box’ space, where top South African theatre lighting designer
Michael Broderick demonstrated the immense range of elegant, beautiful and
dramatic effects that can be produced using just one single Robe BMFL Blade
luminaire with a ‘back-to-basics’ creative starting point.
The One
Man One Light Show – which debuted in Johannesburg in July and also played the
Hilton Arts Festival in Durban in September – was invited to London by Robe’s
CEO Josef Valchar. It played four times a day to a packed house every time.
Robe CEO Josef
Valchar comments, “We have enjoyed a fantastic show. People have really taken
our theatrical approach seriously and also appreciated the amount of planning
and hard work that went into delivering the entire presentation concept. We have
had enormous amounts of positive feedback”.
