Canberra Theatre Centre (CTC) is a lively and proactive arts and cultural hub at
Australia’s capital city / territory, comprising three main venues – the 1244 seater
Canberra Theatre, The Playhouse which holds 614 people and The Studio, a black
box space with 100 capacity.


Around 150 shows covering a wide array of performance genres are staged
annually, an eclectic mix ranging from rock “n’ roll to choral music, shows to drama,
musicals, stand-up comedy and dance – a massive cross section involving a host of
one-nighters to much longer runs of 2 or 3 weeks.


Last year, the CTC invested in its first moving lights …which were Robe.


These were specified by head of lighting Andrew Tweedie and delivered by
Canberra’s leading entertainment rental and production specialist, Elite Sound and
Lighting.


Tweedie has worked at CTC for 6 years, and the lighting upgrade with the generous
support of the ACT Government, has been ongoing almost since he joined. In 2015
the time came to address the need for moving lights.


Elite’s Darren Russell had seen Robe’s powerful and elegant DL4X Profile at
Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt earlier in the year, and thought it would be an ideal
solution for the Theatre Centre.


Tweedie specified the type of fixtures they wanted on the tender document, but not
the brand and model – that was left to be determined by the market through the
open tender process. The competitive selection process involved Elite going in with
Robe and several other companies offering competitor products!


As part of the evaluation process, there was a shoot-out at the theatre – with the
Robe options a clear winner, so Elite then won the contract to supply the moving
lights, and delivered the 8 x DL4Xs plus 16 of Robe’s LEDWash 800s … which are
moved between the three primary theatre spaces. The LEDWashes and DL4Xs
proved a more attractive package than all the competition, and shortly after the
decision was made, CTC had them delivered and up and running.


Also important in the context of occupational health & safety at CTC … is Robe’s
commitment to building lighter fixtures. One person can comfortably and safely lift
a DL4X and a LEDWash 800, all stacking the odds towards the final decision.


Two LEDWash 800s could effortlessly wash the whole of the Playhouse stage in dark
blue! The high CRI of both luminaires is essential for producing good, healthy flesh
tones which is always a tricky parameter in theatre style lighting, and apart from
that, the sheer quality of the light output exceeded that of the competitors.


The relationship with Elite is also an important part of the equation. The fact that
they have such a large hire stock of Robe is handy from cross-rental viewpoint,
right down to advice and hands-on expertise with the brand.


The Robe fixtures were supplied to Elite by Australian distributor, the ULA Group.



Lighting control – across all venues – is ETC. Tweedie s works with an efficient crew
set up of two full time technicians plus a select pool of regular freelancers who also
light most of the shows.