Robe was delighted to help launch Yaron Abulafia’s exciting new book “The Art of
Light on Stage: Lighting in Contemporary Theatre” at the 2015 Prague Quadrennial.
Robe is sponsoring this work by the artist and award winning lighting designer.
The launch – attended by over 300 guests – took place at the Hybernia Theatre in
central Prague. The book is the first history and analysis of theatre lighting design
that brings the story bang up to date, with Yaron exploring the poetics of light and
charting the evolution of lighting design against the background of contemporary
performance.
The book launch – presented with a conversation between Yaron and Nick Moran,
Senior Lecturer in Lighting for Live Performance, BA Theatre Practice Course Team
at London’s Central School of Speech & Drama – was a huge success and one of the
highlights of the 2015 PQ.
Says Robe’s CEO Josef Valchar, “it was an honour for us to partner with Yaron and
stage this important book launch. His work is highly detailed, incisive and
interesting, expanding in a very accessible and intelligent way several key theories
relating to the art and psychology of stage lighting – everyone should read it.”
The book presentation was followed by a demonstration of Robe’s latest theatre
technology, including the new DL4 series of LED moving light fixtures which take
tungsten emulation and dimming to new levels of excellence. This section of the
day’s activities was hosted by theatre lighting designer Andy Webb from the UK,
and it also highlighted the theatre’s new Robe lighting rig which was installed a
month previously.
The Robe presentation was devised in conjunction with the theatre, and featured
excerpts from the current Czech Ballet’s production of Swan Lake which is being
staged there throughout the summer, illustrating how much easier, more dynamic
and flexible the lighting options are for the theatre’s two resident LDs, David
Bohunovsky and Jiri Branik, with the Robe rig in place.
Andy’s presentation also featured a preview of the brand new DL7S fixture.
Jiri Baros, Robe’s Marketing Manager, who production managed the launch event
commented, “We were very happy. It was a great collaboration with the theatre and
the turnout and general interest was excellent. We enjoyed working alongside Yaron
and it was fantastic to see his work so well received. It was also a great
opportunity to meet a great range of inspiring and creative individuals involved in
all aspects of scenography and performance’.
Yaron stated, “It has been a great pleasure to collaborate with Robe both during the
production process of the book and the launch event in Prague.
“For many years, I have been designing performances around the world with Robe
lighting fixtures due to their innovative features and highest precision – inventing
instruments and enabling us, designers, to push the boundaries of our creativity.
“The Art of Light on Stage’ seeks to obtain the same goal – thinking of light as a
performer, a prominent force in the performance. This is why I was so happy to
take this journey with Robe!’
