The Deutsches Theater in Berlin is one of Germany’s foremost producing houses, highly acclaimed for its cutting-edge work. In the last year, the venue has added 20 Robe T1 Profiles which are available across its stages, a move specified and overseen by head of lighting Robert Grauel and his team including Linus Zahn who is the lighting systems tech and person in charge of new technologies.
The main stage was originally built in 1850 and the building now consists of two adjoining stages – the 600-capacity main stage and the 280-seat Kammerspiele established by the legendary Max Reinhardt in 1906 for modern drama – sharing a common, classical façade.
The Box is a black box studio space located in the Kammerspiele foyer in 2006 with seating for 80 people, and there are extensive rehearsal rooms, workshops, and storage facilities in a new building behind.
The theatre’s output is prolific. An average year sees each stage present approximately nine new productions, and a significant amount of these will also tour around Germany, with three or four also going on to tour worldwide, all simultaneously. It is a buzzing hive of creative activity in the heart of vibrant Berlin.
When it came to looking for an LED Profile spot for Deutsches Theater, Linus and his colleagues examined the three main options – including the Robe luminaires – all of which were made available so they could be evaluated fully over a longer period.
Critical factors compared included brightness, colour rendering, skin tonality and the accuracy of the shutter system. “All the requirements specific to theatre performance needed to be at ‘industry standard’ levels,” commented Linus.
Other factors like the additive colour mixing then started giving the T1 Profile the edge.
The theatre also needed a moving light that worked well with their existing stock of LED profiles and wash fixtures, and “the T1 Profile harmonizes perfectly” with these stated Linus, making the overall lighting rig even more flexible and adaptable.
The T1 Profile’s colour temperature control was another feature impressing Linus and the crew as they work a lot with different CT whites needing clean and high-quality sources.
RDM compatibility was helpful, together with the wireless DMX option in the T1 Profile, as the main house already has a large Lumen Radio system in place.
Like all theatres and any live entertainment venues, 2020 was a tough year for Deutsches Theater due to the pandemic, but, looking forward to the rest of 2021 with a vaccine rollout and the prospect of some sort of normalcy, Linus is hopeful that the relationship with Robe will continue to grow as they ramp up their production schedules.
This project should win because the T1s met and exceeded each critical requirement the venue needed from this moving light investment. These fixtures complement superbly the existing stock at the Deutsches Theater and make the rig considerably more flexible.
As a brand generally Linus thinks Robe has developed quietly and steadily in the theatre sector to being a manufacturer “getting things right with a range of excellent theatre orientated products that have quickly implemented features from many wish lists.”
Linus makes a quick comparison with iconic Czech brand Škoda, proudly declaring that he’s also personally invested in another Škoda car.
In addition to these T1s… eight Robe ESPRITES, four more T1 Profiles, six Tarrantula LED wash beams, six ParFect 150s FW RGBAs and a RoboSpot system including RoboSpot MotionCameras have recently joined the venue.
Even more Robe purchases are planned for 2021 to facilitate a complex up-coming production to be staged later in the year.
