Gothenburg’s renaissance style Stora Teatern was originally built in 1859 and is one
of the most popular historical buildings in the bustling Swedish port city. It now
presents a lively mix of concerts, theatre and dance shows and is also a must-go
weekend destination during the summer season as “Backstage’, a popular club / DJ
performance experience in the region.
Due to its truly multi-purpose entertainment programme and many different
configurations depending on the event, the show lighting rigs are constantly
changing.
Saving time and hassle, head of lighting Joel Karlberg has installed a LumenRadio
wireless DMX system which enables data signals between the lights and the control
desk to be re-routed quickly and easily.
Karlberg co-ordinates all the lighting technical elements and has found the wireless
DMX system to be a flexible and practical solution for addressing and re-addressing
around 30 moving lights in the rig which are used constantly – but in different
locations and set ups – for all the shows and events.
When the Backstage club is running, the main dancefloor and bar occupies what is
normally the stage area and the space expands through the backstage and stage
wings and outside right into the back of the venue with a large outdoor area …
enabling a capacity of 1200 party people to be accommodated.
The lighting rig for the club is completely different from that of a visiting dance or
drama show using the stage, so lights are re-rigged in different places, but with the
LumenRadio system in place, Karlberg doesn’t have to worry about running data
cables to any of them or linking back to the lighting desk, he does it all wirelessly.
The main club session lights this season comprised 10 x Robe Pointes, 12 x Robe
LEDWash 800s, four Clay Paky Mythos and four Vari*Lite VL1100s plus strobes –
running via wireless DMX, plus an additional 30 x static LED bars and washes.
A standard stage lighting rig – when the venue is receiving theatre productions –
will utilize three LX pipes which are usually rigged with the 12 x LEDWash 800s, 10
x Martin Quantum Profiles and four Robe DL4S LED Profiles together with 8 x
Vari*Lite VL1100s and an additional 50 x conventional fixtures.
Additional lighting fixtures or devices like smoke machines can be seamlessly linked
to the lighting control console using the wireless system.
For concerts and performance style shows, the DL4Ss and LEDWash 800s can be
taken down and moved to other active LX bars or the floor position – wherever they
are best placed to light for the show being staged – and easily patched back into the
system without running data lines.
To keep things fresh, as well as presenting music concerts in a standard set up with
the band onstage, Stora Teatern also has bands playing in front of the stage –
standing on a covered orchestra pit – with the audience onstage rather than sitting
in the stalls! So the set-up is changing constantly.
