GOTHENBURG CITY THEATRE Gothenburg City Theatre is Sweden’s oldest city theatre and dates back to 1918. Inaugurated in 1934, today the theatre is housed at Götaplatsen and features elegant 1930s architecture, particularly in the audience areas. There are three theatres: the main stage that can host an audience of 580; the foyer stage which can seat up to 300 people; and the studio stage, which has a capacity of180. The theatre’s mission is to inspire, generate debate, entertain and provoke reflection and its two main stages feature a mixture of classic and contemporary repertoire from Sweden and abroad. It is essential that the audio and lighting kit chosen for the theatre is able to accommodate for this varied mix of performances and that they are placed in the very best position to showcase each performance to its fullest. To ensure this, Gothenburg City Theatre received a massive refurbishment 14 years ago, which saw a new auditorium built inside the original, resulting in much better placement opportunities for both audio and lighting. “The venue has been built specifically for theatrical performances,” said Henrik Eriksson, Service Engineer at Gothenburg City Theatre. “So, as far as the sound is concerned, we ensure it carries from the stage into the auditorium. The main issue for us is keeping the noise levels down from the moving heads, this is the main requirement when we look to new lighting fixtures.” The lighting inventory at Gothenburg City Theatre is vast and is constantly being updated in order to keep up with the demanding performances. The most recent addition comes from Clay Paky in the form of 15 Alpha Profile 1200 moving heads and 25 A.leda Wash K10 light sources, the first fixture from Clay Paky to use LEDs as light sources. “We have been using Clay Paky for the last 13 years,” said Henrik. “We needed to replace some of the fixtures to get the noise levels down even further and we also needed a more flexible stage because we are hosting everything from a theatrical performance to a musical, to a rock show. It took us a little time but we found what we were looking for in Clay Paky - it was the only manufacturer that matched our specifications. “The big advantage of the Clay Paky K10’s is that each colour can be controlled separately and it uses a low amount of power. Instead of using 10 regular lighting fixtures we can use two or three K10’s and you can move them around easily, it makes a real difference.”
TECHNICAL INFORMATION LIGHTING
15 x Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1200 moving head; 25 x Clay Paky A.leda Wash K10 lighting fixture www.stadsteatern.goteborg.se