The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in London has recently added Arri theatre luminaires to its rig. White Light supplied and installed two fully automated 4kW Compact HMI fresnels and a further three automated 5kW tungsten Junior fresnels to add to the nine units the company supplied last year.
The Junior 5kWs, with dichroic reflectors, are built into a moving yoke with scroller; the Compact 4kW HMIs have dimmer shutter and scroller incorporated into the moving yoke. The Royal Opera House is a long-standing client of White Light, who also services and maintains the moving lights, dimmers, and control system at the ROH.
David Harvey, the theatre’s co-lighting manager, explains, "We chose the Junior 5kWs because we only have 750mm of depth in our lighting battens. Furthermore, the colors we wanted to put in our scrollers needed to be looked after, and the dichroic filter will give extended life to the scrolls. Having the units motorized also cuts down on very tight rehearsal and changeover schedules, as well as giving designers more flexibility of multiple positioning during productions." The ROH lighting team had visited the Music Theatre in Amsterdam to review the moving yokes.
The ROH specified the 4kW HMIs for La Sonnambula, which was lit by Harvey’s co-lighting manager, John Charlton, and required heavy usage of the HMIs. The 4kWs were supplied with an electronic ballast in a cradle with a remote strike, with shutters and scrollers.
The Royal Opera House is now progressively specifying Arri as its first choice in large-format fresnels. "We opted for Arri this time because of its superior light output, and the fact you can put accessories on the front," Harvey said.