Schaffelaar Theatre ‘PAINTES the town’

Schaffelaar Theatre in Barneveld, The Netherlands, is a popular and busy receiving house with a constant flow of shows – musicals, dance, cabaret, comedy and concerts of all types – serving the local community with a lively programme of arts and culture. It is also home to the Barneveld’s Symphony Orchestra, and the venue hosts regular business events and private hires.

There is a 572-capacity large hall and a small hall accommodating 198 people, and recently, there has been a serious investment in Robe moving lights.

The purchase, delivered by Robe’s Benelux distributor Controllux, has so far comprised 8 PAINTES, 12 LEDBeam 350 RGBA FWs – with soft focus for the pastel ranges – 6 T11 Profile multispectral units and 5 TX1 PosiProfiles.

The PAINTES were the first to be installed in a theatre in the Netherlands!

These have now been integrated into the large hall house lighting rig by Head of Theatre Technology Djordi Veerman and lighting tech Timo van Dusschoten. “It’s always nice to be part of a ‘first’ like that,” quips Djordi.

The theatre was built 15 years ago, a project initiated by the Barneveld’s Symphony Orchestra who needed a new rehearsal space and home (which is the small hall).

A lighting upgrade was needed as the previous fixtures were 15 years old and had been in use since the venue opened, and they were already second hand then! Apart from that, it was time to start transitioning to LED, so Djordi put together a 7-stage realisation plan, of which Phase 1 dealt with everything above the stage. The Robe TX1s were the first part of this, followed shortly by the others.

When discussing ‘why Robe’, Djordi comments that he’s seen many fixtures during his time there at Schaffelaar Theatre and working at various other venues over the last 10 years, and one thing he definitely wanted was the continuity of having only one brand in the house to cover all the moving light requirements.

When the T11 was launched, he realised that this brand “had to be Robe”, although they did do a competitive shootout with several brands at another theatre… before making the final decision.

Silent operation was super important to everyone at Schaffelaar Theatre, and they found the ambient operating noise emitted by these fixtures to be “significantly” less in the Robe products. They were also impressed with the potential and the flexibility of the TE (TRANSFERABLE ENGINE) technology.

The lighting department liked PAINTE for its compact size, light weight, excellent white output and impressive gobo selection.

There is no fixed lighting rig in either hall, lighting for every show is built according to its needs, which is great for creativity and efficient in that there are not a bunch of lights in the ceiling that are redundant or unused, but it means that every fixture had to be capable of multi-tasking and highly portable for a ‘fixed’ installation.

The LEDBeam 350s are “fast and quiet and very adaptable,” commented Timo, highlighting that they could work as standard theatre washes for drama shows and equally well as tight, punchy, high impact beams for dance shows. “You can absolutely get sooooo much from a LEDBeam 350,” enthused Djordi.

They picked T11s for the colours, the optical system, the smooth dimming and the fact that you get ‘the full picture’ with this luminaire which is specially designed for theatre.

The TX1 was a great choice as it is extremely quiet, and the TE engine gives it a great output plus the possibility of swapping for another with different characteristics or replacing at some stage in the future when needed.

Right now, the Robes are primarily working in the main hall.

Taking more generally about their impressions of Robe as a brand, Djordi and Timo both think the manufacturer is “on its game and several steps ahead of the rest” in terms of innovation and technology.

A good relationship with Controllux and their well-known after-sales support is another must. “With Controllux, there is someone at the end of the phone 24 hours … and they will always find a solution. Good support is vital in our industry,” says Djordi. The account is looked after at Controllux by account manager Maikel Sakkers.

Eighty per cent of Schaffelaar Theatre’s incoming shows will have their own lighting designer or operator – and they have had some great reactions from these to the new Robe kit. Productions without their own lighting person, together with the majority of the business events, will be lit by Djordi, Timo and the team.

The venue operates 5 or 6 days a week and stages around 100 performance shows a year plus 100 business events, as well as accommodating the local am-dram association and several school productions, so there is never a dull moment! 

Photo by Louise Stickland. L-R: Maikel Sakkers (Controllux), Djordi Veerman + Timo van Dusschoten from the Schaffelaar Theatre, and Twan Schipper (Controllux).