Anolis for Rakkestad theatre

An Anolis Ambiane and Eminere auditorium lighting installation is part of a complete revamp at the Rakkestad Theatre, a busy community hub and performance venue serving the Rakkestad municipality and surrounding areas of this thriving and diverse Norwegian agricultural heartland.

Opened in 1988, general manager Magne Bjørnstad oversees everything happening at the 286‐capacity venue. Last year this included the radical makeover and complete renovation incorporating the new auditorium lighting, for which he approached stage lighting professional and expert, Lars Kristian Bakke.

The previous auditorium lighting scheme had been tungsten, which apart from looking dingy was cost inefficient. Naturally, thinking of sustainability as well as atmosphere, it was a given that this should be replaced with LED, and Lars suggested a combination of Anolis Ambiane and Eminere fixtures.

“We wanted a fixture that had a good range of CT whites and could provide a range of colours for softer or special lighting over the auditorium,” he explained, so 30 x Anolis Ambiane HP111 RGBW luminaires were purchased and installed by a local electrical engineering company. The mid‐size Ambiane is designed for lower ceiling installations just like this, and they were fitted with 60‐degree lenses. At the back of the seating, Lars specified 10 x Anolis Eminere 4 RGBW LED strips for washing the back wall and illuminating the corridor just in front running behind the back row of seats which is one of the main entry / exit routes for guests. He liked the flexibility of these and the fact that the LEDs can be controlled as 4 individual zones or with all four combined. Lars commissioned and programmed the Anolis lights with a range of pre‐set looks and scenes for all occasions, which can be quickly and easily recalled using a touch panel. “The system makes a huge difference to everyone’s positive first impressions on walk‐in,” he noted.

A basic winch bar system was already installed in an earlier upgrade in 2011, but additional bars were automated in this one. Additional fly bars have been added over the stage for lighting and AV kit and there is a complete new set of stage drapes, so the space is massively more flexible and usable as well as being a great place in which to work and completely modern, re‐ purposed for the future.

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Photos © Louise Stickland