The theatre, in the southern Tel Aviv suburb of Jaffa, was founded in 1991 by new Russian immigrants including artistic director Yevgeny Arye and is now regarded as a key platform of Israeli culture. It is one of the only bi-lingual theatres in the world performing in both Russian and Hebrew, although most productions today are staged in Hebrew. It has won multiple awards and gained worldwide critical recognition.
The new moving lighting rig was supplied - after a competitive tender process - by Danor Theatre & Studio Systems, Robe's Israeli distributor, and was specified by one of Israel's leading lighting designers Bambi (Avi Yona Bueno).
Technical manager Sergey Novitsky and technical director Maxim Rosenburg had first been alerted to Robe and its various product ranges by Bambi, well known for his innovative and ground breaking work, who has been associated with Gesher Theatre for 25 years. He's worked on various projects with the theatre and was house lighting designer for a period early on in his career as a lighting professional.
Sergey and Maxim were extremely pleased when Danor won the tender with their Robe proposal which is part of a brand new technical refit for the theatre. They were already aware of the flexibility of the fixtures and the massive increase in options that they would bring to all using the theatre.
In addition to the intense and compelling dramas which have become a benchmark for the venue, they also stage concerts and music shows, so the new lights needed to be all encompassing and properly multi-functional.
The purchase also included other LED lights and an L-Acoustics KARA sound system all of which makes the theatre's production facilities highly attractive to a wide range of clients, in addition to boosting the production values of their own shows.
They had looked at all the leading brand moving light options carefully in the first place before Danor's Robe proposal was selected for the "adaptability, good build quality and excellent reputation" of the kit plus the excellent service and tech support in Israel.
"We now have not just industry standard products but also market leaders in both Robe and L-Acoustics which sends out the right messages to our collaborators on all levels," says Maxim.
(Jim Evans)
