Serbia - Zvezdara Theatre in downtown Belgrade is the first theatre in Serbia to take delivery of Robe lights since Light and Sound Design (LSD) took on distributorship of the brand in late 2023.
The 300-capacity space is now the owner of four Robe LEDBeam 350 moving lights and four T11 Profiles, taking the concept of ‘small is beautiful’ to heart in the process of producing great theatre.
Zvezdara Theatre was opened in 1984 and quickly became a prominent cultural hub, renowned for promoting contemporary (then) Yugoslav writers and their works. It gained recognition for championing innovative and thought-provoking drama, comedy, and music.
Lighting designer Aleksa Cosic, who has been working there for just over a year, is one of four regular LDs who work on lighting the theatre’s many productions, and they all collectively attended open days staged after LSD took on the Robe distribution.
After initially seeing the Robe products in action there, the next move was to take some of their existing conventional fixtures to LSD and test them side-by-side with the Robe options in one of LSD’s large demo areas. Here, they specifically compared a 2000W profile to Robe’s T11.
The overall result was that the T11 “absolutely blew away the profile,” stated Aleksa, who was impressed by the quality of the light, the flat beam field and the hybrid design, which means – utilising different lens options – that it can be a profile, a PC or a Fresnel fixture.
The LEDBeam 350s were also purchased for their versatility and multi-purposefulness. All the lights were delivered in time for the new autumn season.
DMX-controlled moving lights in a theatre are still relatively rare in Serbia, as there is still a proliferation of classic dimmed light sources and control boards that have been in place since last century. The fact that lighting techs do not need to use a ladder to adjust any of the Robe products also means that the lighting department can work substantially quicker to light and tweak during rehearsals and tech sessions.
“The Robe fixtures are faster, more convenient and more efficient – so it’s a win-win,” Aleska concluded.
