NEW ZEALAND: When The Court Theatre in Christchurch opened its new home in May 2025, it did so with a lighting rig designed to give productions plenty of creative room to manoeuvre. Among the newest additions are 50 ROBE T11 fixtures — 30 units of the T11 Profiles and 20 units of the T11 Fresnels — which lighting designer Rachel Marlow of Auckland-based visual design studio Filament Eleven 11 put through their paces across two contrasting productions: The King’s Speech and 9 to 5: The Musical.

The new theatre forms part of Christchurch’s earthquake recovery plan following the devastating 2011 event, replacing the former venue and opening with the new Robe fixtures already integrated into its house lighting rig. For Marlow, the two productions offered an immediate test of the T11 range’s versatility, with the intimate drama of The King’s Speech followed by the colour-rich spectacle of 9 to 5: The Musical.

For The King’s Speech, directed by Benjamin Kilby-Henson with music by Matt Short, much of Marlow’s T11 work centred on Daniel Williams’ set design, particularly a large gilded picture frame that divided the stage into distinct areas and demanded precise lighting. The T11 Profiles’ shuttering capabilities proved particularly useful in controlling the light around the architectural centrepiece.

Marlow was also impressed by the punch delivered by the fixtures despite their compact size. She used the T11s for set wall washes, with two fixtures creating slats of light along the back of the stage, working closely with Williams to bring the production’s different environments and locations to life.

The psychological shifts within the narrative also called for a dynamic treatment of the performance space. Here, the multispectral T11s provided Marlow with additional scope for colour treatments from the over-stage rig, helping the lighting evolve alongside the story. The production proved popular with audiences and received significant critical acclaim.

The following production, 9 to 5: The Musical, took the lighting design in an entirely different direction. Directed by Ben Freeth, who also took a major interest in the lighting, the production featured a spectacular honeycomb-shaped set designed by Mark McEntyre and Rosie Gilmore. Marlow positioned the T11 Profiles upstage as high side and top lights to accentuate the structure.

Colour, vibrance and luminosity became central to the storytelling, with Marlow developing key colour looks for each character that evolved throughout the show, becoming richer and more symbolic as the action progressed. Costume colours informed some of these treatments, while set illumination added further visual detail to the production.

One T11 Profile even stepped into follow-spot duty. Manually operated by Geoff Nunn from the house lighting crew using a ‘Number 8 Wire’ system, the fixture was used during 11 songs, allowing actors to be lit with skin tones selected specifically for each character. The term ‘Number 8 Wire’ originates from the 4.0mm diameter galvanized steel wire traditionally used for New Zealand sheep farm fencing and has become cultural shorthand for Kiwi ingenuity, versatility and improvisation.

It was Marlow’s first experience using T11s across her productions, and the fixtures made a strong impression. “The colour mixing and the clarity of the output are great,” she says, with the experience unlikely to be her last with the platform.

The T11s form part of a wider house rig at The Court Theatre, and Marlow also worked with a range of other fixtures across both productions. She relished the opportunity to work with the theatre’s latest technology alongside what she describes as a “very talented” team, including Giles Tanner, Head of Technical at The Court Theatre and a lighting designer who was closely involved in specifying the equipment.

Bradley Gledhill, an Auckland-based lighting, set and video designer and co-founder of Filament Eleven 11 alongside Marlow, served as lighting co-programmer.

For Tanner, the decision to build the new theatre around LED lighting followed an extensive evaluation process. The team initially assessed around 250 different fixture models across various luminaire classes before narrowing the field for in-situ testing, with smooth dimming and low noise identified as fundamental requirements.

“From the outset, Robe’s T11 series fixtures seemed to be strong contenders. They easily aced the noise and dimming tests. We liked their ‘design ethos’ and they appeared to be designed with theatre applications in mind,” commented Giles.

The T11’s 5 to 50 degree zoom was well suited to the venue, while Tanner highlighted the gobo image quality, profile version’s edge quality and colour rendering as “all exceptional”. “The light output and build quality were also impressive,” he added.

The fixtures’ modular construction was another factor, with the TE replaceable light engine and power supply units viewed as advantages for long-term serviceability. Additional options including rotating gobo and iris further expanded the creative possibilities, while features such as shutter lock and variable inbuilt frost added to the fixture’s flexibility.