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Royal Swedish Opera plays “Dice” with Ayrton Cobra

“Attention! This Performance Contains Lighting That May Be Considered As Disturbing.” This is the caption that presented itself on the Royal Swedish Opera’s site publicising the show by the Royal Swedish Orchestra devoted to celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Swedish gaming phenomenon that is “Dice”.

The dynamic meeting of cultural opposites showcased the musical accompaniments of games such as “Battlefield 1, 3, 4 and V”, “Battlefield 2042”, “Battlefield: Bad Company 1 and 2”, “Star Wars: Battlefront I and II”, “Mirror’s Edge” and “Mirror’s Edge Catalyst”. The musical background of a video game, similar to the function of a film soundtrack, guides and supports the gamer through the narrative of the game.

For LD Ishai Mika of Green Wall Designs AB, Sweden, this presented a unique challenge: how to light a multimedia performance that embraces musical genres that range from traditional classical to the far reaches of electronic sound. He opted to turn to Ayrton’s laser source luminaire Cobra.

“This is the first time I’ve used Cobra - in fact this is a first for any outing in Sweden”, says Mika. “We opted to use thirty units to create a specific look: the whole idea was to create three walls and a roof of beams to make it feel like a room, but still be able to use them in such a way that gives each part of the concert its own identity. The whole show was built on six blocks of music from each game and each with their own style. Two are electronic music and four blocks are orchestral. We made the blocks all look very different from each other: historical or future periods; different composers; different music styles to suit each game.”

As budget was influential, the supporting lighting spec was mostly the house rig at the Opera House. The venue boasts fully automated trusses and floors. The stage floor can be lowered 6 m below deck and rise upwards too, so the musicians could be sunk into the stage, at other times raised up, and sometimes held in a “box” between floors.

“We had an upstage frame full of Cobras which, when they shoot up or outwards form the sides, floor and roof of the room. We could also use the dropped truss alongside the ground row to create two rows of Cobra at stage level which was perfect for when we had that room between the floors”, says Mika.

Andreas Nilsson and Jukka Rintamäki were the Creative Directors. Video content was by Andreas Nilsson. The Lighting Operator was Moltas Gabrielsson, the D3 Programmer/Operator was Mats Andreasson (from the Royal Swedish Opera).

(Photos: Ishai Mika/Paulina Gabre)

www.ayrton.eu

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