Staged each summer since 1994, Elden is the largest historical outdoor theatre production in Norway. This year’s run during July and August drew between 11,000 and 12,000 spectators. Technical delivery is handled by rental company Pro Systemer using Outline P12 coaxial loudspeakers as stage wedges at key positions across the arena.
The setting for the story is the slag heaps above Røros, the old copper-mining town in central Norway inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list, with the industrial landscape itself forming the set. Around 400 volunteers take part each season. The winter of 1718-19, when General Armfeldt’s Swedish army marched on Trondheim and was destroyed by the cold on the retreat.
‘We had been looking for a new 12-inch coaxial wedge monitor for some time, to replace our existing monitors,’ says Pro Systemer Project Manager, Frode Trondahl. ‘They needed to be lighter, to sound at least as good as what we already had, to offer flexibility in terms of rigging and set-up, and to provide better protection for outdoor use in rainy conditions – IP54 – than our current monitors.
‘We tested a wide range of different wedges, and of all the models we evaluated, the voicing of the P12 was the closest match to our existing monitors. At the same time, the P12 offered a little more low-end, giving the impression of a slightly larger and more substantial sound. We see this as a definite advantage.
‘We handle more than 1,000 projects every year – theatre, revue shows, concerts, festivals, sporting events and corporate events. That requires an inventory which is both highly flexible and exceptionally reliable. So far, we have had nothing but positive experiences with the P12.’
On site, the first difference showed up as headroom: ‘The new P12 wedges delivered better gain before feedback than the ones we deployed the previous year,’ reports Fredrik Hagland, Sound Designer for Elden at Medhør. ‘We didn’t notice how loud we were running them until we went through actor monitoring one day without the PA, and realised the actors’ omni headsets were playing back at rock-concert levels without any issue.’
Ten consecutive nights on an exposed mountain site tested the rest of the specification. ‘The Outline P12 wedges generally performed well and stood up to the harsh conditions that outdoor theatre in Norway is,’ Hagland adds. ‘They delivered the same monitoring even when there was rain straight into them.’
More: www.prosystemer.no