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Gearhouse Splitbeam invests in Robe iFortes

South African theatrical technical production specialist Gearhouse Splitbeam has invested in sixteen new Robe iForte moving lights which are out on a major new GWB Entertainment production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “Cats”.

Presented in collaboration with Peter Toerien Productions by arrangement with The Really Useful Group, and in association with Cape Town Opera, this production kicked off in South Africa, playing a total of 77 shows at Artscape in Cape Town and Montecasino’s Teatro in Johannesburg between December 2025 and February 2026, and will be on the road in Asia for at least the next eighteen months.

The original 1981 lighting design was created by Howard Eaton who came out to co-ordinate and oversee re-lighting the show in Cape Town, which now has a flourish of contemporary styling together with some of the latest technologies, while all the conceptual and creative essence of the lighting project remains the same.

For this version, the lighting director and programmer was David Totaro, and when Splitbeam’s CEO Alistair Kilbee suggested utilising iFortes to provide front and back lighting, he and Eaton agreed and were happy to work with these fixtures.

When Splitbeam knew that they would be supplying lighting for the tour and it was decided that - given the duration of the tour - investment was the way-to-go, Splitbeam’s head of lighting, Mathew Lewis, started looking at all the available options, then took his recommendations for Kilbee.

The luminaires were delivered by South Africa’s distributor DWR Distribution, in time for the prep for Cape Town. The company already has forty-eight Robe Esprite Fresnels, purchased in 2025 with the HCF (High Colour Fidelity) LED engines installed, together with a set of HP (High Power) Transferable Engines - ready for swapping out according to show requirements - and a set of PC lenses to offer a choice of Esprite Fresnels or PCs.

They also have twenty-two Tetra2s, which, together with the Esprites, have been constantly working, so there was already plenty of logic and good experience leading them back to Robe. Kilbee notes that iFortes are ideal for pairing with RoboSpot systems, which he sees appearing more and more frequently on riders and tech specs. He adds that out of all the remote follow systems available in South Africa, they like the idea of a system that still has a human operator at the core.

For the “Cats” shows in South Africa, the iFortes were positioned on the balcony rails and advanced trusses to the front and over the stage to the rear and provided key lighting and specials in addition to effects.

(Photos: Chris Duys)

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