Sweden - The Stadsteater is one of Gothenburg’s most historic theatres. Its origins (though not the actual building) date back to 1918 when it was founded by a group of individuals keen to promote theatre to a wider audience. At the time they were based at Lorensbergsteatern, located across the street from Göteborgs Stadsteater, but in 1934 the theatre company moved to the newly constructed building situated at Götaplatsen. The building was and remains notable for its impressive functionalistic architecture. Its position at the top of the Aveny - one of the city’s fashionable streets - makes it one of Gothenburg’s most striking landmarks.
During the early part of 2002, its staging and flying systems were significantly upgraded, allowing it to reopen at the end of last year with a technical set-up which will serve as a model when new theatres are built.
Stage Technologies won the tender for the contract, partly because if its wide experience gained on such projects as the design of automation systems for The Royal Opera House, but principally because the company could take a flexible approach, and adapt existing products to suit the needs of the space.
The company’s work thus involved the design, manufacture and installation of the complete overstage machinery (and approximately 70 axes of control), and the replacement of the existing 1934 counterweight system with a new power flying one.
In advance of the actual refurbishment, the company used its 3D design package to support the collaborative design process, allowing members of both the Stage Technologies team and the team at the Stadsteater, headed by production manager Ingemar Melander, to view the engineering solutions as they developed. The integrated systems were refined prior to manufacture, with complete mechanical systems being assembled on a virtual drawing board, allowing thorough stress strain tolerance testing of each component.
The new powered flying system is the key element of the refit. The challenge here for the Stage Technologies team lay in working with the existing, somewhat limited, roof space and designing an automated flying system that could be retrofitted without problems. 43 flying bars (plus 4 in the forestage area) have been installed as part of an upgrade which allows for future expansion to 69 flying bars.
The installation combines all three of Stage Technologies’ drive/control technologies - the latest MaxisID (Integrated Drive) technology for the overhead winches, MaxisMX controlling the existing under-stage machinery, and the low cost MaxisTC controlling chain hoists. (In fact, the Gothenburg project has proved to be Stage Technologies’ largest MaxisID installation to date, with most of the axes relating to the stage machinery driven and controlled by this). The set-up allows for the integration of the position control system into the variable speed drive, thereby reducing the site cabling, increasing the diagnostics available and, equally importantly, lowering the overall total cost. (As part of its ongoing work for the theatre, Stage Technologies uses ISDN to remotely monitor the system diagnostics from its London office).
The flexibility of the new system was demonstrated by a recent production of The Tempest. The play required an additional four Big Tow winches for performer flying and these were effortlessly integrated into the main system within a very short time scale.
The drive technologies provide the processing power behind the four Nomad Motion Control systems which run the various automated elements of the stage. The Stadsteater owns its own production company and puts on four to five shows a year, so Nomad, as a portable console requiring only a single cable connection, will give the theatre high levels of control in a constantly changing environment.
Stage Technologie
