Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - ABTT (27 May - 5 June)

Rigging / Staging

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>Aside from the Unibar, new for Slingco this year is the Unibar hoist, a cost-effective system developed in tandem with PCM, which allows easily controlled raising and lowering for general lifting purposes. The company has also had a busy year with its popular Cablenet 'virtual floors'. Sales engineer Matt Dykins said they were working on more installations and more applications of the system than ever before.

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>Three products were highlighted by Hall Stage. First up was the new BGV70 band hoist, a fully programmable, variable speed, load-sensing hoist designed for a variety of lifting purposes, including people flying. The band hoists don't have a clutch, so there are no components to wear out. Also on display was the new 2-channel infra red assistive listening system from Williams Sound, the TX925, as well as the innovative Hold-On clips, designed to hang and fix material without the need for eyelets. Very nice.
Doughty - Banner - ABTT (27 May - 5 June)

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>Award for Design Excellence

>Stage Technologies

>Visual Creator

Visual Creator brings sophisticated control of motion-through-time out of the realm of specialist applications and makes it available to all. The advantages of theatrical automation are clear. At the push of a button, a modern power flying system can move a substantial load from A to B with pinpoint accuracy time after time. But what about the movement along the way between A and B? To date, most flying systems have been unable to handle the sophisticated motion profiles through time that designers and directors imagine in their shows.

Visual Creator addresses this need: gauzes drifting in a breeze, an automated bouncing ball, an acrobat flying in 3D around the auditorium - all these effects and more can now be drawn as imagined and executed seamlessly with Stage Technologies' standard automation systems.

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UK - Drapes and rigging specialist Blackout was appointed by London based production house, GSP to help realize the set for the launch of Canon's new EOS 300D 6.3 mega pixel digital SLR camera. The event was staged at Sketch, the exclusive, mega-chic London creation of Mourad Mazous (of Momo) and Michelin chef Pierre Gagnai.

Blackout¹s project manager Kevin Monks collaborated with GSP's Jules Stevenson from the outset to design and build a blacked-out freestanding studio, where over 50 EOS 300Ds took centre stage. Suspended on tracks, they were deployed remotely to capture real-time effect images of the guests Matrix style.

The freestanding truss structure measured 10m x 8m, and was initially constructed to GSP's exacting specifications at Blackout's headquarters, before being rigged on site by the Blackout team. Dressed in black serge drape, the box totally excluded a

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UK - Columbus McKinnon displayed more new products at this year's PLASA exhibition than ever before. Recent optional upgrades to the ever-popular Lodestar electric chain hoist were being displayed for the first time. These include a double brake, which is available as either factory-fitted on new units or as a retrofit kit for existing owners. A direct control Lodestar, which has proven extremely popular since its launch earlier this year will also be available for inspection.

A CM manufactured variable speed Lodestar hoist, dubbed the Varistar will also be making its worldwide debut. This will be shown alongside a sample of the company's new BGV-C1 specification Lodestar hoist.

"Although Lodestars with these features are already available they are conversions of standard units made by end-users or our distributors" comments Adrian Forbes-Black, CM's regional manager

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Americas - Holland America's MS Oosterdam, the second of five planned Vista Class ships, joined her sister ship MS Zuiderdam on the high seas with a maiden voyage on 10 July 2003. Her first outing was a Viking and Czars themed cruise, highlighting major ports from London to Oslo. Her first transatlantic crossing will be from Lisbon to Fort Lauderdale in November 2003, after which she will begin sailing to Caribbean and Panama Canal destinations.

With a capacity for just 1848 passengers, Oosterdam has the highest passenger-to-space ratio of all Holland America ships giving a greater sense of intimacy yet maintaining the same elegance Holland America is known for. A unique feature of the ship is the exterior glass elevators with sea views that carry passengers to any of the 11 decks.

Nautilus Entertainment Design (NED) designed the systems in the entertainme

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UK - Following unprecedented interest during PLASA 2003 in Kinesys' Elevation 1+ variable speed chain hoist control system, and its special commendation at the PLASA Awards, Kinesys is delighted to announce that Lodestar conversion kits are now available for both the large body and small body sizes of CM Lodestar.

These conversion kits allow standard CM Lodestars to be run as full variable speed hoists while still allowing the hoists to be controlled, fixed speed, from a standard motor controller. The conversion kit upgrades all the wiring within the Lodestar and includes a new 24V transformer and a high-resolution encoder. A circuit board accommodates all the contactor and brake switching components; provision for circuitry to control silent DC brakes is also included ensuring a simple and cost-effective upgrade path. The conversion kit leaves the hoist fitted with a multi-way

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Norway - The Norwegian Theater in Oslo has taken delivery of a Visual Act Analog wagon system. The system includes two modular drive units which can power wagons of over 2000kg. The drive units are easily bolted to different constructions and will be used by the theatre both to move sets in repertory and automate scenic elements. The first use of the system will be a 9m revolve for the new musical Frendelaus by Øystein Wiik.

The system uses a dependable analogue radio system which is certified for the transportation of people. Servo-motors guarantee constant speed, independent of load, so that the motion of dancers on the Frendelaus revolve will not affect the movement of the floor.

(Lee Baldock)

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Russia - The Kremlin in Moscow has ordered 35 BGV-C1 chain hoists in the 500kg weight class from German manufacturer ChainMaster. The lifts are equipped with a position encoder and a ChainMaster control system comprising three switch servers combined with two operation desks. Parallel redundancy is assured by the presence of an additional manual controller, also from ChainMaster. The Kremlin order was placed by the Arlecchino Business Center in Moscow and the installation of the high-tech system is scheduled for the beginning of October.

For nine years, ChainMaster has been developing and manufacturing stage chain hoists and chain hoist controllers. The firm's current range covers chain hoists for weights ranging from 125kg to 12 tons. ChainMaster's most successful product worldwide is the VarioLift (which includes models for loads ranging from 125kg to 6,300kg) which was introd

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UK - Drapes and rigging specialist, Blackout was appointed by G2 Productions to help create a cinematic environment at the BMW Group's Oxford Plant, for exclusive preview screenings of the remake of The Italian Job. The screenings were attended by BMW personnel, including a fleet of Mini Coopers, just prior to the film's UK premiere on 12 September.Blackout's Chris Brain collaborated with G2's managing director, Andrew Owls to design and build a giant free-standing truss structure, which was clad in black wool-serge drape, excluded all light and contained the 1,000 capacity auditorium.

Blackout's team suspended the drape onto the truss and rigged the giant 60f x 25 ft screen supplied by Bell Theatre Services. Andrew Owles explained: "It was great working with Blackout - the team handled the project professionally from start to finish with great attention to detail. W

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UK - Expectations were high at the PLASA show that a detailed presentation concerning this vital set of Regulations would be delivered by representatives of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). However, policy makers from the HSE announced that the promised third draft of the Regulations, with its accompanying Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) and guidance material, would be delayed further - with the consultation period now scheduled for December 2003 through to April 2004.

Those who attended the seminar on the last day of the show were hoping to get an opportunity to discuss the application of the new Regulations and how their impact would affect the entertainment industry, but all that was on offer was a run-through of the existing proposed Regulations published in the last draft, which may or may not have some bearing on the final set of Regulations.

The delayed consult

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UK - News came in last night that a stage collapse left up to 20 people injured prior to a sing-along performance of The Sound of Music at Birmingham's Alexandra Theatre. The BBC news website reports that the temporary part of the stage covering the orchestra pit gave way when audience members were invited onto to the stage for a fancy dress competition. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive into the cause of the collapse has been launched today.

The Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham is an Edwardian Theatre with a seating capacity of 1,347. The theatre presents a variety of productions from pre- and post-West End productions to touring shows, opera, ballet, musicals and concerts.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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South Africa - A full lighting rig and ground support front-of-house truss system was supplied by M.J. Lighting to Rapid Blue, for South Africa's first series of The Weakest Link, which was shot at the Gallagher Estate auditorium during August 2003. M.J. Lighting's brief was to recreate the distinct visual feel of the original BBC programme.

The company's Francois van der Merwe oversaw the installation and reprogramming of the show on a dummy rig set up in the M.J. Lighting premises a week before the load-in to the Gallagher studio. A variety of fixtures was used on set, including six High End Systems Studio Colors, 13 High End Studio Spots, 11 Martin MAC 2000s, 11 custom-made Zip Strips, 2k Fresnel units, 5k softlights and eight 1k spots or 'Pups'. ETC Source Fours were used as key lights on each contestant, as well as on the quizmaster, Fiona Coyne. M.J.'s back-up Wholehog 2 w

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Europe - ADlite Productions and sister company Adlib Audio from Liverpool have supplied the sound, lighting and set to the current Fun Lovin' Criminals European tour. LD Stuart Gray has been working with the band for the last 14 months, during which time they have used ADLite and Adlib to supply all their technical production requirements. Fun Lovin' Criminals have been gigging constantly since last summer, but for their own tour they approached Gray for lighting design. As their name suggests, the band are renowned for their enjoyment of life and music and came up with the idea of having a real onstage bar as a set piece.

Gray developed three onstage scenic bars with fully working optics and drink mixing facilities. He utilized existing set elements from the ADlite warehouse, and created others with the help of Scenex from the Midlands, who made the bar fronts and mirrors. Them

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UK - Rola-Trac installed the ground protection required around the motor circuit at this year's Goodwood Revival festival, to ensure the site was not damaged by the vehicles and crowds. The Goodwood Revival runs for three days in September each year, celebrating the racing venue's active years of 1948-66, by re-enacting the races that once occurred there. This year 94,000 racing fans visited the event.

Each year owners of vehicles from the pre-1966 period descend on Goodwood to display their treasures for the first two days, when visitors can take a good look at the cars. For the owners there is also the business of winning, after two days of qualifying and warming up, the third and final day of the event offered some surprisingly competitive races around the circuit.

This year event was blessed with fine weather, which meant the ground remained very dry and the Rola-Trac gro

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UK - MJK Productions staged a spectacular production for the Mastercard MOBO (Music Of Black Origin) Awards 2003 at London's Royal Albert Hall on 25 September. The awards were dominated by 50 Cent, who picked up the honours for Best Hip Hop Act, Best Album and Best Single, while Justin Timberlake won Best R&B Act and Big Brovaz scored Best Newcomer.

Featuring many of the production team from the Mastercard BRIT awards, the MOBOs was directed for television by Julia Knowles and produced by Sharon Ali. MJK, for the eighth year since the event's début, were in charge of the live production and a team that included Britannia Row (audience sound), 021 (broadcast sound), VLPS (lighting), XL Video (video), Outback (rigging), Steel Monkey (set) and Eat Your Hearts Out (catering).

The show featured MJK's trademark five-minute changeovers between live performances, a substantial lighti

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UK - When television star Neil Morrissey was challenged to help a worthy cause for an upcoming ITV series With A Little Help from My Friends, pro audio distributor SCV London and staging and trussing specialist LiteStructures were among the companies he called on to help him complete the task. The voice behind Bob the Builder chose to help children's charity 'Kids Company' renovate a derelict community centre and wanted it to have a stage, so that kids could follow in his footsteps.

Morrissey called SCV London's marketing director, Steve McDonald, and asked him for a Fostex VF-160 Digital Multitracker for free. Steve was more than happy to give the Men Behaving Badly star the equipment to assist the charity, which works with deprived children. The Fostex VF-160 will be used to teach youngsters the elements of sound recording.

Morrissey also put in a call to LiteS

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UK - Milos Structural Systems' versatile X-Stage platform range has recently been enhanced with the introduction of a new Quick-Leg mechanism. The lightweight low-profile aluminium S2 deck system features a special leg receiver that enables either telescopic supports or standard 48.3mm scaffold tube legs to be quickly secured to the platform. A simple cam-lever locking mechanism enables legs to be securely fixed and easily removed from the standard S2 platform. The introduction of the new feature enables users to create low-cost fixed height platforms or risers using the standard 48.3mm material.

The X-Stage S2 platform is produced in 2m x 1m decks using a custom low-profile aluminium extrusion with a 22mm plywood surface. The deck, which is rated at 750kg per sq.m, weighs only 25kg and is just 100mm deep when stored making it extremely efficient for transportation, storage and

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UK - PCM has just completed the refurbishment of stage equipment at the Princess Hall in Aldershot, Wiltshire. T technical manager Kevin Andrew's request to PCM was to replace the theatre's ageing hemp and winch system with a new, quick-and-easy lifting solution that would allow the venue's busy technical team to capitalize on tight turnaround times.

The theatre stages all types of production, including classical to contemporary live music, theatrical productions, dance, musicals, cabaret, panto and comedy. Their busy schedule often sees four or five different shows going through in a week, all with different lighting and production requirements. PCM's projects manager Tony Griffiths spotted an opportunity to recommend the company's new Unibar - winner of the PLASA 2003 Award for Product Design Excellence in the Stage Engineering category.

The Unibar is ideal for this style

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UK - Ford of Britain hired design and communications company Imagination to produce six themed exhibition stands at Mela 2003. Mela, a culture and lifestyle show celebrating all aspects of life enjoyed by Asian Communities, took place at Wembley Exhibition Centre from 10-12 October with over 30,000 visitors attending. The event was divided into seven main areas relating to Asian culture: Lifestyle, Health & Beauty, Fashion, Weddings, Food, Business & Entertainment. Imagination created six exhibition stands heavily influenced by each subject zone. Each exhibition stand showed a relevant Ford vehicle, which was designed and decorated with an Asian theme. One car even had a bespoke oversized 'bindi' designed by leading bindi designer Manjeet Bedi (founder of Jazzy Bindi) attached to the front of the car bonnet.

Ford was one of the main sponsors of Mela 2003 and the all-encompassing

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UK - Star Rigging helped create the setting for the 2003 Disney Channel Kids' Awards at the Royal Albert Hall this September. The show featured live performances including the award winners Dannii Minogue (best female), Gareth Gates (best male) and Big Bruvvaz (best band).

Star Rigging, part of the newly-formed Star Events Group, was hired to create a structure for the show to centre around and provide an impressive setting for both the live and television audience, working alongside other contractors and the production team. Star Rigging's Phil Broad and Production North's Steve Levitt worked closely to realize Disney's ideas, developing a flying bungee stunt, which involved three aerial dancers from Cirque Bijou appearing from above the set and descending into a blaze of pyrotechnics.

Star Rigging brought all elements together, producing the detailed rigging plot required by

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UK - Milos Structural Systems has recently introduced new accessories to their CellClamps range with Slim Swivel Couplers to suit 48mm-51mm tubes. The components are based on the popular 30mm wide low-profile aluminium extrusion used on the CELL207/208 Slim Half Couplers. These clamps are ideal for use with truss systems as the narrow profile provides greater fixing positions than traditional profiles. All Milos Cell Clamps are finished to the highest specification and fully certified by RWTÜV for the assurance of quality, safety and reliability.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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UK - Rigging specialist Summit Steel supplied massive quantities of trussing and metalwork infrastructure for the Marks & Spencer Christmas Conference 2003 at ExCel in London's Docklands. The event was produced by Pci:Live and launched the 2003 in-store Christmas collections and sales strategies to 750 M&S store managers.

The rigging element of the production was co-ordinated by Summit's Jon Bray. Using over 1,100m of various Supertruss types and 120 chain hoists, Summit created two large presentation areas in different auditoriums, occupying 9,000sq.m within ExCel. Auditorium One incorporated raked seating for 750 and featured keynote speakers, a quintet of musicians, fashion shows with dance numbers, interviews and audience participation. Auditorium Two was a star-clothed dining room, which accommodated the black tie gala dinner and entertainment.

Summit's team of 10 riggers

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UK - Radio 1 has re-invented its approach to taking live events to its listeners this year, under the auspices of its live events manager, Dave McCalmont. He joined Radio 1 two years ago having previously worked with MCP/SFX. L&SI spoke to Dave after the final 'One Big Weekend' event in Cardiff, where 20,000 ticket holders got to see some of the world's leading DJs, as well as bands such as The Darkness, Travis and Dido.

Why change the format of your events?

We wanted to create events which would work within the overall festival calendar and still allow us to focus on our organization and promotion. We wanted to produce top-notch events that gave the public good, free entertainment that they couldn't get anywhere else. We were careful to place our three main shows across the summer months, starting in May in Manchester and finishing in September in Cardiff with the 'On

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  2. Rotating Visual act lifts for Spoonface Steinberg
  3. Showman's Show 2003 ready for business
  4. Earls Court and Unusual fined over H&S breach
  5. World Stage Design - Toronto 2005
  6. LiteStructures helps stage Newmarket Nights
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