Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

Rigging / Staging

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USA / India / Nigeria - Sussex-based LM Productions report a string of recent international projects. Firstly, continuing its 'Live It, Love It' campaign, the Hong Kong Tourism Board contracted LM Productions LLP for their first StratoFantasia event in the USA. The event took place in San Francisco over two days with the main focal point of the multimedia show being LM Productions 50ft (15m) diameter StratoSphere, with a new internal blackout dome, which allows the StratoSphere to be used as a venue with internal projection during the day. This is made possible by the blackout dome being inflated inside the StratoSphere, thus providing a cover from the light outside. The event contained elements of live performances from musicians and dancers as well as full dome video and laser effects inside the StratoSphere. There was a steady stream of people viewing the shows, which started e

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UK - The new Roll Storage Cart from British Harlequin is designed to ease the problems of safe storage and easy handling of rolls of vinyl flooring for dance and performance spaces. With Harlequin's popular dance flooring widely used for temporary applications, where the floor is rolled out to provide a suitable performance surface, then stored away or transported to a new venue, the new Roll Storage Cart will both speed up the process and provide a compact and safe storage facility.

The newly designed cart holds up to 10 rolls of Harlequin Studio flooring each 1.5m long and carts have already supplied to The Oslo National College of Arts and to Tanztendenz, a choreographic centre in Munich. Elsewhere, three larger Storage Carts, each suitable for storing 2m long Harlequin Cascade rolls, have been delivered to the Centre National de la Danse in Pantin, Paris.

(Lee Baldock)

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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UK - Northern Light has announced a number of changes to its operation to allow it to concentrate on its core business, which the company reports is currently expanding. The company says the changes will allow further development of its project installation, engineering and manufacturing divisions, which are currently handling some 30 projects throughout the UK - including the new Gateshead Music Centre, Newcastle College Performance Academy, Perth Concert Hall and the Tally Ho Arts Centre at Finchley in North London.

The Reading office will close at the end of March and all matters relating to overseas sales will now be referred to the head office in Edinburgh. Derek Gilbert will continue to work with the company as a consultant. The Audio Visual arm of Northern Light, based at Reading and known as Immedia, will close and all AV contracts and sales will be handled through Immed

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UK - Currently breaking box office records at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Trevor Nunn's acclaimed National Theatre production of the Cole Porter musical comedy Anything Goes has extended its booking period yet again. Having recently transferred to the West End, the production originally opened in the Olivier Theatre at the National where it picked up the prestigious 2003 Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production.

Set design is particularly impressive, with the Theatre Royal Drury Lane - one of London's largest stages - filled with John Gunter's recreation of an Atlantic liner. Since the production's transfer, Stage Technologies has taken over the automation for the show, providing revolve and a hand-held Saxis controller.

Since its launch last year, the Saxis has proved a popular addition to the rental department, having already been used to control si

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UK - When Walker Dance Park Music were invited to perform their unique style of dance at British Dance Edition 2004 in Cambridge, it was British Harlequin's Allegro flooring that organizers Dance East requested to convert a wooden concert stage into a suitable dance floor. Described as a 'distinct marriage of music and dance' Walker Dance Park Music, an associate company of the Royal Opera House, presented Silence of the Soul at the West Road Concert Hall in a performance sponsored by British Harlequin at BDE 2004.

Harlequin's Allegro floor, especially developed for such situations, is the thickest roll-out floor currently available and offers high quality protection against hard sub-floors, such as concrete, to provide a 'semi-sprung' dance floor. Allegro can be used as a loose lay floor that is tough, that always lays flat and provides an excellent dance surface to hel

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Germany - ChainMaster Bühnentechnik is set to significantly heighten its profile at trade shows both inside and outside Germany in order to improve communication with contractors and others interested in its products, the company reports.

As well as attending a greater number of trade shows, the company will also increase its stand size at the ProLight & Sound (Hall 8.0 Booth F74) in Frankfurt by 40%. As Frank Hartung, ChainMaster's managing director, explained: "We want to be able to show our chain hoists and chain hoist controllers in action, whilst at the same time retaining enough room to conduct an unhurried dialogue with our customers in comfort. This was not possible with the booth design we had before."

This year, ChainMaster is presenting a new-look catalogue at ProLight&Sound, and will be demonstrating not only the highly successful BGV C1 chain hoists, V

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UK - PCM's Projects team has been embracing education again - this time around in an interesting installation at the City of Norwich School, where the company designed and specified a bespoke trussing flying system for the school's assembly hall, which dates back to 1910. PCM's project team of Tony Griffiths and Tony Dickson - along with Pfaff Silberblau's Pete Ashford - worked closely with locally based lighting and sound installers Embee Lighting, led by Mark Bailey. As a specialist supplier, Embee was asked by the School's buildings contractor Environ Ltd (formally ABB), to tender for the supply and install of new lighting and sound equipment for the hall. The idea was to transform the limited-use hall into a multi-purpose venue.

The hall's voluminous roof void was an obvious 'dead' space to try and utilize in the name of technical production. However, the roof had no weight

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UK - Many schools would be glad of a hall as spacious as that at Cavendish School, Eastbourne. However, director of Arts Bruce Sibley was finding the old-style high stage and proscenium arch layout restrictive. He wanted a more flexible environment, in which traditional end-on productions could be mixed with in-the-round or traverse performances. He also wanted to be able to raise either the performers or the audience - or both.

Sibley contacted staging specialist Maltbury Ltd who visited the school and discussed the options. The versatile Metrodeck system was chosen and Maltbury drew up a detailed package of equipment. Maltbury supplied 60 Metrodeck units, a carefully selected range of legs, 36 handrails and storage solutions for everything. As a result, the school can raise an area of 120sq.m or build tiers seating 232 people - not to mention countless combinations of the two

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Germany / Italy - German chain hoist manufacturer Chainmaster Bühnentechnik will again this year be presenting its products at the SIB exhibition in Rimini, Italy, in conjunction with its Italian distribution partner, Risam for Show srl of Cologno Monzese, as part of its continuing aim to develop contact with customers and others interested in its products.

This year, ChainMaster will be introducing its new-look catalogue at SIB, as well as demonstrating not only the highly successful BGV C1 chain hoists, VarioLifts and VarioTrolleys but also its latest software solutions for the control of stage equipment.

Chainmaster can be found at SIB on Booth 087, Hall A5.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - On Saturday 28 February, the entrance of LAMDA in West London was festooned with balloons to welcome guests to a joint celebration of Triple E's 20th anniversary and managing director David Edelstein's birthday. As a past student of the Academy, Edelstein's connections continue to this day, with Triple E last year providing curtain and tracking for five of the rehearsal studios at LAMDA. The black box studio was transformed for the evening with the addition of a stage, complete with trussing, tracking and lighting, and colleagues from all areas of the entertainment industry - technicians, theatre consultants and acousticians, and colleagues from the ABTT - joined with family and friends for an evening of conversation and good wine. While the food was definitely 21st century, the entertainment was designed to take people back to their youth - The Upbeat Beatles made the evenin

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USA - Industry veterans Gary Mass and Nick Freed have teamed up with Gear-Source president Marcel Fairbairn to form a new venture - Rental-Source - modeled in part after Fairbairn's successful web-based business, Gear Source. Rental-Source will serve today's production needs with a 'single source' method of locating production equipment of all types.

With backgrounds in manufacturing and production, managing partners Gary Mass and Nick Freed will head efforts to solve the many man-hours spent sourcing equipment for production purposes. Working in tune with an extensive worldwide vendor base and an easy-to-use web design for locating the most cost-effective, and logistically suitable rental equipment, Rental-Source promises to ease the ever-growing process of completing a production.

"Over the past 10 years or so, we've noticed an incredible incline in the need for product

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UK - A new morning TV show, OK!TV, made in conjunction with OK magazine and presented by Ronan Keating and Gail Porter, made its debut on ITV 1 on 16 January. Running in place of This Morning for the duration of half-term week, the producers knew that the audience would differ, with children and students tuning in as well as their usual viewers, and so the 'look' of the set had to reflect this difference.

Arts director Anthony Cartlidge explained: "We really wanted to make the viewers realize that although they were tuning in to the same channel and the same time slot, OK!TV is very different from This Morning. We have a 'bar' area where presenters and guests can sit and chat casually, a soft seating area, a performance space and a fashion runway which is built using LiteStructures ChromaDeck."

ChromaDeck combines the strength of LiteDeck

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UK - In a bold move likely to impact on the region for years to come, the management of Cheltenham Racecourse has decided to go 'all out' in their development programme with the construction of a flagship new 4,000-capacity entertainment venue - The Centaur at Cheltenham.

The Centaur is a multi-purpose indoor venue, and ranks as one of the most modern and flexible entertainment centres in the South West of England. The response to initial marketing of the arena has been quite remarkable, and the bookings diary is already looking extremely busy for the next 24 months.

This purpose-built auditorium can accommodate 2,200 people seated and 4,000 standing. The state-of-the-art LiteDeck staging system from LiteStructures forms the basis for a variety of function layouts, ranging from sporting events and concerts, to conferences and exhibitions.

Peter Allison, technical manager for

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UK - ELP recently installed a temporary theatre grid into The Royal Festival Hall (RFH) which the company says will significantly improve rigging efficiency for touring theatre productions.

Although normally a concert platform, with no proscenium arch or flying grid, the RFH does host traditional theatre, including recent productions of The Nutcracker and Swan Lake by Russia's Stanislavski Ballet. Typically, rigging contractors are brought in to transform the hall into a working proscenium arch theatre, with a flying grid and track system for moving scenery and lighting during performances.

However, ELP's MD Ronan Willson, AutoCAD specialist Tim Williamson and project manager Toby Dare came up with a unique approach which eliminated most of the problems encountered by previous systems.

A Supertruss structure, interlaced with a series of aluminium 'I' beams, increased the he

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UK - Continuity was the key to this year's BRITs, with the familiar and experienced production teams brought in once again by producer Mick Kluczynski of MJK Productions to create what was perhaps the slickest BRITs show to date. Presented by Cat Deeley, the show included performances from Black Eyed Peas, The Darkness (who stole the show with three awards) and 50 Cent, as well as a duet of the Cure's 'Lovecats' from newcomer Katie Melua and jazz sex-thimble Jamie Cullum.

Sound

The hugely experienced Derrick Zieba was brought in again by MJK to design and co-ordinate the sound system. Also returning to the fray, Britannia Row Productions provided the sound and co-designed the system with Zieba, this year fielding an EV X-line speaker system. Zieba has been an enthusiastic user of Yamaha mixing desks for many years and was one of the first designers to make the transiti

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Italy - Proel S.p.A. export department has recently been expanded with the arrival of Stephen Smith as technical sales support for the Sound Reinforcement and Lighting product divisions. UK born but living in Italy for the past seven years, Steve has a degree in Psychology at BSc level. In Italy he has gained a wide range of experience working with P.A. and lighting rental companies, participating in several European and World tours as well as many local live and television productions.

His jobs have included collaborations with: MTV Italia 'Supersonic'- (a live program which has hosted important international artists such as REM, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mana, Alanis Morrissette and The Cranberries) and numerous other festivals.

His work has mainly involved mixing sound both on stage and FOH and as backline/ stage technician although he also has experience as a production elect

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UK - Stage engineering and automation specialists Stage Technologies was recently presented with the official grant and emblem for the Queen's award for enterprise. The company was granted the award last April for excellence in the International Trade category and was officially presented with the accolade on behalf of her Majesty The Queen by Colonel Kay OBE, TD DL.

Originally introduced in 1996 The Queen's Award for Enterprise is one of the most highly competitive and sought after accolades a UK business can achieve. Thousands of applicants from some of the most successful businesses in every industry apply for an award but only a few achieve a high enough standard to warrant such an honour.

Mark Ager and John Hastie founded Stage Technologies in 1994 with a mission to develop and supply theatres and entertainment venues internationally with computer-controlled systems to mo

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UK/Romania/Germany - As a result of increased business in mainland Europe, together with steady growth in its custom design and build operation in the UK, LiteStructures has announced the formation of a joint venture manufacturing operation in Romania, LiteStructures RO. Based in Slatina, 200km west of Bucharest, LiteStructures RO will manufacture a range of standard aluminium products, principally for sale in Germany and Central Europe, including two of its brand leading truss products, AstraLite and LitePro.

Adrian Brooks, managing director of LiteStructures in the UK and chairman of LiteStructures RO, said: "We have a highly skilled workforce in Wakefield and the factory has benefited from significant investment over the past two years. Manufacturing standard products in Romania means that the UK operation will be able to concentrate on higher margin, specialist construc

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UK - Drapes and rigging specialists Blackout announces the launch of a new website. Designed by London based Orangutan Design, the visually engaging virtual environment is a comprehensive overview of the company's range of products and services, complete with user-friendly navigation system.

Homepage links provide detailed information on Blackout's exhibitions and corporate events services, themed environment creation, parties and permanent Installations. Each section is energized with a mix of HTML text, high-res photos and subtle use of Flash animation giving online visitors a first-hand impression of Blackout's extensive creative and practical capabilities for all types of events.

The Products section provides details of Blackout's vast range of drapes, materials, rigging and effects, together with a wealth of information including charts showing colour, types and sizes of

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UK - Atomic Kitten's recent tour - which kicked off at the Plymouth Pavilions on 18 February and closed at the Ice Arena in Hull on 11 March - was suitably geared to ensuring a memorable performance, with much of the glitz and glamour added with a selection of staging from LiteStructures. Working for Productions North, LiteStructures has provided a range of rental and custom-manufactured products including industry standard LiteDeck staging plus bespoke staircases and ramps.

Steve Levitt, director at Productions North explained: "We approached the team at LiteStructures with some sketches, which were a combination of our ideas and those of the girls in the band, and they quickly turned the drawings into CAD designs. We wanted this stage to look very feminine and glamorous and as such LiteStructures manufactured two staircases, one a centre staircase and the other positioned

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USA - Tomcat US celebrated 12 years of in depth industry training courses with another successful Hoist and Rigging Workshop in Midland, Texas. Top-notch instructors and 83 industry professional participants from all over the United States, the United Kingdom and Puerto Rico attended.

Don Dimitroff of Columbus McKinnon, as well as TOMCAT's own Dave Beard, coached participants through the Lodestar electric chain hoist. Rocky Paulson of Stage Rigging Inc. a Freeman Company and Morgan Neff of Mine Safety Appliances stressed safety in rigging techniques and fall protection equipment while Keith Bohn, Tomcat design manager, and Will Todd, Tomcat project manager, offered a course in truss theory and design. Not only did participants receive four days of power-packed, informative classes, but also four nights of fun filled entertainment, including the traditional factory night at Tomca

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USA - London-based automation specialist Stage Technologies will collect a Staging and Projection Product of the year EDDY award from Entertainment Design magazine, when the awards are presented in New York in June. Judges singled out the company's latest software innovation - Visual Creator commenting that it is "remarkably intuitive and greatly expands the notion of what can be moved where on stage."

Visual Creator is an advancement of the award winning Pathway technology that was used to create the spectacular flying effects in the The Witches of Eastwick, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Millennium Dome. The latest in software design architecture, this motion design tool allows two- and three-dimensional effects to be drawn as imagined. Combined with position maps and profiles this new software makes the previously complex task of calculating cues a thing of

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UK - The participation by María Pagés in the first ever flamenco festival to be held in London was also a first in the use of a Harlequin Liberty floor for this form of dance. Recognized as one of the leading innovators in the development and redefinition of modern flamenco, María Pagés and her company of dancers performed 'Flamenco Republic', 'Bulerias and 'El Perro Andaluz' as part of the recent Sadler's Wells flamenco festival.

As a leading exponent of modern flamenco, María Pagés had been searching to replace traditional 12mm plywood flooring with a new type of floor that could offer the purity of sound demanded, and at the same time reduce physical stress on the dancers. Patrick Lesage from Harlequin International already had an idea that Harlequin Liberty floor could provide a modern solution to this problem and discussions were opened at the company's studios in Tor

  1. Tower Productions open new hire facility
  2. Stage Technologies on tour with Britney
  3. Prolyte's modular training programme
  4. 3D symbols available from Prolyte
  5. Roadcases calls for touring memories
  6. Decima
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Astera - Large MPU - June 2025
Sennheiser - MPU - June 2025

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