Rigging / Staging

Tomcat

Details: 14 March 2016

Swing-wing trussing has been with us for a while, but Tomcat has taken the concept further, combining load strength of over 3000kg UDL on a 12m span. Designed primarily to carry a variety of moving lights, fix points are also available for conventional lamps. Brilliant Stages shared the stand and had refined its Dek product to a lighter variant called Dekex. A weld-less extruded aluminium deck frame houses all the usual convenient fittings; an 8ft x 4ft section weighs just 40kg, yet on six legs supports 560kg per sq.m. One for the educational market.

Stage Technologies

Details: 14 March 2016

Stage Technologies showed its rental kit for the first time aimed at small-scale, short-term rentals. The company has been busy with projects including a recent fixed installation in the Aberdeen Music Hall, where it was required to provide an infrastructure to protect the building for refurbishment purposes.

City Theatrical

Details: 14 March 2016

City Theatrical, exclusively distributor of A.C.T Enterprises Inc, was showing its new device to hang moving lights from. The simple, inexpensive and versatile piece of hardware allows moving lights to be hung on the truss where the designer intends and not where the truss dictates. The newest members of the WDS family - the wireless Rx2 DMX receiver and OEM wireless DMX receiver - were also attracting attention.

SET

Details: 14 March 2016

Advanced Rigging Motion Pro is the latest product from German company SET (Scenic Event Technology). Designed typically to control any motion control equipment, chain hoists, electric fly bars, wire winches, the most attractive feature of this Windows-based software is the communications system for relaying data and commands to the various devices - namely Ethernet via Cat 5 cable, which greatly affects costs. The system complies with the latest German safety regulations DIN 56921 and 56925 as well as DIN-V-19250.

Serapid

Details: 14 March 2016

A specialist manufacturer, Serapid produce chain-driven devices for vertical lift and horizontal motion of stages and dollies. A rigid product - inasmuch as when lined up vertically the chain links rigidise into structural support towers - the Serapid chain drive is available in five lift sizes providing motion for loads up to 10 tons, lifting 7m vertical.

Lift-Turn-Move (LTM)

Details: 14 March 2016

LTM, the new company formed by John Jones and Dave King - previously of PCM - was launched with a champagne breakfast on the Sunday morning. Jones reported that he thought PLASA was the ideal environment for the launch, with the whole industry before them, and that they enjoyed a very busy show.

Gala Systems Inc

Details: 14 March 2016

Hubert Dubeau from Gala Systems said the company was on a fact-finding mission to discover what clients need from them. New Spiralift technology is in development, with plans for an October launch.

Eurotruss

Details: 14 March 2016

Exhibiting at PLASA for the first time in five years was Eurotruss, manufacturer of aluminium trussing. Technical director Henk Tiekstra said the company was looking for a UK distributor and had realized what an important show PLASA was for reaching established clients and potential customers.

Rose Brand

Details: 14 March 2016

American company Rose Brand, a supplier of fabric and custom-sewn goods, was at PLASA for the first time. Josh Jacobstein said the company was hoping to give visitors to PLASA a taste of products they might not be familiar with and reactions from visitors were extremely favourable. Triple E was sharing the stand and showing its interactive quotation software for Triple E track systems.

Steeldeck Sales

Details: 14 March 2016

Steeldeck Sales had a busy show with a steady stream of potential customers. The company was showcasing work it has undertaken and also showing its refinements on the knob used to lock components together - making assembly easier.

Mobiltech

Details: 14 March 2016

New stands from Mobiltech include the APLtek 5500 and 6500. Equipped with the KBS key block system and low loading, these can be used on uneven ground and have one leg that can rest up against a wall. The SpTEK wind-up stands are now available in black.

Slingco

Details: 14 March 2016

Slingco was again showing its revolutionary Cablenet 'virtual floor'. Strong enough to hold the weight of technicians, the floors are virtually invisible from ground level and cast no shadow.

Chainmaster

Details: 14 March 2016

An upgrade to its hoist control software saw Chainmaster refining a well-liked product. More significantly with BGV D8, the rigging standard for hoisted loads above the public, Chainmaster now offers a retrofit double-brake assembly for all its hoists. (BGV D8 allows for 50% rated load above the public, provided the hoist is double-braked).

Prolyte

Details: 14 March 2016

The new Prolyft hoist from Prolyte is a range of chain hoists with a built-in scannable code device that enables users to data track their equipment for servicing and utilization. Also new, Prolyte Barrier is a lightweight crowd control barrier. Just 35kg per 1m section, it has a simple interlock and folds totally flat for storage.

Maltbury

Details: 14 March 2016

Staging specialist Maltbury showed a prototype of its new Steeldeck Ultra, which it claims is a lighter product with all the strength of Steeldeck. Other Maltbury products on its expediently-sized stand included Metrodeck, Metrodeck Ultra and the industry standard Steeldeck.

LiteStructures

Details: 14 March 2016

On the product front, LiteStructures offered a new self-climbing truss tower, the LP4 Climbing Leg. Designed for LiteStructure's LP4 trussing, the tower will climb to 8m and carries up to a ton; hand-winch or electric versions are available. XLite Deck is a lighter weight version of Lite Deck using a lower profile and giving a lesser loading. Xlite supports 5kN/sq.m as opposed to the 7.7kN/sq.m of its stronger cousin. LiteStrutures also displayed an architect's model of its new rehearsal facility, due to open this autumn.

Doughty Engineering

Details: 14 March 2016

It was good to see a company specializing in 'non-sexy' products, like Doughty Engineering, having such a busy stand throughout the show. As well as promoting its new catalogue, a range of new products including barrel trolleys, a new heavy duty pulley range, a pantograph-style light hoist, a slimline Quick Trigger clamp for those times when you need to squeeze a fixture hard up against the end of a pipe or truss, and finally, a new barrel trolley system designed to operate on top of standard rigging pipe.

Stage Technologies in action with Festen

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - Currently one of the most talked-about shows in the West End, Festen has enjoyed good reviews from the critics since transferring to the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, after its successful sell-out run at the Almeida earlier in the year. This stage adaptation of the 1998 Dogma film, directed by Rufus Norris, succeeds superbly in portraying an immensely powerful script with a minimal set designed by Ian MacNeil. Using merely a dining table and double bed, MacNeil has created two symbolic environments that are automated to flow effortlessly between the two as the story unfolds and intensifies.

Stage Technologies' Maxis control system and BigTow winches enabled Tom King (the show's automation operator) to achieve the desired effects needed for this sensitive show without detracting from the intimacy of the performance. After two years as a technical operator King is using

Shark Tale Premieres

Details: 14 March 2016

Italy - The premiere of Shark Tale - Dreamworks' and distributor UIP's latest animated creation - was staged in spectacular style in Venice's historic Piazza San Marco (St Mark's Square) as part of the 2004 Venice Film Festival. Show producers Bob Collins and Sean Glen of Me3 Productions from California brought in UK-based technical production specialist Andy Peat Associates and Venetian production company TESE to realize this major feat of technical production.

This is the first time a show of this nature has been granted permission to take place in the Piazza San Marco, a world heritage site and home to thousands of pigeons. The audience was joined by the film's star 'voice-over talent' including Will Smith, Robert de Niro and Angelina Jolie, along with the film's producers and directors. In addition to the 500 VIPs, approximately 5,500 local guests also enjoyed the evening - free -

Kinesys at the NIA

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - Automation specialist Kinesys has completed the design, specification, and installation of a new automation system for the mother grid at the National Indoor Arena (NIA) in Birmingham. According to Kinesys, this makes the NIA one of the safest and most flexible venues for rigging in the UK.

With an increasingly diverse schedule of events, the hall's rigging upgrade was prompted primarily by general health and safety concerns. Working closely with the venue's head of rigging Paul Rowlands and rigging and motor supplier Bridgehouse, Kinesys' Dave Weatherhead devised a customized control system to the venue's initial brief.

A major challenge was that all Kinesys' distro racks, patchbays and control gear had to be mounted within the grid itself. This was for neatness and to minimize cable runs, for which Kinesys also developed a series of customized cable trays that run neatly with

Canegreen train up at Brixton Academy

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - London's Brixton Academy was the location for Canegreen's recent free training day. As a leading supplier of professional sound reinforcement in the UK, Canegreen said they realized the value of investing in a training day set to equip freelancers with the necessary skills required to match the company's demands.

Richard Martin and Pete Hughes with MD Yan Stile developed the idea. Experienced members of Canegreen's staff taught the next generation of staff and freelancers the skills required to work safely and efficiently at events. Focusing on line-array rigging, attendees gained an understanding of the processes involved in setting up events, from opening the back of the lorry and loading in, to rigging line-array speaker systems, de-rigging and loading out. Some attendees used the day as a refresher course, whilst others used it to advance their basic skills. The day allowed pe

ELP upgrades at Queen Elizabeth Hall

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - The Queen Elizabeth Hall on London's south bank has been closed for much of this summer whilst undergoing a substantial refurbishment programme. The stage area in particular required a major overhaul and has undergone significant modernisation. ELP were brought in to strip out the old rigging structures and install a brand new, high spec rig.

"We were well placed to take the job on" explains ELP project manager Toby Dare "as we already provide all the rigging services for the Royal Festival Hall next door. We proposed and designed a new grid system for the QEH which would be flexible enough to accommodate the diverse range of productions the Hall now caters for. These now vary from orchestral performances, through to theatre, circus and modern dance."

Over a six-week period, (from the end of July to early September 2004) the ELP crew stripped out all

Fried Buttstedt of XLNT Advanced Technologies and Vertigo Rigging director Rebecca Loughran with the PLASA Award for Innovation

Vertigo signs for XLNT Advanced Technologies

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - The PLASA award-winning InMotion 3D / CyberHoist motion control system is set for a strong UK presence following an announcement today that Vertigo Rigging, the rigging and height access specialists, has become the UK Service Point for the InMotion 3D motion control system by XLNT Advanced Technologies. The system won a PLASA Award for Innovation at the PLASA Show last month in conjunction with the CyberHoist intelligent motor by Verlinde and the DataMotion and PowerMotion system components from XLNT.

Vertigo director Rebecca Loughran said: "Designers in all environments are embracing the vast possibilities this technology can deliver. For Technical Managers the time saving advantages, reliability and unbeatable VGB-C1 safety standard, are making this the 'must have' motion control system for the professional entertainment industry."

The UK Service Point will pr

American DJ launches Dura Truss

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - American DJ has announced the launch of its Dura Truss System, which it says is an extremely durable new gig rig for DJs, bands and mobile entertainers, supporting up to 300lb of lighting fixtures.

Consisting of two 5-foot sections of triangular trussing and two crank stands, the company says the Dura Truss System is easy to set up and take down, while the steel truss tubing is small, keeping the system lightweight and transportable at just 85lb unloaded. Quick Release pins allow for fast assembly without the use of clamps, so the system can be up and running in a snap.

The system is designed to be safe and secure and all lighting fixtures can be bolted directly to the truss via the available mounting holes. The crank stands are designed not to tip over if someone accidentally bumps into the rig. Suggested retail price is $439.95.

(Mike Lethby)

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