Rigging / Staging

Details

14 March 2016

Last month alone Stage Technologies worked with the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, visiting their departments to give lectures and show them behind the scenes at the Royal Opera House and the Prince Edward Theatre.

Martin Hazlewood, lecturer at the Guildhall, comments: "Stage Technologies has been instrumental in providing this facility to enhance the student's knowledge and understanding of automation systems. Our program has been designed to expand and take the students forward into the comp

Details

14 March 2016

The 10,000-seater semi-permanent venue, designed and built by Arena Structures to Wembley's specifications was the first of its kind built in the UK. The venue had to comply with stringent permanent building regulations in order to deliver a temporary facility with the feel of a permanent venue, which could act as a music arena.

The TFS was adapted to ensure that all of the facilities required to host concerts were available, with Arena Structures incorporating additional structures alongside the main TFS to house toilets, concessions, bars and other concert facilities. All of these structures were placed on a specially designed platform, constructed using 18 miles of scaffolding.<

Details

14 March 2016

The project has been co-ordinated by Valley's Kids, a local charity working with children and young people in the area. The £2.4 million refurbishment of Capel Soar is a massive boost to Valley's Kids and a major step forward in offering interactive environments for learning, working and experiencing a range of activities from football and theatre to dance, cinema and everything in between.

Theatre Technical Consultant Iain Hill from Illusion International originally thought the roof aperture would be ideally suited to a CABLEnet system and put the idea forward. He's been involved with Valley's Kids for many years, and worked

Details

14 March 2016

Incorporating the historic structure of an early Victorian carriage works and old Electric Press Building, the new venue is part of a £12 million commercial development of bars, cafés and restaurants grouped around a glass-roofed courtyard. Replacing the existing Leeds Civic Theatre, The Carriage Works offers two performance spaces - the 350 seat main auditorium and a Studio Theatre - in addition rehearsal and conference/meeting facilities.

The project was managed for J&C Joel by Tony Griffiths, who comments: "J+C Joel were proud to play an active role in such a prestige city centre project."

J+C Joel manufactured and installed a full stage depth counterweight wall frame accommodating up to 37 counterwe

Details

14 March 2016

PLASA believes that the proposed tourist tax (dubbed the 'bed' tax) will hit this industry from both sides: not only will it put yet another financial burden on businesses in the entertainment, event and installation sectors where business-related travel accounts for a large part of their ongoing overheads, but it will almost certainly affect tourism revenues, which directly influence the financial performance of this industry.

Details

14 March 2016

Laslett explains: "Within the confines of the relatively small art deco Odeon cinema, I felt it important to produce a concept that would be in sympathy with and complement the existing architecture. The inclusion of a three dimensional steel framed voile spiral extending from within the confines of the stage out into the auditorium united both areas and at the same time gave the event greater scale and presence. With the addition of an internally lit curved staircase and a four metre bronze Bafta mask backed also with a combination of voile and mirrored panels the overall effect produced a very exiting and glamorous result.

Details

14 March 2016

The evening was staged in the Olympic Tae-Kwon-Do stadium on the outskirts of the city, between Athens and the port of Piraeus and was attended by 1,300 guests. The ground-supported trussing grid was used for rigging all stage lighting, video and audio equipment for the dinner and preceding presentation. The low structural weight loadings of the building ruled out flying, so a four legged ground support system was used, which had to be very wide to ensure that the two downstage legs didn't interfere with sightlines to the letter-box style set.

To achieve the adequa

Details

14 March 2016

Don Dimitroff of Columbus McKinnon coached participants through the Lodestar electric chain hoist. Rocky Paulson, recently retired president of Stage Rigging Inc, stressed safe rigging techniques, while Morgan Neff of Mine Safety Appliances gave instruction on proper use of fall protection equipment. Training was rounded out by Keith Bohn's truss class. The Tomcat Design Manager course covered truss design, use and theory.

Participants received four days of power-packed, informative classes

Details

14 March 2016

A free seminar programme runs across both days, with a range of sessions including an introduction to moving lights, information on the Bristol paint range and its use across film, television and theatre, a glimpse into the world of LED lighting, a history of dimmers, how to become a lighting designer and the use and abuse of chain hoists. Visitors will also be able to learn more about the latest technologies and their applications, and take the chance to have some focused discussions in a relaxed environment.

The work of students graduating from the RSAMD's BA Technical and Productions

Details

14 March 2016

The company now controls the greatest resource available in Scandinavia, consisting of staff, stages, audio, lighting, and transportation services for the music industry, and will soon be able to compete on the European market while maintaining a strong local prescence. United Audio / Starlight will remain represented throughout Sweden, with offices in Stockholm, Avesta, Gothenburg, and Malmo. "The new, nationally available equipment resource, combined with the high level of competence that h

Details

14 March 2016

As staging requests go, this one was fairly simple. A stage was needed that could be easily assembled, but also give a professional appearance. Metrodeck was the perfect system to replace their ageing chipboard stage. Affordable and simple, the Metrodeck could be quickly assembled by any member of the group to create a professional stage, and was also easy and quick to store.

The staging provided was used in conjunction with a trussing structure and drapes to create a self-sufficient proscenium-arch

Details

14 March 2016

The set features truss circles, including one 50ft OD medium duty circle, one 19.5ft OD medium duty circle plus one 16ft OD light duty circle. Tomcat also provided eight custom variable TAB connections for these circles and 32 custom motor pick-up brackets will help make a number of other lighting effects around those circles possible.

Speaking of lighting effects, eight custom 4ft x 6ft light frame pods will provide even more visual impact. These pods were manufactured with special tran

Details

14 March 2016

The unique and versatile Vortek Point is lightweight, self contained, portable and rugged, and ideal for theatrical and entertainment type applications, says the company.

Features include a speed and lifting capacity of 0 - 180 ft/min at up to 1200 lbs of lifting capacity or 0 - 90 ft/min at up to 1400 lbs of lifting capacity - with additional load/speed combinations available. A standard travel distance (for vertical and horizontal mounts) of 65 and 100 ft is available, and the wire rope is available in both 3/16" (5 mm) & 1/4" (6 mm) gauges.

Vortek Point Hoist modules can be attached to a single I-beam (replacing chain hoists), or wheeled to a position on the grid, with dual zero fleet angle lift lines droppi

Details

14 March 2016

Initially, Maltbury MD Philip Sparkes visited the church to assess the needs of the choir. Tiers were required, but they would have to fit neatly between the organ and choir stalls and take account of a marble altar platform at the back. The stage would also need to store compactly, as it would have to be kept in an outhouse behind the church when not in use. The requirements were very precise.

Frequent communication over two years produced a customised Metrodeck stage. The resulting tiers fit perfectly between the existing fixtures in the church, creating a fully demountable performance

Details

14 March 2016

The show's automation supplier Stage Technologies has been working with Delstar Engineering and Stage Services on this project to make a number of significant changes to the original control system to cater for the touring production. The challenging design modifications were necessary to create a transportable set and also adhere to restrictions on the removal of stage flooring in the receiving venues.

The magical flying car was previously flown by a large mechanical arm that raised the car through the stage floor. For this touring production t

Details

14 March 2016

In total, the cases hold 400 strips of iColor Cove. They are based on the popular 'Light Industrial' specification and were designed by 5 Star's Phil Lawrence working to a brief from RML's Steve Wells.

Light Industrial is becoming popular due to its expedient weight - made possible due to the carcass being constructed from 6mm plywood - and the strength is not compromised as the cases use the same basic fittings found on the heavier Industrial specification.

RML's black laminate exterior and full corporate branding were also part of 5 Star's brief. Each case houses 20 iColor units in two areas, one set of 10 in the base while a further 10 in a removable tray. Both areas of the case incorporated CNC r

Details

14 March 2016

Bruno Garros, general director of MPF had realised for some time that he needed to find a partner company to handle an increasing number of requests from clients to assist in selling their used equipment, freeing up vital capital, and allowing them to invest in brand new Martin equipment.

Garros says: "We looked at the market and knew if we were going to refer our customers to someone, we needed to find a partner who could represent us with a high degree of quality and professionalism. GearSourceEurope with their partner in the US, GearSource Inc. have almost four years experience selling used equipment from their highly developed

Details

14 March 2016

The client had an idea to recreate the atmosphere of his favourite nightclub, 'B.E.D' (located in Miami, USA), in a marquee in the grounds on their house. MLsoundadvice manager Gareth Jones originated the overall design based on obtaining descriptive 'key-words' from the client on their likes, dislikes and interests.

Drawing on his creative side, Jones's design solution included multi-level raised areas that turned into, and focused the guests' look towards the stage. The areas included a discrete 'bed' VIP area for the hosts, a second VIP area for family with contemporary furniture and a circular pink bar, all flanking a chequered dance floor. His technical expertise generated a real nightc

Details

14 March 2016

The world's press and a galaxy of VIP guests were invited to the bash on a private island off the coast of Bahrain. Oil lamps lit the way down a kilometre of carpet to the venue where everything Arabia is famous for was on show.

A Gearhouse team was in charge of technical production, and their producer, David Plail, brought in Vertigo Rigging to stage the dazzling entrance of a Red Bull Racing car and a Scuderia Toro Rosso machine, which swept through the air on hidden wires to arrive on stage as if on a magic carpet.

Vertigo was briefed to fly and track the two replica Formula 1 cars

Details

14 March 2016

The beacon is a light-box about two storeys high. Paul Hamilton, the technical manager for Berkeley Homes explains: "In consultation with the London Borough of Southwark we envisaged this representing a 'beacon of regeneration' for the area as a whole. Arup Lighting proposed and designed the barometer scheme and worked with Architainment Lighting, the UK distributor for Color Kinetics, to select the fixtures and the Pharos LPC to receive data triggers from the barometer."

The Pharos LPC controls the colour of the beacon depending on atmospheric pressure readings from a digit

Details

14 March 2016

The annual MusikMesse International Press Award ceremony (MIPA) now in its seventh year is one of the most anticipated events at MusikMesse; Europe's largest professional music industry tradeshow located in Frankfurt. MIPA is widely regarded as the most prestigious music industry awards with fifty eight magazines from all over the world nominating three products in each of forty categories before finally choosing each category winner.

Digidesign's ICON D-Control worksurface received the award for the best product of 2005/2006 in the Mixing Desk (High End) category beating other nominees AMS Neve88D and SSL AWS900. In the final awar

Details

14 March 2016

Stage Technologies will supply and install the complete stage automation system. This will be the first non Princess ship to be fitted with Stage Technologies second generation BigTow 2 winches and TanJent guidance system, which guides a fly bar through its travel from the upper to lower limit, not just the top half of the travel as often seen on board ships.

The stage will b

Details

14 March 2016

These speakers will be complemented by a number of international players - including Himanshu Burte from India, Sergio Pascolo from Italy, Martien van Goor, Louis Janssen and Gerbrand Borgdorff from the Netherlands, Gerry van Hezewyk from Canada and Duncan Webb, John Coyne and Peter Rosenbaum from the US. Representatives from many other countries will be involved in the debates and discussions about the form of auditoria, backstage facilities, uncomplicated spaces for drama, and theatre building on a budget. Present booking from overseas r

Details

14 March 2016

In addition to being asked to review the document t