City Theatrical is no stranger to Mary Poppins. Its WDS Wireless Data System is already providing wireless control to the Broadway production, but the new tour sees the first large scale use in the UK of their SHoW DMX system. City Theatrical provided one transmitter and a total of seven receivers to the production: Two mounted in trucked scenic pieces, four mounted on tracking sliders and the final receiver providing DMX to a large flown 'attic' piece.
Of all the pieces, the four tracking sliders are the most interesting elements. These tall translucent panels are internally lit by custom HELL RGB LED strips. The scenic design calls for the panels to be able to cross over completely from one side of the stage to the other, passing each other with minimal clearance. Because of these demands, a cabled solution was quickly ruled out, and a decision was made to go with battery power and wireless DMX control.
Mounted at the top of each panel is a slim battery pack and LED control unit by HELL, and a City Theatrical SHoW DMX receiver providing DMX control. It wasn't just the wireless DMX control that attracted HELL to SHoW DMX, it's built in RDM capability was also a major deciding factor, says the company.
RDM stands for 'Remote Device Management', a new extension to the DMX standard which allows compliant equipment to talk back to a controller. Martin Chisnall of City Theatrical's London office says: "Howard Eaton Lighting is on the cutting edge of RDM, and City Theatrical's SHoW DMX is the world's only example of wireless RDM, so it seemed only natural that the two companies should bring their respective technologies together.
"For the first time it's possible to read the voltage of all of the LED battery packs via the built in RDM monitor in the SHoW DMX transmitter. This is an excellent example of the capabilities of RDM."
Mary Poppins is currently at The Hippodrome Theatre, Birmingham, and moves to The Playhouse Theatre, Edinburgh this autumn. SHoW DMX will be on the City Theatrical stand at PLASA 08.
(Jim Evans)
