Kinesys for American Idiot Copenhagen
- Details
Benjamin La Cour’s acclaimed raw, stark scenography features three large scenic ‘slabs’ of concrete which lift, tilt and elevate to change the shape and architecture of the stage throughout the performance. They form a floor, a ceiling and several other shapes and spaces as the punky attitudinal sung-through action unfolds.
In terms of visuality, these three set pieces fundamentally define the look and feel of the piece directed and choreographed by Tim Zimmerman.
The three slabs each measure 8 x 4m and are suspended by four half-tonne Liftket vari-speed hoists fitted with Kinesys Elevation 1+ drives - capable of running up to 24 metres-a-minute. Each piece weighs around 900 Kgs and is picked up from the four points located about a metre from either end.
The undersides of the slabs are graduated, mirroring the shape of the stage below, with which the undersides ‘mate’ when in the down position.
The Kinesys system is being supplied to the production by Riggingworks Sweden (RWS) from Stockholm, run by John ‘Jonnymac’ McDonough, and is being operated on site by Roger Smissen.
The 12 dynamic points are being monitored via a Kinesys LibraCELL / LibraPRO system, together with the six static points that are partly suspending the production mother grid on Lodestar D8 Motors.
The grid was installed into the venue to enable the creative team to leverage every possible centimetre of headroom and available space in the historic venue, which dates back to 1891 and features a full original wooden frame superstructure.
The main challenges of the installation have included fitting the ambitious and awesome looking design into the space.
The mother grid comprises two upstage / downstage trusses each suspended by two 1-tonne D8 motors plus a dead-hung point in the middle. All six are fitted with LibraCELLs.
The upstage edges of the grid are also landed on a ground-supported scaffolding structure serving as the band platform, gaining the last additional elements of weight loading needed to support the upstage lighting trusses.
The grid is fitted tight to the roof-space – which curves elegantly with the contours of the room - with the motor chains run in almost to their full length.
Two cross-stage trusses rest on top of the mother grid, each supporting six of the 12 Kinesys Liftket (moving) motor points. The last one on each side is cantilevered on the offstage edge of the mother-grid to gain maximum height as the roof starts to slope downwards.
The LibraCELL information all feeds into the PDU and then into the Vector computer, so Roger can quickly and easily check and keep an eye on the state of the system there, as well as observing it on the dedicated LibraWATCH app.
The LibraWATCH app also shows the dynamic loading and gives minimum / maximum readings for the weight on each point across the whole show.
Kinesys was initially proposed as a solution for this production by Roger who was brought on-board by production manager Rasmus Haar – they previously worked together on We Will Rock You in Copenhagen earlier in the year. Kinesys is Roger’s go-to automation choice, and he in turn asked RWS to supply the kit.
(Jim Evans)
