The doors - positioned stage left and stage right - each measure 7.73m high by 6m wide and open and close to allow set trucks with giant heads of the singer to enter and exit the stage.
Kinesys was contacted by the tour's set technical manager Nick Evans and head rigger Jerry Hough and asked to come up with a neat and safe automation solution for quickly opening and closing the doors - that had been mechanically engineered by Tait.
The particular challenge with operating these doors is they are required to tilt back 6 degrees before raising 7m to fully open.
The mechanics of the system were designed and engineered by Tait's Pieter Denijs and Jerry Hough and features a counterweight system driven by Kinesys Elevation vari-speed hoists to lift the doors and linear actuators to operate the tilt mechanism driven by Kinesys Evo drives.
This theatrical style approach utilising counterweights means less force is needed to move the doors, which each weigh over 2 tonnes ... and can open or close in around 25 seconds.
The back wall itself is constructed from LED-integrated polycarbonate panels incorporating 18,000 of Tait's Pixel Tablets.
Hough specifically wanted a really simple handset to control the door movement with just 'open' and 'close' buttons "Similar to a warehouse door".
The custom control system devised by Kinesys combines the actuator movement to tilt the door back with the Elevation hoist lifting operation into a single open and close sequence.
The spectacular Take The Crown set was conceived by artistic director and lighting designer Willie Williams and stage architect the late Mark Fisher. The show is produced by Lee Lodge and being production managed by Wob Roberts.
(Jim Evans)
