During his career at the Royal Opera House, Jeff worked with Paul on numerous occasions, a typical example of which would be the installation of heavy duty point hoist winches sandwiched onto the fly galleries for the Ring Cycle and used to operate Paul's engineering design for a lifting, hinged, turning platform.
Paul Sadler specialises in modern theatre hydraulics and is now acting as associate engineer for Delstar Engineering, the company which he founded in 1978. Since its formation, Delstar has been a major contributor in the design and manufacture of automated stage sets and theatre equipment worldwide.
The complexity and variety of projects that Paul has worked on are unsurpassed in the industry. West End shows he has helped to make possible include Phantom of the Opera, Time, Chess (one of the first automated sets on the West End), Munity on the Bounty (which featured a huge trench in the stage), The Lion King, two productions of Oliver!, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Starlight Express and the much-loved production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, with the magical car that flies thanks to Paul's (and the Delstar team's) ingenious engineering solution.
Paul has worked closely with designer Stephan Lazaridis, knows the London Coliseum inside out and has mounted many operas on its famous stage. During his career, he has also worked alongside a host of designers and directors on countless National Theatre productions and Glyndebourne operas and has collaborated with Hans Schavernoch on open air Bregenz opera festivals, in the Staatsoper and with numerous other international theatres.
Paul, a chartered engineer, continues to be actively involved with the running of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers eastern area, acting as treasurer for the organisation, and is a technical associate of the Royal National Theatre.
(Lee Baldock)
