The choice was Metrodeck and the final total was forty 1m x 1m modules, triangles and quadrants. Sets of legs were added to give both flat and raked stages also bolt-on kick-rails and black serge drapes made up a package offering maximum versatility and ease of handling.
The first use of the equipment was a production of Agamemnon by Aeschylus. This play is really challenging for modern performers, even more so when they are children. The extraordinary story - Agamemnon returns from the Trojan wars with captured princess Cassandra and is then murdered in his bath by his wife Klytemnestra, who had waited ten years to gain revenge on her husband for his sacrifice of their daughter, Iphigenia - swings between violent drama and static oration so it was down to Drama Co-ordinator Jason Brown to stage it in an imaginative way. "We opted for a very cinematic presentation that lent itself well to our studio theatre space, complemented by a raked stage and a simple, monochrome set" said Brown. Intensely choreographed sections and moments of great passion combined to create a memorable production that was certainly not all Greek to those who saw it.
Maltbury offers a complete range of steel- and aluminium-framed staging systems as well as lighting truss and crowd barriers. In schools and colleges across the country, Maltbury staging systems have been chosen for their reliability, durability and adaptability. Last year, Wildern School in Hampshire bought Metrodeck for their existing hall and their new multi-media centre; north London's brand new Jewish Free School bought both Steeldeck and Metrodeck for its hall and theatre studio while the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, also in London, invested in a new multi-level Steeldeck concert stage.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
