Rigging / Staging

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14 March 2016

The draft standard describes recommended practices for lifting and transporting performers to create the illusion of flying or levitation in theatrical performances. Anyone that has an interest in flying effects with live performers is invited to review it and offer comments. Public review and comment is being sought so that the draft standard may reflect the consensus of informed opinion in the industry.

The standard is a project of the Rigging Working Group, part of the ANSI-accredited standards committee E1, Safety and Compatibility of Entertainment Technical Equipment and Practices.

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14 March 2016

Also noteworthy, though attracting less press attention, is the fact that this is the first new opera for both creator/composer Richard Thomas and the National Theatre, chosen by incoming National Theatre director, Nicholas Hytner, to premiere as his first production in the Lyttelton Theatre.

Lighting designer Rick Fisher was first involved with the show when it premiered at Edinburgh last year. The production h

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14 March 2016

Under contract to Lucas and Roberts, and on behalf of Granada Productions, a team of four specialists from ESS in the UK along with six locals set to work in mid-December last year. The build took place in a tropical rainforest near to the town of Murwillumbah just south of the border between Queensland and New South Wales and was finished by 15 January.

The crew were exposed to snakes, leeches, funnel web spiders and a host of other nasty creatures that never feature in Australian travel brochures. "The first thing that happened when we arrived

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14 March 2016

Managing director Maddy Sheals explained to reasons behind the move: "We took the decision to concentrate on staging and structures three years ago and our first move was to sell our sound division. As our core market sector has become increasingly complex and requires ongoing investment to remain at the top, we have now passed on management of the

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14 March 2016

Starring Friends favourite Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing), British actress Minnie Driver and Hank Azaria, best known for providing a variety of voices for The Simpsons, Sexual Perversity in Chicago is about four young people looking for love in the 1970s. The one-act play written by David Mamet and directed by Lindsay Posner, tells the story of Danny (Perry) and his friend Bernie (Azaria), two red-blooded males playing the mating and dating game.

The play consists of 32 scenes and before each one, images of 1970s Chicago are projected onto a screen to indicate the time and place. Production manager John Dalston explains: "The designer Jeremy Herbert wanted to be able to cl

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14 March 2016

Gavin Weatherall, managing director and founder of the Rigging Partnership - the company responsible for turning initial artistic concepts into a workable production reality explains a bit about the initial brief for Westlife: "Having worked on the band’s World of Our Own tour, I fully expected them to want to include some rather challenging effects. They knew that they wanted to perform on a stage that could enable them to fly over the length and breadth of the venue above their f

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14 March 2016

Blur marked their return by showcasing work from their new album ‘Think Tank’. The Astoria dates were essentially a one-off event, but lead singer Damon Albarn wanted a distinct visual feel for the show. His brief to LD Dave Byars was to come up with the essence of Morocco and Devon - warm, inviting, peaceful, positive. From this starting point, Byars designed both lighting and video (the latter supplied by XL Video) and decided to take an ambitiously large rig into the Astoria to realize his ideas - an imaginative gamble that certainly paid off.

The first part of the show saw a false ceiling formed by a drape lacerated by a series of

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14 March 2016

If the uniformly distributed load needs to be upgraded from 300 to 500kg and the point load from 40 to 150/200kg, a normal fly-bar will not have the required strength, and the single round tube is often replaced with ladder beams, usually made from steel. ProTrac offers an alternative to the steel ladder beams, specially d

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14 March 2016

When the tour visited Manchester’s MEN Arena, Star Rigging ensured an efficient production build by assembling a team comprised of the cream of the northern riggers. The team of 16 riggers showed their experience and competence, rigging 45 tons across 72 points, which they finished the morning rig an hour ahead of schedule. Following the rigging of the McCartney production, the Star Rigging team all attended an induction regarding the use of the ‘Latchway fall arrest system’ recently installed into the MEN Arena. The course instructed the riggers how to work

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14 March 2016

Working alongside lighting designer John King and the BBC outside broadcast team, ELP crew have recently visited various boxing venues across the UK, including Nottingham, Brentford and Cardiff.

"Each venue has its own set of challenges," explains crew chief Toby Dare. "For example the most recent venue in Cardiff was the Welsh Institute of Sport which had a restricted power supply and only two 63A sockets on the wall to run 70 channels of dimming! This meant we had to provide a whole range of practical lighting solutions for BBC Sport including lighting temporary broadcast studios, lighting the boxing ring and providing light over the audience."

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14 March 2016

Flashlight's R&D team, headed by its engineering manager Fried Buttstedt and Anne Bokma, developed the CyberHoist around a Verlinde Stagemaker hoist body as well as creating the 3D HoistShowControl software. A truly 'intelli

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14 March 2016

Summit was asked to realize this audacious feat of rigging - it was a world first for objects to be flown above a football pitch during a match - by their clients Production Team, led by Dave Keighley. The project was co-ordinated for Summit by Ken Nock. Summit used catenary technology, a method they’ve pioneered and perfected in the past, including at the M2002 Commonwealth Games.

The starballs, each weighing 20kg, were suspended in four lines of five, each row attached to a 240m length of catenary wire running lengthways above the stadium. The catenaries were anchored to the main supporting structure of the venue&

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14 March 2016

ESS was contracted by Graeme Dew, through Tri Point Rigging, to provide arched structures inside a number of traditional-style warehouses being used as film sets. "Our archways were used to strengthen the roof of three buildings so that various flying scenes could be shot," added Barclay. Three different warehouses were rigged by ESS over a 12-month period, all in the Sydney region. The first installation formed part of a blue room at the Fox Studios where the majority of filming took place. The other two installations were more traditional, being used to fly heavy set pieces when the roof was unable to take their weight. ESS built the arches

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14 March 2016

The Supertool is a multi-purpose accessory, similar to the famous Swiss Army Knife, offering a variety of appendages including screwdrivers, knives, pliers and a sharp saw. It also has everything you might need to disassemble and fix a Lodestar motor - all apart from a corkscrew -not necessary because it was designed in an era when ‘real’ roadies would not have been caught dead drinking wine!

"Hopefully, recipients of the PCM Leatherman will never have to use it in such extreme or dramatic circumstances as Aron Ralston, who amputated his own arm with a similar tool after becoming trapped under a boulder during a hike in the Canyonlands national park in Utah,"

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14 March 2016

The main Radio 1 / Kerrang stage was Star Hire’s Vertech 20m festival stage, which created a suitably ‘larger than life canvas’ for the show. In addition to the performance area, the stage housed the PA monitor system in the wings and gave the production team room at the rear to prepare equipment to e

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14 March 2016

Having built a reputation for designing technically advanced automation solutions for venues from the Gothenburg Stadsteater to the Lyric Opera in Chicago Stage Technologies are delighted to have the opportunity to provide automation for Lille. The supply includes the control of an impressive 66 winches (50 variable speed and 16 fixed). Stage Technologies integrated drive technology, MaxisID is at the heart of Lille’s control system and will be controlled by Nomad and Solo consoles. Modular in design this system will allow the Opera House to e

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14 March 2016

Also premiering at the show is a new version of Harlequin’s Activity Floor, but now with a choice of three standard hardwood finishes - oak, beech and maple - ideal for dance studios and halls,

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14 March 2016

In a move which recognizes that the sales and marketing function has equal importance for the two divisions, Simon Taylor has been appointed sales and marketing director for both manufacturing and hire, while Peter Turner, previously production director for manufacturing, becomes operations director for both divisions. Adrian Brooks remains managing director.

Announcing the restructuring at a company meeting in the Wakefield head office last week, Simon Taylor told staff: "litestructures is bucking

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14 March 2016

Sweden - The Stadsteater is one of Gothenburg’s most historic theatres. Its origins (though not the actual building) date back to 1918 when it was founded by a group of individuals keen to promote theatre to a wider audience. At the time they were based at Lorensbergsteatern, located across the street from Göteborgs Stadsteater, but in 1934 the theatre company moved to the newly constructed building situated at Götaplatsen. The building was and remains notable for its impressive functionalistic architecture. Its position at the top of the Aveny - one of the city’s fashionable streets - makes it one of Gothenburg’s most striking landmarks.

During the early part of 2002, its staging and flying systems were significantly upgraded, allowing it to r

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14 March 2016

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14 March 2016

ESS built the main stage, a major undertaking since the sightlines needed to be kept clear to the Colloseum, yet it had to be capable of carrying the 60 tons of flown equipment. Big screen specialists Screenco meanwhile, joined forces with Nocturne Productions - the tour’s contracted video production company - to provide an inventory of 25mm LED displays, which were staggered down the Via dei Fori Imperiale in front of the famous landmark.

The former Beatle played for almost three hours, and for the majority in the audience, their main contact with the legendary performer was via the five 18sq.m screens, the stage action being relayed to the Screenco displays via Nocturne’s production

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14 March 2016

Brilliant Stages designed the vertical tracking system to support the six sections of moving high-resolution video screen. Four towers and a header truss pick up the screen sections, which are arranged three wide by two high. The towers transfer a portion of the weight of the video screen down to the stage

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14 March 2016

The inauguration of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in 1989 marked a new era in the development of performing arts in Hong Kong. Still highly relevant today, the centre attracts an array of world-class performances, from concerts and operas to experimental theatre and musicals.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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14 March 2016

The SB Series is ideally suited for individual loudspeakers suspended in a left and right configuration where the building structure is not in alignment with the proper pan of the loudspeaker. The top section of the SB Series can be attached to a joist in the building, and the lower section can be rotated to align the dispersion of the loudspeaker. There are additionalattachment points on the lower section that accept pull-back straps for adjusting the down-tilt of the loudspeaker.

There are four Swivel Beams in the SB Series: SB-1