Rigging / Staging

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14 March 2016

Raising issues about how best to maximise theatre design in the 21st Century, the Performing Theatres Conference is chaired by Ian Brown, artistic director, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Genista McIntosh and Venu Dhupa, director of creative innovation, Southbank Centre. The one day event promises to offer a lively and wide-ranging debate on how the design of theatres will meet our needs in the 21st Century.

Complementing ABTT's annual Theatre Show, which highlights technological innovation a

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14 March 2016

GDS will also be showcasing its new i Stage Managers Desk which was manufactured for the Royal Welsh College of Music Drama and Art in 2006, since then the company has supplied three more desks for major UK venues and are working closely with both the British and Irish Stage Managers Association for both consultation and advice.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

For over five years prior to joining Stage Electrics, Roughton worked in the West End for The Really Useful Theatre Group. He was the deputy chief electrician at Shaftesbury Avenue's Lyric Theatre, and then most recently at The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, where he worked on shows including Anything Goes and The Producers.

Roughton will be splitting his time as a business development manager between long term hires and installations from the London office, working closely with the existing team. "My previous experience will allow me to bring a user's perspective and insight, to make sure our customers receive the best possible service, " he says.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Don Dimitroff of Columbus McKinnon coached participants through the disassembly and reassembly of a Lodestar chain hoist. Rocky Paulson, the recently retired president of Stage Rigging, taught safe rigging techniques while Morgan Neff of Mine Safety Appliances gave instruction on fall protection practices and equipment. Training was rounded out by Keith Bohn's truss class with instruction on design, usage and theory.

The Advanced Workshop was brought back by popular de

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14 March 2016

The composition of the facilities, made up of five individual 40ft long adjoining trailers creates its own challenges from a technology installation point of view. However, within the VIP hospitality area, ten distinctive zones have been created, each with its own specific purpose including offices, kitchen space for catering, dining areas and relaxation spaces.

In each individual zone, Blitz has developed a system which gives customers the choice of watching any of the individual circuit feeds - a total of approximately 20 video and audio channels are ava

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14 March 2016

This recent investment in plant and equipment includes a substantial amount of stage decking system which introduces a totally new staging service the Arena Group can offer clients. The new stock includes ancillary items such as steps, handrails and stair cases, including many bespoke items that are useful for the events industry and media sectors, says Arena.

Martin Clark has been appointed commercial director of Arena Scaffolding, coinciding with this expansion. Clark has been delivering staging and scaffolding projects to various events over recent years within his role at the Arena Group, such as the London Marathon and televised music shows such as X Factor and The Music Hall of Fame.

The Arena Gro

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14 March 2016

Brought on board by Cricket, Stage One was asked to build three different elements - an external car plinth, an internal main set and a small set at a second venue, following a 'ride and drive'. The unusual car plinth consisted of a steel 'I' beam, with scaffolding poles threaded through and finished in silver paint. The plinth held the new Defender along with one of the first Land Rovers to come off the production line (chassis number 9). Two lighting towers were also built in the same style.

Inside the venue, the main set incorporated four 'I' beams which Stage One manufactured from mdf. The beams were erec

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14 March 2016

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14 March 2016

All items will be sold on a first come, first served basis. "This isn't an auction, but the buying frenzy will be the same, based on the pricing we're already seeing coming in," says GearSource president Michael Fairbairn. "Obviously, PRG has a massive inventory of equipment in audio and lighting. This event is created to help them liquidate that inventory without the trouble of staging an auction," says Fairbairn. While the Gear-Up sale may eventually open up to other GearSource.com vendors, this event is exclusive to PRG's US-based invent

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14 March 2016

BGV-C1 is a German code of practice for the entertainment and theatrical venues, part of which covers lifting and rigging equipment. Adopting BGV-C1 is voluntary, but it is generally required to obtain insurance within Germany and is therefore rapidly becoming an industry standard across Europe. A C1 chain hoist can be defined as a unit suitable for use to move and hold loads above people, and as such has to meet certain criteria such as a design factor of 10:1, underload and overload protection and a double brake mechanism.

"We needed to make a simple hoist that could work

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14 March 2016

And finally, having decided to take control of their increasing transport needs, Power Logistics has also announced its decision to open its own in-house Transport Department: George Stedman will be heading up this department as transport manager.

(Lee Baldock)

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14 March 2016

The Royal Centre, a celebrated Nottingham landmark and regular touring venues, is currently undertaking a strategic review. MD James Ashworth explains, "Theatre Projects were the natural choice for the job with their intimate knowledge of the building, having helped us conceive it during the 1970s and 80s. With a vast portfolio of experience and an unparalleled reputation for excellence, we believed they would assist us in ensuring the Royal Centre continues to be one of the country's finest facilities for the 25 years."

Theatre Projects is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary of consul

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14 March 2016

Major employers in the theatre, live music and events industries already report serious difficulties recruiting qualified and experienced professionals in a wide range of disciplines including lighting, sound, stage controls and specialist backstage support staff.

Since January 2007, more than 300 individuals and organisations - including employers, trade bodies and freelancers - have been consulted on the Skills Academy proposal being developed by Creative & Cul

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14 March 2016

SPS has worked on the IoD flagship event for four years and utilised its extensive experience to design and construct the impressive stage set. SPS used LED screen technology both as a graphic display and a powerful lighting source. This allowed the 2,500 company directors attending the event a clear view of the stage. These LED screens coupled with two large video projection screens created a dramatic stage set. SPS's creative team also produced the graphics and visual content.

The theme of this year's event was Success in a Challenging World. It examined topics such as the rapidly expanding European Union, globalisation of markets and environmental issues. Key note speakers in

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14 March 2016

If the system is used as a raised stage, handrails can be locked into the floor to prevent guests from falling and if it is used at a height of 150mm a bevel is locked into the floor to allow safe access to and from the stage.

As well as the full colour, LED system, Staging Services also stocks a stylish check pattern in black and white vinyl and traditional polished parquet dance floors to suit different events.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Owing to a construction delay with the new bigger Royal Armouries Saviles Hall, the event took place in its original location - a move which proved conclusively that the show has now outgrown the venue and will need the extra capacity to cope with predicted attendance levels in 2008.

The event provided a showcase of over 70 leading brands for buyers in the Midlands, North of England and Scotland, and also served as a platform for many exhibitors to unveil their new products to a UK audience for the first time this year.

This year's seminar highlights included unique talks from leading lighting designers Bernie Davis and Andy Doig, PSA general manager Andy Lenthall, and Barco crea

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14 March 2016

IPAF's training objective is "to promote the use of safe working practices in the operation of mobile elevating and mast climbing work platforms and thereby make a positive contribution to the prevention of accidents".

In the early 1980s, PASMA devised a training course for users of alloy towers, now universally acknowledged as the industry standard, and so commenced a long history of skills training to make the use of access towers as safe as possible by producing many thousands of competent users.

The current Stage Electrics training programme now includes accredited courses, PASMA Mobile Access Tower training and IPAF Mobile Elevated Work Platform training (MEWP). The courses are a mixture of theory and hands on practical e

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14 March 2016

The brief was to provide a splash-proof case for two different types of distro units - allowing the systems to be used indoors or outdoors. The cases also featured a number of other new options.

The design, completed by 5 Star's Andy Stockdale to a spec by ELP's Ronan Willson, included the hinged access flaps to coincide with the location of specific sets of connectors. A hinged access flap was also provided for the main control panel consisting of MCB's, mains switches and neon indicators. These were machined from toughened clear acrylic sheet enabling all the functions to be clearly seen and checked without opening the flap.

Stockdale, head of 3D software at 5 Star, u

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14 March 2016

Amongst the many innovations on display will be the new power hoist from Unusual Rigging - The Revolution which is a flexible and efficient winch solution presented within a standard 52cm x 52 cm truss and travels in conventional roadboxes. It has single or multiple use within truss runs with either single or double wires on each winch.

Mayr Transmissions is exhibiting two new designs and three additions to existing designs within the ROBA stop range of fail-safe brakes for theatre and stage equipment /winches.

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14 March 2016

Inaugurated last year as PALA India, this year's exhibition (4-6 October, Bombay Exhibition Centre) will be spread over 3,000sq.m of exhibition space and is expected to feature around 200 brands distributed across 115 stands.

This is the target for exhibition manager James Raffoul, who has been taken on by IIR Exhibitions to maximise PALME India's potential. Having previously worked on high-profile exhibitions for Brintex and Emap, Raffoul says he couldn't resist the challenge to consolidate an incipient event in such a fast-emerging market.

"The fact that last year the show attracted 120 exhibiting companies spread over 75 stands, with 2,500 visitors attending, indi

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14 March 2016

Steadman is well-known in the exhibitions industry. Coming from the music and photographic industries into the audio-visual business, she pioneered the provision of official AV services to exhibition events, becoming exhibitions director at Samuelson Communications.

A founding director of PSL in 1990, she has since spent time in the USA, opening an office in Los Angeles. Since 2003, she has been running PSL's Exhibition Division, establishing and consolidating the company's position as Official AV and IT Suppliers to leading exhibition organisers in the UK.

Steadman's promotion to PSL's main board coincides with the start of one of the busiest summers ever for PSL Exhibitions, with the addi

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14 March 2016

Computers Unlimited will showcase its Vectorworks Spotlight entertainment and lighting design software. Featuring new upgrades its now offers PDF import and export and legend improvements. The programme offers a comprehensive range of 2D drafting and 3D modelling and production management capabilities with advanced lighting design, visualisation and production tools that benefit all phases of the design process - saving time and money.

US based City Theatrical will introduce its Stackers Taper

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14 March 2016

A native Chinese, Li Xiuming studied at the North China Institute of Aerospace Engineering and the renowned Hebei University in Baoding. She speaks not only English and French, but also Japanese.

"I am very pleased with the new support in the office, we have so much to do and new challenges are popping up everyday," reports Shu Zang, the supervisor in China. As of now, Li Xiuming is the point of contact for production issues in China.

Stagehands.de directs a unique and constantly expand

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14 March 2016

Although widely recognised as world leaders in floors for dance and the performing arts, Harlequin also provide special flooring for television studios, exhibitions and display. Harlequin manufactures a comprehensive range from portable, roll-out floors to cushioned, heavy duty permanent floors, plus permanent and touring sprung floor systems. These are complemented by a range of accessories including tapes and cleaning products, roll straps, storage bags and an extensive range of ballet barres.

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