With the Tabernacle's heritage came beauty and workmanship, including the decorative timber ceiling. Intricately worked and carved, the timber inlays are original to the Tabernacle and are a masterpiece of an almost lost art. Beautifully restored, they are a highlight of a visit to the theatre. But how do you run a functional lighting rig and grid without blocking the view of the ceiling?
Working with Darlinghurst Theatre Co, Jands Staging had an out-of-the-box solution - a see-through grid. Slingco, a cabling and rigging company headquartered in the UK, make a product called Cablenet; a tension wire grid platform that Jands used to create a see-through 'virtual ceiling'. Installed above the audience's head, Cablenet carries the load of both lighting and technicians with complete safety, all without compromising the LD's vision or the audience's enjoyment of the heritage ceiling.
"The grid extends from the back of the theatre to halfway onto the stage" explained Darlinghurst Theatre Co. associate producer and production manager Liz Jenkins. "It has four lighting bars and patch points around it. It's a bit scary when you first get on it, but it's quite fun! It holds a tonne, which is a significant weight loading. It was definitely the right way to go - it really accentuates the ceiling."
Paul Lewis, systems manager at lighting company Barbizon, was tasked with ensuring that Cablenet didn't degrade the performance of the mainly LED lighting rig. "I came down and tested the fixtures after the grid was commissioned" recalled Paul. "I mainly wanted to see how the ETC Source Four LED Lustr would go through the grid. A lot of the installs Cablenet has been used for have used mainly single source tungsten fixtures, not multi source LED. It was an unknown factor, but it performed."
While the Cablenet grid provides a broad canvas for rigging and focussing, setting up a show in the small venue calls for design creativity. "At least 50% of the stage is beyond the tension grid and under the flys" explained Paul. "There are six Jands Staging motorised lines above stage. You can't fly a set piece, but you can hang a drape or lights, so the flybars are utilised quite a bit. The Juliet balconies and boom positions are also utilised really heavily. Because of that we supplied a lot of custom boom brackets to make it a safer and friendlier environment to work in."
(Jim Evans)
