The concert hall has no fly tower and in the theatrical format, with a false proscenium, has a seating capacity of 1,490. It is generally a receiving house and in more than 20 years this is the Hall's second year of producing a pantomime.
Jim O'Mahoney is the Hall's Principal Technician and technical godfather. He notes, "As we have no flying we needed to hang 19 separate cloths over 14 x 16M swipe tracks. These are all hand swiped other than two roped tab tracks. We have no wing space for the down pulleys.
"We already have a large quantity of Triple E track in house and wished to augment it, as we find that Triple E products offer a very reliable system. We rarely get issues with bobbins catching or jumping, whether it's heavy set, stiff thick cloth or the lightest of gauze."
To achieve this, Jim invested in 192m of Triple E's robust, versatile and easy-to-use Unitrack from Flint Hire & Supply. Flints has been selling Triple E products since EEE was formed 30 years ago.
"Another problem we needed to overcome as a non-flying venue is the difference in heights of the hired in cloths," Jim continues. "Most of the tracks are flown off trussing, which can share up to three tracks. We use a variety of drop arms and underslung bars to level out height differences. Triple E is very robust and has a level of in built rigidity greater than other systems I have previously used."
This production of Cinderella was exclusively written and directed for De Montfort Hall by Leicester's Susie McKenna, artistic director at Hackney Empire. Carly Thoms plays the title role of Cinderella, with CBeebies' presenter Alex Winters as the loveable Buttons, and Goodness Gracious Me's Kulvinder Ghir as Baron Hardup.
"We've been using Triple E for years, and are always impressed by the incredible technical support - should we need it - in this day and age," Jim concludes.
(Jim Evans)
