For Verdi's larger-than-life opera Attila, staged at the Royal Opera House recently, it was necessary to add to the number of staging modules that make up the raked stage. Maltbury was approached to supply units of its strongest demountable staging system, Steeldeck 7.5, and these now form part of the repertory stage sets stored at the Royal Opera House on stage trucks.

When the Royal Opera House underwent its refurbishment one radical change was to the way the sets are constructed. Instead of repeatedly building, dismantling and re-building each show in the repertoire, sets are now built just once directly onto massive stage trucks, where they remain. At the touch of a button the automated trucks can be moved on stage, into storage or into a rehearsal room backstage making turnarounds between repertory production quicker and easier.

Head of the technical department at the Royal Opera House, Geoff Wheel, specified 20 units of Steeldeck 7.5 for the Attila stage. "Productions at the Royal Opera House require staging that is economical, durable, reliable and flexible," he explained, "which is why I approached Maltbury. Having used the system before, I know it meets all of the specified criteria. Maltbury's Steeldeck 7.5 fulfilled all our expectations and we are looking forward to making use of it in the future."

Steeldeck 7.5 is one of a number of Maltbury's popular demountable staging systems, which include Ambideck, Metrodeck and, Maltbury's latest developments, Pro-Alloy and Metrodeck Ultra. Maltbury's systems have recently been used at Bedford Modern School, Bedford and Kent College, Pembury, and in 2001, Maltbury was kept busy with high profile projects such as the BT Cellnet Conference; the Budweiser House Party; BITE: 01 at the Barbican and Manchester's Met Arts Centre.

(Lee Baldock)


Latest Issue. . .