Pharos - Leaderboard - May 2024

Rigging / Staging

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UK - Big the Musical closed at the Dominion Theatre in London's West End this weekend following a successful nine-week run. The Theatre Royal Plymouth production opened in 2016 and played at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre in Dublin into 2017. Finally after more than two years, it made its West End debut in September with production manager Hugh Borthwick bringing Unusual Rigging on board to handle the rigging elements of this ambitious production.
Hugh explains: "I brought Unusual Rigging on to this project right at the very start as I wanted them to be part of the design process for the production and not just to supply a rigging system. I've worked with Unusual for many years and know that their skill and ability to make the seemingly impossible happen is second to none. I've worked with Alan Jacobi and Simon Stone many times, and on Big the Musical, Mark Davie

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UAE - Sixty82 has appointed Unusual Rigging & Engineering LLC as its exclusive representative in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, for its full trussing and staging product range. Unusual Rigging will exercise supervision on a broad scope of possibilities, advising customers on the best Sixty82 solution for their specific needs.
Unusual Rigging is a highly experienced provider of rigging and stage engineering solutions, working around the globe, principally in the entertainment, special event, exhibition and presentation industries. In 2009 Unusual Rigging & Engineering LLC opened for business. Unusual Rigging’s specialist teams boast a wide range of disciplines, and all are passionate about what they do. “At Sixty82, we share this passion for the industry,” comments Fokko Smeding, CEO of Sixty82. “We therefore believe that Unusual Rigging &a

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The Netherlands - One of best-known event venues in The Netherlands has been recently transformed into an intimate restaurant with high-tech decor. Madame Jeanette is the successor of dinner show Pandora, which ended early this year.
It is an intense evening full of visual spectacle, where visitors dine in the middle of a vibrant story that is told in a visual, musical and culinary way. In recent months, Studio 21 has been completely rebuilt especially for this show, with the kitchen in the centre of the room and a high-tech decor in which the stage, the video and audio are in a 360° setting around the guests.
Dutch lighting, audio, and rigging company Chain was responsible for the technical production. Because of the complete round set up, the decision was made to use six circles in the decor. In the middle of the room a 6mtr FD34 circle was used for t

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Australia - Specialising in large-scale projections, The Electric Canvas utilised Modulo Pi media servers on three major projection sites at the latest edition of White Night Melbourne. This year, the previously all-night event was “reimagined”, taking place in winter instead of summer and being extended to a three-night festival.
Modulo Kinetic was deployed for Mad Max Fury Road, a huge multimedia extravaganza set against the backdrop of the heritage-listed Royal Exhibition Building. The 15-minute live show featured projection mapping by Australian company The Electric Canvas, who used footage from the award-winning |Fury Road movie as well as original motion graphics in the content production.
In addition to the projections, vehicles from the actual movie, performers, aerialists, lighting, and pyrotechnics were all choreographed to an immersive mul

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Europe - Trussing, staging and hoists manufacturer Prolyte has been acquired by Area Four Industries.
The news of the acquisition comes shortly after Prolyte filed for bankruptcy. Prolyte will retain its brand identity but will undergo a management, production and strategic reorganisation.
František Zykan, CEO of Area Four Industries, comments: “We will invest in the development of Prolyte as a brand, as well as in new ideas and products. Our current partners remain equally important for us. I trust that in two years, Prolyte will be number one in customer satisfaction.”
Founded in 1991 and headquartered in the Netherlands, Prolyte has an office and warehouse in the USA, an Asian office and factory in Guangzhou, China, and a European warehouse in Germany. Its portfolio includes ProlyteStructures, ProlyteSystems, StageDex, and ProLyft.
Area Four Industr

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USA - With just less than a month to go until LDI 2019, organisers have announced they expect record attendance and participation in this year’s events.
LDI runs from 18-24 November at the Las Vegas Convention Centre, starting with the LDInstitute and LDIntensives sessions and LiveXperience Symposium, culminating in the exhibit hall tradeshow from Friday 22 to Sunday 24 November.
“We’re thrilled that this year’s LDI Show looks set to be the most well-attended yet, bringing the global live production community from over 80 countries to Las Vegas to share ideas, exhibit and do business,” says LDI's managing director, David Johnson. “Our registration process shows us that people are coming from a wide range of international live and broadcast venues - festivals, corporate events, theatre, concerts, clubs, theme parks, architainment, and houses of worship. LDI

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Europe - Area Four Industries reports that owing to popular demand by customers, the new Xstage S10 stage deck tops are now available in two surface finishes – Hexagrip or black paint. Both surface options are available on all shapes and sizes of the S10 deck.
The indoor/outdoor, non-slip Hexagrip surface was launched together with the new S10 last year and is mounted on its 12mm birch plywood top. Increased traction is provided during demanding performances and even when wet.
The black painted surface is another popular option that comes on the S10’s 12mm poplar plywood top. This finish is also water resistant for safe use both indoors and outdoors. An advantage with this finish is that it can be repainted at the end of each season, or from time to time during the year, to cover up scratches and abrasions.
(Jim Evans)

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UK - The start of the new academic year at Sherborne Girls School in Dorset has seen a welcome addition to the impressive school campus. The Merritt Centre – a new arts centre is now fully operational.
Students will be able to take full advantage of the facilities including the Gransden Hall - a new build recital hall which has been fitted out with 12 custom-designed Triple E VariRoller variable acoustic banners.
Triple E responded to architect Burrell Foley Fischer’s request to provide a full project service for the install which included the design, manufacture, construction, testing with bespoke laminated fabric and installation planning.
“The brief was to produce effective acoustic baffling to ensure the hall was tuned for a variety of performance types as required by Sherborne Girls’ extensive music programme throughout the year,” explains David

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UAE - Unusual Rigging & Engineering, Doughty Engineering and SIXTY82 will exhibit jointly at this year's PLSME. Visitors will be able to see a range of equipment from Doughty and SIXTY82, as well as kit from Liftket, for whom Unusual Rigging is a distributor, and a selection of PPE gear.
Speaking ahead of the show, Denis Bramhall, managing partner at Unusual Rigging and Engineering said: "We've been exhibiting with Doughty at PLSME for a few years now but this is the first year that we welcome SIXTY82 onto the stand. We look forward to it being a very successful show for us and hope it marks the start of an interesting and exciting working relationship with SIXTY82."
Denis continued: "From experience, PLSME is a well organised show and attracts the right people. We look forward to meeting up with new and familiar faces, making the most of the networking oppo

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UK - Power Logistics’ pledge at the start of the year to deliver power monitoring at every project it undertook in 2019 has proved a success throughout this summer. Implementing its bespoke power monitoring system at numerous festivals and outdoor events, the company says it has delivered sustainable power solutions that have resulted in fuel bills consistently being reduced by 20% or more, along with significant carbon emission savings.
A bespoke power monitoring system was been devised and developed by Power Logistics’ in-house research and development team. This has proved to have a significant impact on an event’s carbon footprint; reducing fuel consumption and often the number and size of generators required onsite which in turn leads to cost efficiencies, says the company.
A key addition to the system is the utilisation of QR codes which are placed on eve

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Romania - Staged in the city of Cluj, which is in the heart of Transylvania, the Untold festival is a mixture of sights, sounds, smells and adventures. It’s a music festival created to amaze the hundreds of thousands of visitors that descend upon the city each year for four days of music and fun.
This year’s festival was held from 1-4 August and attended by more than 400,000 music lovers. The line-up of included Robbie Williams, Afrojack, Armin Van Buuren, Steve Aoki, Nicky Romero, Bastille and Fedde Le Grand.
The centrepiece of this year’s Untold stage featured a giant Wizard’s head that weighed in at 13.2t. To support this massive weight, Untold needed a strong truss span that could not only handle this 13.2t point load, but also be stable enough to withstand wind loads generated on the large surface area of the head. The new Steel Truss line from Milos was

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UK - Unusual Rigging has been brought on board to ensure that, while the course of true love definitely doesn't run smooth, the rigging on new West End musical & Juliet certainly does.
The show, which will open at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London's West End next month is currently enjoying a successful run at Opera House Manchester, asks - what if Juliet's famous ending was really just her beginning? What if she decided to choose her own fate? And what if she got over Romeo by running off to Paris with Nurse and her best friends on a whirlwind trip of romance, self-discovery and gate-crashing the castle party?
The musical features pop anthems of the last 30 years from songwriter Max Martin, all arranged by the Tony and Grammy Award-winning orchestrator Bill Sherman.
Production manager Simon Marlow explains: "My first port of call was to get in touch w

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Europe - Sixty82 is pleased has announced the recent appointment Cast as its exclusive distributor for Switzerland. With immediate effect, Cast will distribute and provide technical support for the full product range of Sixty82 trussing and staging solutions.
“As we learned about the birth of Sixty82in 2018, it was obvious that one day we would join this marvellous team, led by people we have trusted for more than 25 year! It is wonderful that today is that day!” says Silvio Cibien, CEO of Cast Switzerland.
Fokko Smeding, CEO of Sixty82, comments: “We are delighted to be working with Cast. This partnership will help meet the industry’s requirements for fast delivery times and technical know-how from experienced people.”
Date Jonkman, Sixty82 executive account manager, adds: “We believe that Cast is uniquely positioned to further develop our existing

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UK - PLASA has launched the National Lifting Event Training (NELT), a training programme for production technicians who use lifting equipment during event production.
Designed in conjunction with the Live Event Production Group with the aim of improving safe working practices of lifting operations, NELT is currently available at UK Rigging in Bolton and Production Services (PSI) in Northern Ireland, with more approved centres expected to offer the programme in 2020.
Nicky Greet, PLASA’s director of membership, skills & technical, comments: “PLASA is pleased to offer this national training for production technicians that has been developed in collaboration with industry professionals on PLASA’s Live Event Production group. The aim of NELT is to standardise good practice and knowledge, making work environments safer and more efficient for all those involved.

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UK - Adlib supplied full technical production to the 2019 Vitality Netball World Cup staged at the 11,000 capacity M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.
Adlib’s rental departments implemented a fully integrated video, lighting and audio package linking in with broadcast elements for BBC and Sky. The spectacle took place over 10 glorious days of top sporting action which delivered world class netball to an international TV audience and many thousands packing into the court-side seats which were sold out for the duration.
This quadrennial event featured two distinctive criteria. First, a spectacular opening ceremony which wowed the crowds and got everyone in the mood for the sports to follow.
Adlib’s technical team worked closely with curators of the ceremony Culture Liverpool and Iluminos. Adlib provided six Panasonic RZ21K 20,000 lumen laser projectors mounted v

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USA - Chris Young kicked off the North American leg of his Raised on Country world tour 2019 in May, playing to over 300,000 fans through the summer. The fall leg of the tour has just started and runs until 23 November at Lexington, Kentucky’s Rupp Arena.
Integral to the stage design - created by production designer Chris Lisle - is a 30-axis Kinesys automation system being used to move six lighting pods and four video screens which are essential visual elements of the show, together with the general lighting and video. Production manager (and lighting director on the road) is Michael Stanley.
Chris Lisle explains that from the initial meetings with Young and his management, they knew that they wanted some motion in the show to offer a variety of looks. He then started drawing and experimenting with exactly which production elements would move, and how, when a

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Europe - German-based rigging company Litecom, which has its roots in Denmark, has invested in the new Dynamic Stack Track System (DST) from Italian chain hoist manufacturer EXE Technology. DST is a traverse system with integrated rails to move, lift and rotate any object.
"Scenic movement will certainly be the future of upcoming tour productions. With the DST (Dynamic Stack Track) system, we invested in a scalable system solution that gives us the opportunity to best meet the growing demands of everyday touring. The comprehensive DST product portfolio offers many possibilities for scenic movement. I have been on the lookout for a finished system solution for some time and have now found one that convinced me immediately," says Litecom CEO Mathias Sonntag.
The black powder-coated DST52 system, which rides on dollies with master, slave and cable trolleys, is stocked in

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USA - Stage rigging specialist TLS Productions Inc. (TLS) has supplied Stagemaker hoists and rigging expertise for two consecutive tours for contemporary Christian music artist Chris Tomlin.
The Hibino USA company is a distributor of R&M Materials Handling Inc.’s Stagemaker entertainment range of hoists and won two contracts to provide the rigging equipment and a traveling head rigger for the two-month-long Worship Night In America and Holy Roar tours. The 2018 tour included 24 shows, while this year’s circuit ended with an iconic 28th show, the Good Friday Concert, which took place at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Jordan Yeo, production rigger / production manager at TLS, traveled with both tours.
TLS reported to two production managers and a tour manager over two years to deliver all of the lifting equipment, steel, shackles a

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UK - Wire and fibre rope assemblies supplier Rope Assemblies is celebrating two years since Linda Martin became company MD. The Retford-based organisation, which became part of the Unusual group in 2017, has experienced significant change, with the implementation of new company policies, best practice procedures and increased sales.
"In the blink of an eye, two years have passed, which seems like no time at all,” comments Martin. “Then we took a step back and realised how much the company has changed in that time, thanks to all the hard work that every member of the team has put in, and we felt it was worth marking the anniversary."
The biggest cause for celebration is the record sales figures that Rope Assemblies is achieving on a month on month basis. "If we look at January 2017, for example and compare that with January 2018 and January 2019, we are seeing a mar

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UK - Italia Conti Academy is one of the world’s most recognisable names when it comes to performing arts education for secondary school and further education students.
When Triple E were approached to supply ModTruss for one of the school’s recent productions it was an opportunity to support the young performers in more ways than one.
Despite the short lead time of a month, Triple E worked with the school’s production team to provide a bespoke platform, stairs and handrails which formed a centrepiece of the stage set for the production of Life’s Just a Bowl of Conti’s for a one week run at Rhoda McGraw Theatre in Woking, Surrey.
Amy Stevenson, production and stage manager at Italia Conti Academy comments, “We pride ourselves on the teaching and the production values here at Italia Conti and we only wanted the best for our students for their s

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UK - The 2019 PLASA Show was “the busiest in years” thanks to a six per cent increase in attendance, PLASA has reported. The event’s global status was also strengthened, with delegates from over 63 countries flocking to the London-based tradeshow.
This was the last edition of the event that was held at Olympia’s National Hall, with the 2020 PLASA Show set to move to London Olympia’s Grand Hall to accommodate a greater number of stands and show features.
“PLASA Show has clearly been improving year on year with 2019 being the best one yet,” comments Johan Gunsing, international sales manager for Adam Hall Group. “We have started to see a wider geographic audience attend the show which brings with it new opportunities, new business and increased brand awareness.”
“Once again PLASA did not disappoint,” comments Gareth Collyer, Nexo’s UK sales m

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South Africa - Having congregated in the Barnyard Theatre in Rivonia, and filling the venue to its maximum capacity, the CRC Church started a 10-month project to build a new 6,000-seater church in Fourways.
DWR Distribution supplied and installed lighting, audio and AV equipment for the church which opened earlier this year, ranging from a grandMA3 compact console, 64 Robe lighting fixtures, an Absen DWP3.9mm screen, Prolyte trussing, L-Acoustics Kara System and a DiGiCo SD12.
The CRC Church led by Pastor At Boshoff, already has two branches in Bloemfontein, a massive auditorium in Pretoria and 90 satellite meeting points where services are broadcast each week.
“Pastor At is a focused man,” says Robert Izzett of DWR, who headed the install. “He is very straight, honest and doesn’t mince his words.”
While the CRC buildings are similar to each othe

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USA - A new training programme designed to teach stage technicians the safest way to operate telescopic and front-loading lifters has been introduced at WFX 2019 in Orlando by Spanish company Equipson, which manufactures WorkPro lifters.
Equipson has produced a series of 15 videos, voiced in English and Spanish, that demonstrate how safety issues can easily be avoided by following the correct procedures. These videos, which range in length from three to 10 minutes, cover topics such as setting up, elevating, mounting and descending telescopic and front loading lifters, how to safely move a telescopic lifter, how to mount a line array on a front loading lifer and how WireDrive works as well as how to rectify wire mistakes.
Juan Jose Vila, CSO of Equipson, says: "As manufacturers of these products we are committed to making them as safe and accessible as possible to all

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UK - Les Miserables: The Staged Concert is playing packed houses at London's Gielgud Theatre, with Unusual Rigging supplying the rigging and automation for the shows' four month stint.
The concert version of the world's longest running musical opened at the end of July, following the closure of the Queen's Theatre. It will re-open after extensive refurbishment of both its backstage and auditorium as the renamed Sondheim Theatre. Unusual Rigging is also a part of this project, lowering the stage and installing a complex engineering system.
With the production team of this limited run show briefed to make the Gielgud feel like a miniature version of the 02 Arena which hosted the 25th anniversary concert, production manager Chris Boone brought Unusual on board to make it happen.
Chris explained: "Unusual Rigging is my go-to company for rigging jobs and this
  1. Unusual supports Westlife in Dubai
  2. Crowds return for day two of PLASA Show 2019
  3. Xstage S10 features on video
  4. PLASA 2019: Triple E showcases key products
  5. State Automation opens Euro service centre
  6. PLASA 2019: Doughty prepares for busy autumn
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