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Rigging / Staging

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UK - MJK Productions staged a spectacular production for the Mastercard MOBO (Music Of Black Origin) Awards 2003 at London's Royal Albert Hall on 25 September. The awards were dominated by 50 Cent, who picked up the honours for Best Hip Hop Act, Best Album and Best Single, while Justin Timberlake won Best R&B Act and Big Brovaz scored Best Newcomer.

Featuring many of the production team from the Mastercard BRIT awards, the MOBOs was directed for television by Julia Knowles and produced by Sharon Ali. MJK, for the eighth year since the event's début, were in charge of the live production and a team that included Britannia Row (audience sound), 021 (broadcast sound), VLPS (lighting), XL Video (video), Outback (rigging), Steel Monkey (set) and Eat Your Hearts Out (catering).

The show featured MJK's trademark five-minute changeovers between live performances, a substantial lighti

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UK - When television star Neil Morrissey was challenged to help a worthy cause for an upcoming ITV series With A Little Help from My Friends, pro audio distributor SCV London and staging and trussing specialist LiteStructures were among the companies he called on to help him complete the task. The voice behind Bob the Builder chose to help children's charity 'Kids Company' renovate a derelict community centre and wanted it to have a stage, so that kids could follow in his footsteps.

Morrissey called SCV London's marketing director, Steve McDonald, and asked him for a Fostex VF-160 Digital Multitracker for free. Steve was more than happy to give the Men Behaving Badly star the equipment to assist the charity, which works with deprived children. The Fostex VF-160 will be used to teach youngsters the elements of sound recording.

Morrissey also put in a call to LiteS

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UK - Milos Structural Systems' versatile X-Stage platform range has recently been enhanced with the introduction of a new Quick-Leg mechanism. The lightweight low-profile aluminium S2 deck system features a special leg receiver that enables either telescopic supports or standard 48.3mm scaffold tube legs to be quickly secured to the platform. A simple cam-lever locking mechanism enables legs to be securely fixed and easily removed from the standard S2 platform. The introduction of the new feature enables users to create low-cost fixed height platforms or risers using the standard 48.3mm material.

The X-Stage S2 platform is produced in 2m x 1m decks using a custom low-profile aluminium extrusion with a 22mm plywood surface. The deck, which is rated at 750kg per sq.m, weighs only 25kg and is just 100mm deep when stored making it extremely efficient for transportation, storage and

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UK - PCM has just completed the refurbishment of stage equipment at the Princess Hall in Aldershot, Wiltshire. T technical manager Kevin Andrew's request to PCM was to replace the theatre's ageing hemp and winch system with a new, quick-and-easy lifting solution that would allow the venue's busy technical team to capitalize on tight turnaround times.

The theatre stages all types of production, including classical to contemporary live music, theatrical productions, dance, musicals, cabaret, panto and comedy. Their busy schedule often sees four or five different shows going through in a week, all with different lighting and production requirements. PCM's projects manager Tony Griffiths spotted an opportunity to recommend the company's new Unibar - winner of the PLASA 2003 Award for Product Design Excellence in the Stage Engineering category.

The Unibar is ideal for this style

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UK - Ford of Britain hired design and communications company Imagination to produce six themed exhibition stands at Mela 2003. Mela, a culture and lifestyle show celebrating all aspects of life enjoyed by Asian Communities, took place at Wembley Exhibition Centre from 10-12 October with over 30,000 visitors attending. The event was divided into seven main areas relating to Asian culture: Lifestyle, Health & Beauty, Fashion, Weddings, Food, Business & Entertainment. Imagination created six exhibition stands heavily influenced by each subject zone. Each exhibition stand showed a relevant Ford vehicle, which was designed and decorated with an Asian theme. One car even had a bespoke oversized 'bindi' designed by leading bindi designer Manjeet Bedi (founder of Jazzy Bindi) attached to the front of the car bonnet.

Ford was one of the main sponsors of Mela 2003 and the all-encompassing

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UK - Star Rigging helped create the setting for the 2003 Disney Channel Kids' Awards at the Royal Albert Hall this September. The show featured live performances including the award winners Dannii Minogue (best female), Gareth Gates (best male) and Big Bruvvaz (best band).

Star Rigging, part of the newly-formed Star Events Group, was hired to create a structure for the show to centre around and provide an impressive setting for both the live and television audience, working alongside other contractors and the production team. Star Rigging's Phil Broad and Production North's Steve Levitt worked closely to realize Disney's ideas, developing a flying bungee stunt, which involved three aerial dancers from Cirque Bijou appearing from above the set and descending into a blaze of pyrotechnics.

Star Rigging brought all elements together, producing the detailed rigging plot required by

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UK - Milos Structural Systems has recently introduced new accessories to their CellClamps range with Slim Swivel Couplers to suit 48mm-51mm tubes. The components are based on the popular 30mm wide low-profile aluminium extrusion used on the CELL207/208 Slim Half Couplers. These clamps are ideal for use with truss systems as the narrow profile provides greater fixing positions than traditional profiles. All Milos Cell Clamps are finished to the highest specification and fully certified by RWTÜV for the assurance of quality, safety and reliability.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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UK - Rigging specialist Summit Steel supplied massive quantities of trussing and metalwork infrastructure for the Marks & Spencer Christmas Conference 2003 at ExCel in London's Docklands. The event was produced by Pci:Live and launched the 2003 in-store Christmas collections and sales strategies to 750 M&S store managers.

The rigging element of the production was co-ordinated by Summit's Jon Bray. Using over 1,100m of various Supertruss types and 120 chain hoists, Summit created two large presentation areas in different auditoriums, occupying 9,000sq.m within ExCel. Auditorium One incorporated raked seating for 750 and featured keynote speakers, a quintet of musicians, fashion shows with dance numbers, interviews and audience participation. Auditorium Two was a star-clothed dining room, which accommodated the black tie gala dinner and entertainment.

Summit's team of 10 riggers

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UK - Radio 1 has re-invented its approach to taking live events to its listeners this year, under the auspices of its live events manager, Dave McCalmont. He joined Radio 1 two years ago having previously worked with MCP/SFX. L&SI spoke to Dave after the final 'One Big Weekend' event in Cardiff, where 20,000 ticket holders got to see some of the world's leading DJs, as well as bands such as The Darkness, Travis and Dido.

Why change the format of your events?

We wanted to create events which would work within the overall festival calendar and still allow us to focus on our organization and promotion. We wanted to produce top-notch events that gave the public good, free entertainment that they couldn't get anywhere else. We were careful to place our three main shows across the summer months, starting in May in Manchester and finishing in September in Cardiff with the 'On

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UK - Triple E has announced the return of Tony Jenner to the company, in the role of sales and project manager. Jenner, who previously worked for Triple E from 1988 to 1994 as technical manager, was most recently project manager for Howard Eaton Lighting Ltd for nine years.

Although several new products have been introduced in his absence, Jenner's in-depth product knowledge being put to immediate use on a track installation at Harrods for its Christmas window displays.

David Edelstein, Managing Director of Triple E, said: "Triple E has an expanding order book, so I am delighted that Tony has decided to rejoin us. His theatre experience and organising skills plus his technical knowledge of product design and assembly will be invaluable."

(Lee Baldock)

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Sweden - Stage engineering specialist Visual act has installed a unique set of four lifts for the new production of Lee Hall's Spoonface Steinberg set to open on 31 October at the Jewish Theatre in Stockholm. The four lifts are set on a rotating stage which is placed 3m under the stage floor. The lifts can be raised from 1m below the stage surface to 1m above while the revolve is moving.

Visual act's battery-based servo amplifiers are used to allow all of the equipment to be installed on the revolve - no slip rings or special cable arrangements are required. The operator desk communicates with the system over a radio link. The lifts are all lit from within and all visible surfaces are translucent, while the framework is designed to reduce shadows so that the lifts appear as boxes of coloured light.

Spoonface is directed by Pia Forsgren who has worked together wit

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UK - Doors open for the 2003 Showman's Show at The Newbury Showground on 22 October for two days. With over 300 exhibitors, there will be a wide range of stands at this year's show, from entertainers participating in the arena's showcase to the latest in hi-tech equipment aimed at outdoor events.

Show Director Stephen Lance commented: "We are anticipating a good show this year and are all set for a prosperous (and fun filled) exhibition. 2003 has been a great summer - both in terms of the weather, which always helps, and in terms of the numbers at events. There seems to be a more positive outlook towards the state of the industry than we have experienced over recent years. I hope we have succeeded in creating a good forum for outdoor event professionals to carry out their business."

Lance is also looking forward to a couple of significant differences at this year's e

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UK - Earls Court Ltd and Unusual Rigging Ltd have been fined a total of £100,000 at the Old Bailey following a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution into the death of 26-year-old David Mott at Earls Court, London. The prosecution follows an HSE investigation into the incident in which Mr Mott fell 35m to his death at Earls Court Exhibition Hall 1, on 23 June 2000. Six months prior to the death of Mr Mott, another worker had also been killed in a similar incident. Earls Court Ltd was subsequently fined £70,000 in a prosecution taken by the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Mr Mott, from Brentwood, Essex, fell through fragile, false ceiling tiles while dismantling mobile platforms as part of a refurbishment project. He was taken to Charing Cross hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival from multiple injuries.

Earls Court Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching sect

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Canada - The international announcement of the premier of the World Stage Design 2005 received a positive response at the 2003 Prague Quadrennial, which was held in June. So far nearly 200 designers from 33 countries have indicated plans to have their work shown at the exhibition, which is to be held in Toronto during March 2005. The organizers hope to have many more designers exhibiting by the entry deadline of 30 June 2004.

Designers can complete the entry process on the WSD2005 website, where they will find information and details of the exhibition, entry documents, they can also obtain a unique ID number and upload digital images.

The WSD2005 is a joint project of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT), the Canadian Institute for Theatre Technology (CITT), and the International Organization of Scenographers, Technicians and Architects of Theatre (OISTAT

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UK - Newmarket Nights - Friday evening meetings with live concerts featuring popular bands and entertainers - have become a leadin attaraction of the summer season at the UK's world-renowned racecourse, Newmarket. The concerts, which draw in sizeable audiences, are organized and managed by Liz Hobbs Events Management, which looks after entertainment events at racecourses up and down the country.

For this year's Newmarket Nights, Liz Hobbs approached LiteStructures to provide the stage, lighting and sound. Having taken LiteStructures on board to build a set for Status Quo's performance at Newmarket last year, Hobbs decided that it would be able to provide exactly the type of permanent stage she required for the five-week duration. Martin Featherstone, LiteStructures' sales executive for the Midlands explains: "Liz Hobbs came to us with the brief of providing her with a stage

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UK - Pearce Hire promoted its three specialist divisions, united as a production package, to event organizers at this year's Showman's Show. The three divisions - audio, lighting and temporary power - have invariably worked independently, or in various combinations at events over the years. The new package will now combine the specialist skills and equipment of the three divisions.

The company believes that event organizers will experience improvements in efficiency if they deal with a single contractor supplying these three key areas of production, as it gives one point of contact for the client, maximising co-ordination between the services on site. Secondly, clients will experience reduced production costs through economies such as transport and crewing levels.

Pearce Hire's owner, Shaun Pearce commented: "We have been surprised at various shows this year by organizers

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UK - 'Celebrating the spirit of beauty' was the theme at this year's Pantene Pro-V Style Awards, held at the Royal Albert Hall. Stage Electrics was contracted by Big Chief Productions to design and project manage the technical elements of the show, which included lighting, sound, set and staging.

The set design for the event comprised a backdrop of white sails, stretched in a variety of shapes framing a central entrance through which guest presenters would appear. The design required an extension to be built in front of the existing Albert Hall stage, as the client wanted to use the stage as a dance floor for the after-show party. Over 100 pieces of Maltbury Metrodeck, three pallets of chipboard and 200m of white vinyl flooring later, the Stage Electrics team had built a custom stage extension that followed the curve of the arena and met all of the venue's Health and Safety requ

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UK - Vertigo Rigging has launched Powertower, a stand-alone trussing tower for the flying of PA, video and lighting equipment. The Powertower has a weight loading capacity of 500kg at 10m high, and features dual pick-up heads to accommodate both lighting and PA trusses independently. This allows the neat and quick suspension of sound and lighting wherever there are flying restrictions.

The Powertower is based on a James Thomas Engineering 30.5cm self-climbing tower system with the addition of a lightweight, bolt-together, aluminium base with a footprint of 2.65m squared. The base also incorporates the ballast trays, housing a series 25kg test weights and eight adjustable leveling jacks for easy and safe positioning of the tower. Powertower is configurable in a variety of shapes and forms, and can be used in goal-post format for suspending video screens, for heavier screens, the

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UK - Drapes and rigging specialist Blackout has launched StarLED - a revolutionary new LED starcloth product that will be manufactured at the company's South London headquarters. StarLED is an LED-based system offering an ultra-bright, lightweight and DMX controllable alternative to fibre-optic and pea-bulb lit cloths.

StarLED can enhance sophisticated lighting or set designs and is ideal for a wide range of applications, including architectural, corporate, entertainment and leisure-build projects. Manufactured to the highest specifications, it combines a new lightweight IFR Molton Trevira fabric, with high intensity LED emitters and DMX controllability. StarLED systems are available in two versions - White and RGB. The White version offers a stunning galaxy-like effect, while the RGB cloth allows access to a vibrant rainbow spectrum of colours via DMX control. Designed to be ex

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UK / Japan - Le Mark's new flame-retardant natural gaffer tape, which won the PLASA Show's 2003 Environmental Impact Award, continues to expand into new export markets. Following its September launch, Gaf-Fire was sampled to one of Japan's most respected lighting distribution companies, Tokyo-based H. Ito, and Le Mark was thrilled to see H. Ito place its first order for the new product in October.

Gaf-Fire has seen seen as a breakthrough tap and an important addition to the company's consumable accessory range. Gaf-Fire not only meets the stringent requirements of BS 5867 Part 2 Type B, but also, as the PLASA award reflects, is manufactured using natural elements and environmentally clean processes. Gaf-Fire was seen as the first matt-black non-burn tape with a clean adhesive to be offered to the arts and entertainment industry.

(Lee Baldock)

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Dubai - Dubai-based superstar-of-the-turntables 'Cowboy' is generating more heat in the run-up to the biggest DJ showdown the Middle East has seen - and he's not even competing. Reigning champion Cowboy, who hails from Lebanon, has agreed to sit on the judging panel at the forthcoming PALME 2004 DJ of the Year Competition in Dubai. The DJ promises tough times for contestants, at this stage likely to number more than 200 from all over the world. It was revealed this week that prizes will be worth $40,000 and organizers are spending $100,000 staging the event..

The DJ contest runs in conjunction with the massive PALME expo, the region's first professional sound, light, audio-visual and systems integration exhibition. It was held for the first time earlier this year and organizers say the coming expo, to be held 17-19 February 2004 at Dubai International Exhibition Centre, will be

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UK - The centre for Performance in Aberystwyth in Wales is organizing a Symposium on the stage and lighting designers Edward Gordon Craig and Adolphe Appia entitled Sculptors of the Modern Stage - light / shadow / architecture. The symposium will include talks, workshops, films and presentations at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth from 5-7 December 2003. The event is produced in association with the Scenography department at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Edward Gordon Craig was a theatre designer, actor, visionary and the first British theatre artist to write a book of theatre theory. Rejected by the British theatre establishment he was embraced by the French and the Russians, most notably Stanislavski. Adolphe Appia was a Swiss designer and philosopher of theatre, and the first to write about theatre as a visual art form. In his collaboration with the Swiss c

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UK - How people love to talk about the weather: as Kin Hubbard, the US journalist who created cartoon character Abe Martin, said: "Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation." Perhaps based on this predilection, this year's Unilever commission for the Tate Modern's Turbine Hall is 'The Weather Project' by artist Olafur Eliasson. This £250,000 installation is one of the largest ever seen in the UK, occupying the Gallery's entire Turbine Hall, which itself appears to have doubled in size due to the nature of the piece.

The space has been saturated with a fine mist that occasionally accumulates into faint, cloud-like formations along the walls, then disperses again. Overhead, the glass atrium of the Turbine Hall has disappeared and in its place is a reflection of the space below, created by a huge m

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UK - Creative Technology has marked the relocation to its new 54,000sq.ft facility in Crawley by announcing a 'single brand' service operation, in which the staging services of MCL London, currently operating from within CT's premises, will now be amalgamated and operate under the CT London brand. At the same time the company has committed to a heavy investment in new inventory and technology. The strategic decision to operate as a single entity, addressing the broad span of market sectors covered by the two companies, was confirmed this month by managing director Mark Elliott.

"Being able to centralize all our resources into a single building has enabled us to further develop full service capability to provide a wide range of resources. This includes video, lighting, audio, and staging equipment, together with our ever-increasing range of indoor and outdoor LED screens.&qu

  1. Rigging Seminars for US
  2. LDI reinforces optimism for industry
  3. Stephanie wins tickets to see Cunningham at Tate Modern
  4. Entec on The Beautiful South
  5. Triple E at the Royal Society of Medicine
  6. Gallowglass - Event Supplier Of The Year
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