Company Stars - A revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical Company was among the big winners at Sunday night's Olivier Awards. It won four prizes at the ceremony. The West End revival of the 1970 musical saw the lead character, Robert, re-imagined as a woman. Accepting the award for best musical revival, the show's director Marianne Elliott explained her company's "main goal was to put female stories front and centre on our stages". Two other shows took home four prizes from the ceremony - The Inheritance and Come From Away. Other winners included: Best set design - Bunny Christie (Company), Best lighting - Jon Clark (The Inheritance), Best sound design - Gareth Owen (Come From Away) Mamma Mia! - Abba's Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus made a surprise appearance as hit musical Mamma Mia! celebrated i
Australia - The beginning of 2019 saw the opening event of the UCI WorldTour, the Santos Tour Down Under. Held in South Australia, it is the southern hemisphere’s biggest cycling event attracting 750,000 visitors and is globally recognised. In pitching for the contract, Adelaide’s Novatech Creative Event Technology proposed some fairly innovative audio-visual ideas and deploying Brompton Technology’s Tessera SX40 LED processors helped them deliver. “We wanted to improve the spectator experience on every level,” says Ashley Gabriel, director of sales and marketing at Novatech. “We deployed our ROE CB3 and CB5 LED screens at the start and finish lines, with signal transported over fibre via Riedel’s MediorNet.” At the Tour Down Under Village in Adelaide’s Victoria Square, Nexstage built a custom 18m wide by 8m high Layher scaffold structure for team pr
Europe - Prolyte Group has appointed Production Services Ireland (PSI) to its growing global distribution network. The move adds significant expertise and reliability to the family of companies that represent the Dutch truss, staging and hoist manufacturer around the world. PSI has headquarters in both Belfast and Dublin. Since its formation in 1996, it has grown its position across the Irish market. PSI will support Prolyte’s existing Irish customers and develop new relationships in the region by holding the latest stock and delivering high-quality technical support and training. PSI director, Sean Pagel, comments: “This is an exciting new partnership, combining the Prolyte brand and quality with PSI’s ethos of excellence, rigging expertise and passion for training. We’re looking forward to combining the strengths of both businesses and delivering quali
Europe - Prolyte Group has announced a partnership with F-Musiikki / F-Pro as its distributing partner for Finland. F-Pro has offices and outlets in Helsinki, Espoo, Kuopio, Lappeenranta, Oulu, Tampere, Turku and Seinäjoki. The central warehouse is located in Vantaa/Helsinki. Peter-Tjalling Siertsema, distributor manager, Prolyte, comments, “I am excited to improve and expand our services in Finland by working closely together with F-Pro and our customers. The Finnish region represents an important market for Prolyte. By installing F-Pro as our new distributor, we assure that our existing and new Prolyte users have quick access to material, service, knowledge and support.” Jussi Aalto, sales manager, F-Pro adds, “It will be a great pleasure to work together with a company like Prolyte, the world leader in hardware products. Together with Prolyte we can expand ou
UK - The fire at Battersea Arts Centre in 2015 sent shockwaves through the local community and the performing arts sector. However, fast forward four years and Battersea Arts Centre has been rebuilt and reopened with the fire contributing a notable and visible chapter to the venue’s colourful history and the overall look of the venue’s re-design. Acousticians Gillerion Scott required variable acoustics to serve the wide programme of events planned for the Grand Hall of Battersea Arts Centre. Theatre consultants Theatreplan had the task of engineering a solution and explored possible product options with Triple E whose roller banner solution emerged as the most practicable solution. The design and manufacturing challenge was not insignificant but was one readily taken on by Triple E. “One of our areas of expertise is the provision of variable acoustic solutions,
Germany - PSRIG is set to launch its new FlexScope – Telescopic Motion Stabiliser at this year's Prolight + Sound. Visitors to Stand C80, Hall 12.0 will see the new stage mechanical system in action. Aart Gigengack, sales manager and co-owner of PSRIG says: "We are very excited to be launching this new piece of kit at Prolight + Sound and we think our customers will be very excited by it. The FlexSccope is a system which has been designed to move objects vertically in a stable and smooth fashion while preventing motion like tilting, panning or any other unwanted movement. It is suitable for a variety of creative applications – in fact anywhere you want to enhance the visual aspects of a show." The telescopic profile consists of four sections. In the standard configuration the profile is 220cm in its home position while in the fully extended position, it measures 75
UK - On Friday, 29 March 2019, HRH, The Princess Royal, was the honoured VIP visitor to Le Mark Group, there to open its new high-tech international warehouse facility. HRH, accompanied by HM Lord-Lieutenant, Mrs Julie Spence OBE QPM, was greeted by senior Le Mark staff members and noted dignitaries from the Cambridgeshire County Council, Huntingdonshire District Council, Cambridgeshire Constabulary and the High Sheriff’s Association. After touring the sales office, HRH was provided with a manufacturing demonstration of the multi-award winning BlackTak light masking foil. HRH heard of the work undertaken by the company and which countries it sells to. Linda Gibbons, joint managing director, said: “We have an amazing performance flooring department and one particular project I was proud to present to HRH was our printing and fitting of the world’s largest pr
USA - The Long Reach Long Riders (LRLR) celebrated their upcoming ride with a raffle and live auction to benefit Behind the Scenes during the USITT Stage Expo last week in Louisville, KY. A myriad of activities including sales of raffle tickets, a live and silent auction, challenge grants, swag sales, and sales of Neal Preston’s books, posters and prints raised over $18,000 for the charity. The LRLR 2019 ride, dubbed the Altimeter Tour, starts on 7 July in Denver Colorado. The riders cover all their own expenses so everything they raise goes to the charity. Sponsor a rider today at www.behindthescenescharity.org/lrlr. The booth featured a display of some of The Lightpower Collection’s photographs by Neal Preston including those of Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Robert Plant, Bob Marley, Ray Charles and others. Raffle festivities led off with the traditional kaz
Latvia/Ukraine - In response to significant business growth across Europe, Sixty82, a manufacturer of trussing and staging systems, has announced it has entered into a strategic agreement with JSA Stage Company as its exclusive distributor for Latvia and Ukraine. From this point forward, JSA will serve its customers by providing a complete range of Sixty82 solutions. “JSA’s distribution with Sixty82 is a crucial step to better serving our customers in Latvia and Ukraine,” says CEO Fokko Smeding. “With their history of representing leading manufacturers of trussing and staging equipment, they have built an excellent reputation in the industry and form an opportune extension to our already existing distribution network. In the many years that we have worked together we have established mutual trust, which is crucial in this ever-changing industry.” Alexa
Germany - Eilon Engineering will show the new Ron StageMaster 8000 hoist load cell. This patent-pending load cell turns any hoist into a smart hoist, allowing for greater motion control, safer handling of complex loads, advanced data acquisition, increased productivity and reduced downtime. Hanging tons of lighting, sound and video equipment above spectators and performers involves great responsibility. With ever-increasing load weight and movement, complex lifting of expensive equipment requires a highly accurate and advanced single/multi-point load monitoring solution. The Ron StageMaster 8000 can fit any hoist and is a solution for safe and advanced motion control, industrial automation and complex lifting. It easily retrofits to existing hoists and includes a chain compensation mechanism, adjusting for hoist imbalance as the chain accumulates in the bag. Two new lo
Germany - Global flightcase hardware manufacture and Penn Elcom highlights four new products at the Prolight+Sound expo in Frankfurt next week on stand C43 in Hall 4. Penn’s new UltraFlite case panels are a 100% recyclable product that will become its next generation flightcase standard, and of interest to all sectors of the AV and staging community. Also new is the VulcanTM Shockmount Chassis, bringing affordable military strength stabilisation to rack mounting scenarios; while a new range of Penn’s MOL automatic positioning latches and lid-stay hinges utilises WeatherSeal technology; and last but not least, also new is a striking yellow cover available for Penn’s popular CROSS 3 cable protector. The UltraFlite case panel has been developed following two years of extensive R & D. The new and technically advanced UltraFlite material features a honeycom
UK - UK Rigging has switched its equipment rental software to HireHop. Due to UK Rigging’s rapid growth they needed flexible and powerful software to manage their inventory and productions, as well as assign and manage crew to various jobs in different regions all over the country. After testing numerous other systems, UK Rigging concluded that HireHop was best suited to their needs, due to its ease of use and scalability, as well as having the added advantage of being in the cloud. They also worked alongside HireHop to help them develop a new crew scheduling resource planner, tailored to assign crew to multiple jobs in different regions quickly and easily. HireHop’s director Keith Jacobs says: “We are pleased with the result of our collaboration with UK Rigging, and are extremely grateful for all the input they have given us, enabling us to develop such a powerf
UK - PLASA Focus Leeds has announced its line-up of seminars and speakers for this year’s event, taking place on 14-15 May at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds. Alongside the sold-out show floor with brands from across audio, lighting, AV, and staging, the seminars and training sessions provide opportunities to pick up essential technical know-how and gain insights into notable industry developments. A programme highlight looks to the Royal Albert Hall, which recently received a multi-million-pound audio system upgrade. Ollie Jeffery, head of production and technical at the Royal Albert Hall, and Steve Jones from d&b audiotechnik will discuss their technical process and reveal how the new system is already impacting the audience experience. Renowned audio consultant Roland Hemming is presenting a series of seminars, kicking off with an introduc
Germany - The new Doughty Fifty Clamp will make its Prolight + Sound debut next month. The bigger brother of Doughty's best-selling Twenty Clamp, the Fifty Clamp will be on display in hall 12.0, stand D84. Mark Chorley, design engineer at Doughty comments: "We are really excited to hear what people visiting the show have to say about this new clamp. Early indication is that it's a bit of a game changer. Some of our customers have already told us that the extra 30kg is going to make a big difference." The Fifty Clamp has TUV approval, a SWL of 50kg and has been designed to fit tube diameter 38mm - 51mm. It is made from pressure die cast aluminium which prevents damage to thin wall truss. It is captive with M10 or M12 bolts and comes supplied with an M10 fixing kit. "It's already available to order," says Mark, “so we are looking forward to gathering additional feedbac
Germany - BroadWeigh, a leading brand from Mantracourt Electronics, is exhibiting on four of its product partners' stands. The BroadWeigh TwistLink is set to take centre stage, along with the BroadWeigh Wind Speed Sensor, both of which will be set up in demonstrations on the stands of Hof Alutec (Hall 12.0, E49), PSRig (Hall 12.0, C80), Sonoss and Louis Reyners who are exhibiting together (Hall 12.0, C94). And with representatives from BroadWeigh on hand too it's an opportunity for anyone who needs some expert advice on how and why they should monitor their loads. Kelly Voysey, sales & marketing manager at Mantracourt commented: "Prolight + Sound is a very important event for us in that it puts our brand in front of a truly international audience. We have been supplying load monitoring equipment for years, but it's only relatively recently that entertainment riggers hav
Germany - UK-based automation manufacturer Kinesys will show its latest technologies in this specialist entertainment field on stand C98 in hall 12.0 at Prolight+Sound. Products highlighted will include Kinesys’ powerful new Vector control console, the innovative Apex hoist system and LibraCELL/LibraNODE load monitoring - an invaluable tool to ensure that all static and dynamic loads are constantly and precisely monitored in real-time. The popular DigiHoist fixed speed chain motor controllers and Kinesys’ industry standard Elevation range of vari-speed hoist drives will also be prominent on the stand. Visitors will be invited to try out the new Vector console - to control a dual hoist Apex system flying a large screen above the stand. Apex and Elevation hoists will also be available to control - via the console - for a side by side comparison of their
Europe - Global Truss has appointed Austrian Truss Constructions (ATC) as a sales partner in Austria, effective 1 January. The two companies have also forged a strategic relationship for heavy duty systems, stage roofs and special constructions, particularly the development of the iM- and iL-Type system by CAMCO. Florian Schaaf from the Global Truss, comments: “Now we are able to rely on the long-time experience of ATC in the field of professional solutions and special constructions. The first results of this partnership are already visible with the Multi-Tower-Basement, the new stage roofs as well as our innovative F.O.H. We are looking forward to the cooperation with ATC on the technical and on the sales side. A win-win for the companies and the customers.” Thomas Wagner of ATC adds: “We are looking forward to the cooperation with Global Truss where both compa
UK - Pearce Hire has claimed the Best Power Supplier Award at the recent Event Production Awards (EPAs), held at Novotel London West on 19 March. The company provides production services and dry hire to over 2,000 events each year and is set to work on projects including Lovebox, Forest Live series, Classic Ibiza, Detonate Festival, Cambridge Folk Festival and Equifest in 2019. “It is a huge accolade to have even been shortlisted for an Event Production Award, as we have also been a finalist for a TPI Award and a Festival Supplier Award this season. But to actually win the EPA for Best Power Supplier was really the icing on the cake,” says Shaun Pearce, managing director, Pearce Hire. “I am extremely proud of the hard work and commitment our dedicated staff and crew put into our projects throughout the year, and a big thank you goes to every one of them.
Belgium - Fisheye, Painting with Light, PRG Belgium and WIcreations - four of the technical partners involved in the 40-45 Spektakel Musical production - have been featured in a behind-the-scenes film. 40-45 Spektakel Musical is being staged at the Pop-Up Theatre in Puurs by Studio 100. The short film, available for free on YouTube, was shot during the set up and first weeks of the production and features clips from the show as well as exclusive interviews with director Frank van Laecke, technical director Bart Caels from B-Art Production Design, creative lighting expert and video designer Luc Peumans, innovative entertainment engineering specialist Hans Willems, Fish
Europe - The new Litec Flyintower 10-1,600, provides safety, stability and rigidity for flying up to 1,600kg of audio equipment at heights up to 10m. Designed to bridge the gap in the Litec Flyintower range, which includes solutions with load capacities from 300 to 2000kg, the Flyintower 10-1,600 features a 15° inclined mast. The Litec Flyintower 10-1,600 uses standard truss in its construction, instead of custom-made truss, making potential replacement of truss sections quick and convenient. The main vertical tower is constructed with QL40A truss, while QH30SA truss is used for the stabilizing legs. Sturdy fork connectors ensure all truss connection points are strong and rigid. An electric chain hoist or manual winch can be used to lift a line array speaker system. Dedicated accessories are also available, while custom versions are possible on request. (Jim Eva
UK - Lighting and video rental specialist Colour Sound Experiment supplied lighting equipment, rigging and crew to the latest UK and European leg of Good Charlotte’s Generation Rx tour, working with lighting designer Paul McAdams who is based in Belfast, Northern Ireland and started designing for the band last year. The tour, which culminated in a show at London’s Alexandra Palace - was project-managed for Colour Sound by Alex Ryan. Colour Sound’s Hadyn Williams was the touring tech, whom Paul has requested several times to be his main person on the road, due to his experience and willingness to 'go above and beyond' each day to ensure that everything runs smoothly and efficiently. Encapsulating the gritty lyrics and reflections of Generation Rx, an album inspired by the current opioid crisis in North America and dealing with inner and outer pain,
UK - Rope Assemblies has supplied a range of Doughty kit to the Royal Albert Hall to help improve safety in the performance space. As a duty of care to performers on stage and to ensure that any falls from height are prevented, Doughty designed and fabricated some bespoke handrail braces to make the space as safe as possible. Ian Redding, technical supervisor at the Royal Albert Hall explained: "While there were no incidents that triggered the need for these rails, our technical team are always striving to ensure that no stone is left unturned when it comes to the safety of our performers, crew and audiences. The challenge was to design and create something that could work for our stage, but at the same time, not to look too intrusive. “It also had to be strong enough to withstand the weight of an average person. We had a round, scaffold size connection on the off s
UK - Callum Wachowski has joined Fiend Productions to provide a primary point of contact for rental enquires. Callum, who is also principal at Rugby-based dry hire and event production company Genius Bros, will bring his knowledge of lighting, rigging and video equipment and projects to the Fiend Productions team. Jess Mathews, Fiend’s MD comments: “Callum has joined us at a time of investment and growth for the business. We are building on our stock of MA and Avolites control equipment, wide range of intelligent lighting fixtures and LED screen this year and Callum’s arrival will help us provide a knowledgeable and consistent contact for our customers.” (Jim Evans)
Poland - Intel Extreme Masters - one of the largest e-sports events in the world - features a multimedia stage that has become synonymous with the event. The structure of the stage with its distinctive scaffolding was originally introduced in 2015, and the look has since become a signature feature of IEM Katowice. For the 2019 edition, the design features large automated LED screens on the central part of main stage, from which pro gamers enter the stage. The catwalk where the IEM trophy is located, has been completely reworked and combined with the rest of the stage. Despite set changes the lighting design has been completely renewed, featuring new lighting fixtures and LED bar frames built around the screens behind the teams. Almost 400sq.m of LED screens were used and 650 lighting units. “Every year we are trying to introduce something new to the stage
