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Cyberhoist Succeeds Without Really Trying
A CyberHoist / InMotion 3D motion control system, installed by Vertigo Rigging, has scored a remarkable first for the UK theatre world by making automated flying possible for the first time at Chichester’s Festival theatre in an acclaimed performance of How To Succeed in Business without Really Trying. The system, which won a 2004 PLASA Innovation Award, was developed by XLNT Advanced Technologies of Holland.
The 1962 musical, which is playing at the city’s summer-long Chichester Festivities arts festival until 10th September, is a charming, energetic send-up of office life seen through the eyes of the youthful, corporate ladder-climbing hero, J. Pierrepont Finch, played by Joe McFadden. With the aid of his bible, ‘How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying’, Finch rises irresistibly from window-cleaner to Chairman of the Board, breaking hearts and stabbing backs along the way.
The theatre, which also opened in 1962, is one of the UK’s flagship theatres with an international reputation for creating exceptional live performances, but its design does not include a fly tower.
Festival Theatre production manager Damien Partington recalls: “When we first saw the model for How To Succeed we realised that the design, which requires a large ceiling piece and a light box to fly in and out, didn’t lend itself to the theatre or any rigging techniques we had here, so we were on the point of cutting the pieces. But we discussed it with Vertigo Rigging and Paddy Burnside mentioned CyberHoist and the quietness of the system, and from there it was very straightforward.”
His key problem, as well as the repositioning manoeuvre, was the need to quickly remove the piece to the dock in the changeover for the next performance. “With a counterweight system we would have weight transfer issues but with the CyberHoists we don’t; we just drop the piece onto the floor and unclip it, so the turnaround’s achievable.” House technician Pete Waterman learnt to programme the system in two days.
He laughs: “The theatre has a 30-year history and because there’s no fly tower regulars know that if something flies here it has tended to be a bit wobbly. But now, for the first time, they’re witnessing controlled, automated flying.”
Paddy Burnside, rigged the hoists with help from the theatre staff and did the initial programming, adds: “Our brief was to allow a 5m x 2m piece of scenery to go from a vertical position midstage to a horizontal position, flown as close to the roof as possible – in a theatre with a low roof and no ability to fly whatsoever. This was achieved by using four CyberHoists. Two were positioned downstage suspended the top of the piece, one was placed centrally and a fourth upstage suspending the lower, upstage end of the piece.
“During the move from horizontal to vertical the upstage motor lowered the bottom of the piece, the downstage pair lowered the front in while the central motor raised which moved the piece upstage as well as vertical. In reality, the cue was more complicated than this with delays between the various motors moving to allow the move to look seamless. The powerful InMotion 3D software allows for complex moves to be programmed rapidly with both timings and positions easily tweaked even within a complex cue. A light box also flew on two more CyberHoists as part of the same cue sequence. The initial request was for just two positions, but when the designer saw the system many more intermediate positions were programmed in.”
Peter Waterman says: “The majority of the scenery is trucked around the stage; the two flying pieces in the show move simultaneously, so to get them to fly at the right speeds and guarantee that they would start and stop at the right places seemed impossible, but by putting both pieces onto CyberHoist we achieved that.
“The fact that the motors are double braked and are BGV-C1 means that human flying is perfectly feasible, plus we can use them to fly lighting and sound in the right places – using them as mules to do donkey-work, not just performance flying. The infrastructure is very straightforward and is quite similar to intelligent lighting with a single CAT-5 data cable and a power cable, so it’s simple to rig and the CAD-style 3D programming is easy to learn. It reduces precious technical time in the preparation of a production, when you have the full company and the fully technical team on hand.” He adds: “It’s rock’n’roll rigging for the theatre.”
Partington concludes: “This system is an innovation in theatrical flying. No longer is the theatre constrained to two dimensional moves, now the entire 3D space of the stage and flies can be used.”
The production is directed by Martin Duncan, with design by Francis O’Connor, choreography by Stephen Mear and lighting design by Chris Ellis. Musical director and orchestrator Richard Balcombe and sound designer Matt McKenzie recreate Frank (Guys and Dolls) Loesser’s score. The season installation designer is Alison Chitty.
25th August 2005
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