making progress

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July 2011 entertainment, presentation, installation

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MakingProgress

LSi visits Take That on tour

Shrek the MusicalArrives in the West End

ABTT in ReviewLSi reports from London

Technical: LEDsThe State of Play . . .

Also Inside . . .

WOMAD: CáceresMusic amid bewitching beauty

PLUS! . . . The NSA’s Apprentice Schemes • APG at FOMFest • RSAMD’s Audio UpgradeMidas on Broadway • Recollected Works • Audio File • Crew Cuts and more . . .

Cover:Cover 11/07/2011 08:55

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Dreamworks Theatricals and Neal Street Productions’

Shrek the Musical has finally arrived in the West End at

the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, following its opening on

Broadway and an ongoing tour of America. But like all

fairy stories, the details change with the telling and the

English version is, well, just that little more English than

the original.

Shrek the Musical leads us through forests from Shrek’sswamp to Lord Farquaad’s castle at Duloc, to Fiona’s Dragon-guarded tower and on to the court and cathedral, by a Scottishogre and a plethora of fairy story characters. The witty scriptweaves snippets of fairy stories and pastiches of West Endmusicals into the storyline with irreverence and a lot of wind!

Largely based on the US touring production, yet with much ofthe visual language of the Broadway production, the show’sdesign draws from both versions, with some additionalelements and embellishments introduced to make the UKproduction a little more ‘West End’.

Associate designer, Tim McQuillen-Wright, explains:“(Designer) Tim Hatley translated William Steig’s bookillustrations into the Broadway ‘language’ which oftenreferenced, but did not copy, the film. We have pushed thisfurther by placing more emphasis on its storybook origins.

“We have explored the style of pop-up books to create brightlycoloured, larger-than-life scenes which jump out at theaudience as the pages are turned. This is the visual hook offwhich the whole design hangs. The result feels like a singledesign with multiple layers, like the pages of a book. There is a new discovery with every turn.”

No longer subject to the constraints of touring, some newelements have been introduced or expanded upon; theseinclude a hydraulic rope bridge which rises out of the stagecarrying Shrek and Donkey with it, a tracking element added tothe flown LED wall, and a streamlined ‘levitation’ of Fiona asshe is transformed into an ogress. There is a greater degree ofintegrated automation control and some refined video work.Most notable of all, however, is the addition of a flying Dragonwhich circumnavigates the auditorium above the heads of theaudience.

The DragonThe onstage Dragon, enamoured of Donkey, is the 22ft (6.7m)long creation of Michael Curry Design of Oregon. Designed forlightness, the body is constructed of fabric formed aroundhoops to hold the shape. The wings are of carbon fibre andaluminium and the head a light-weight carbon fibre completewith illuminated eyes and fluttering eyelashes. She weighs60lb/27kg and is operated by four (very fit) puppeteers who runtheir socks off to create her fluid movements around the stage.

By contrast the flying Dragon is of quite different constructionwith the emphasis on overhead safety requirements rather thanlightness. A smaller-scale version of the stage Dragon,measuring 14ft/4.2m, weighing 130lb/60kg including onboardelectronics, was created by MCD around a sturdy, welded steelframe. This was clad in a lightweight foam to form the bodywith a carbon fibre head which allowed MCD to retain the facialdetails that capture her all-important personality. She descendsvia a circuitous route at up to 4.5m per second to within 30cmof the MD, flapping her wings as she goes, before joyfullyincinerating Lord Farquaad on the altar with the help of a boosted Look Solutions Tiny Fogger in her mouth (courtesyof Howard Eaton Lighting Ltd).

Scott Fisher of Fisher Technical Services was brought in todevise the best means of achieving her flight. The Dragon issuspended from six FTSI 515 winches which are positioned ona front-of-house crawl truss installed by Unusual Rigging. A steel post with extra bracings and a variable speedchainhoist were installed in the chandelier void to give theDragon a third point of travel whilst protecting the fabric of thelisted building. The FTSI winches and associated rigginghardware were installed by Gavin Wetherall and his team ofriggers from Flywire TRP.

The Dragon is attached to the winches by an intricate systemof lines installed by FTSI’s Jim Love and Jeremy Day. Six linesof Technora synthetic rope, which has a higher breakingstrength than steel, give control over six degrees of freedom,diverting her left and right, up and down and allowing her to rollleft and right and pitch and yaw. The rigidity of the rig and itshexopod geometry provide enough stability for the dragon’sinternal rotation mechanism to rotate accurately, providing a smooth, dynamic flight. Finally, internal Exlar Tritex actuatorsdeploy the wings.

A Very EnglishMusical

Dreamworks Theatricals’ Shrek the Musical has finally arrived in the West End at the Theatre

Royal Drury Lane, following its opening on Broadway and a two-year tour of America. But

like all fairy stories, the details change with the telling and the English version is, well, just

that little more English than the original. Julie Harper reports . . .

Production photography by Brinkhoff Mögenburg


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The Dragon’s control system is completelyindependent of the Stage Technologiessystem that governs all on-stageautomation. Its flight is programmed by JimLove using FTSI Navigator 3D software onan FTSI Kinetic console. This is operatedby the show’s head of automation, Richard‘Tricky’ Willcox, who says: “Using Navigatorwe can program her flight path, rotate herin the direction she is travelling, and getfeedback on how the system is performing.It’s a complex set of moves but the systemgives us a lot of flexibility.”

Additional music has been composed byJeanine Tesori for the flight action and anextra set of sound effects, built using ProTools, is played back on D-Mitri’sWildtracks, to add more interest to thesequence of events. Maximum use ismade of the surround sound with speakerslocated around the flight path to follow theDragon’s movements and give it audiblelife. This helps build the audienceapprehension and anticipation even beforethey can see her - especially for thosebeneath the circles who have no visualcontact until the last moment.

The flight is lit largely by gobo breakupsfrom ETC Source Fours and Philips Vari-Lite VL3500s located below the boxeson each side of the auditorium, whilstsmoke emanates from two Look SolutionsVipers with fans positioned in the midboxes to create atmosphere and helpdisguise the suspension ropes.

Fiona’s LevitationThe levitation sequence follows themoment when Lord Farquaad isincinerated, leaving nothing but asmouldering altar cloth. This is achieved injust four seconds using five Viper smokemachines and six bottles (per show) ofliquid CO2 piped through valves and mixedwith the smoke through floor grids to thefront and sides of the altar. The altar clothdisappears as it is pulled down through

a storage chute by a high speed winchand Lord Farquaad disappears from theaudience’s view.

Fiona is subsequently raised 2m into theair and rotated, balanced on a bicycle seatconcealed within the altar. Six axes ofmovement, operated by three pneumaticand three electric motors, are employed toopen doors in the altar front, move the seatoutwards and upwards, and to rotate whilstbeing cunningly hidden from the audienceby the actress. The altar and effects weresupplied by Howard Eaton Lighting Ltd.

Rope Bridge The 10m long rickety rope bridge whichtraverses the ‘lake of molten lava’ has alsoundergone a transformation, with the DruryLane production the first to see it risedirectly out of the stage.

Two sections of stage floor arehydraulically raised 3m above stage leveland form the supporting frameworkbetween which the rope bridge issuspended. Shrek and Donkey are liftedup with the platforms before walkingacross the bridge as it collapses, loweringthem back to stage level.

Constructed by Weld-Fab StageEngineering Ltd of Norfolk and clad by setbuilders Scott Fleary Productions, thebridge is concealed within a self-containedunit along with the hydraulic rams thatopen out the parallelogram framework,and the arms from which the rope bridge issuspended, and which ensure that it fallsback into the stage without snagging. Thisunit is installed on existing stage elevatorswhich are sandwiched between thestructural remains of past productions inthe theatre’s historic substage, thusdetermining the bridge’s position on stage.A quiet, variable speed, hydraulic powerpack, located upstage, provides power toraise and lower the platforms to their fullheight of 5m (2m below stage).


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Two Look Solutions Viper smoke machinesand six PAR cans are buried substage tocreate the necessary ‘molten lava’ effect frombelow.

For safety reasons, the bridge is operatedfrom a portable control panel provided byWeld-Fab to ensure stage management havea clear line of sight with the actors throughoutthe sequence.

Rigging & FlyingAt three tons, the speaker system was one ofthe heaviest theatre systems Unusual Rigginghave ever installed on a front-of-house crawltruss. The truss also carries a 10kg modeldonkey, made by Complete FabricationModels and Effects Ltd, for the ‘donkey drop’(used to introduce the character of Donkey) -the mechanics of which were supplied byHELL. The truss was installed using eight 1-ton hoists, with four spreader beams placedin the front-of-house void for extra weight-bearing.

The fly floor is especially busy and heavilyloaded with 40 flown cloths and four lightingtrusses, most of which carry moving lights.Unusual Rigging had the job of flying 18 tonsof set off the Lane’s limited housecounterweight system.

The house flybars were replaced with five tonsof Unusual ladder beams and secondarysteelwork added in the roof for increasedweight-bearing. Each house counterweightcradle could only handle a maximum of125kg, so these were replaced by Unusual’sown, each of which can handle up to 1.5 tons.For three of the flown pieces, which weighover 1400kg each, several of the cradles wereconnected together to triple or quadruple theirnormal capacity.

Simon Stone, project manager for UnusualRigging, explains: “We took advantage of thefact that the theatre has 125 counterweightsets, split between both sides of the stage: soevery flown piece has two steel wire ropes

from a stage left cradle and two steel wireropes from a stage right cradle, to give usenough cradle capacity. This way, each pieceof set is actually countered on both sides ofthe stage.”

There are seven counterweight assistedpieces in all which are moved by StageTechnologies’ Big Tow Classic winches. TheLED wall, the heaviest piece of all at just under2 tons, is moved by a flown SEM 115 motorand guided by legs installed in the wings byUnusual Rigging.

Tracking LED Wall Flown upstage, the 13sq.m 10mm pixel pitchLED screen, provided by Creative Technology,is used to represent the slow passage of thesun and the moon. The LEDs wereprogrammed on a grandMA2 and run off a grandMA1, triggering two Green HippoHippotizer V3 media servers (one of whichacts as backup).

The new tracking function is automated byStage Tech’s eChameleon software Sculptorfeature enabling the wall to travel at a speedof 2mm per second. “It is a very slow move foran axis and very unusual,” says Willcox. “WithSculptor I can set up the visual graphics onthe desk, plot the start and end positions forthe 10-minute move and the software worksout the rest to give the optimum movementacross lift and track.”

Willcox is also responsible for the automationon stage using a Stage Technologies controlsystem. This consists of four AU:tour 6 andone AU:tour 1 with an Acrobat.G6 consolerunning the eChameleon software. EachAU:tour 6 cabinet runs 6 axis at variablespeed allowing the operator to run timedmoves of anything from 5 seconds to 10minutes. It controls a total of 25 axes ofmovement, including six floor tracks, 11sliders and portals, the lift and tracking of theLED screen, a counterweight lift and trackingof flying redwood trees, plus five further flyingpieces.


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The floor tracks and slider trusses are builtby Weld-Fab and run on timing belt driveswith Stage Tech servo motors moving thesliders on rubber-toothed belts. The scenicsliders are connected overhead to 10further Stage Technologies servo motors.

Stage Technologies project manager,Simon Roberts, says: “The system givesthe flexibility to run counterweights, sliders,whatever you want. By automating themwe can achieve consistency and a highdegree of safety, which is important forsuch a technical show.

“We worked closely throughout withUnusual Rigging and Stage Services, whofitted the winches. It’s a close collaborationbetween all the departments from thedesigner down.”

Willcox agrees with Roberts. “One of thebiggest challenges was integrating somany different contractors. There are twoautomation control companies and manyset builders involved, including HowardEaton Lighting Ltd, Terry Murphy Scenery,Scott Fleary Ltd, Souvenir Scenery, TR2(Theatre Royal Plymouth ProductionCentre) and Weld-Fab Stage EngineeringLtd. The relationship between departmentshas been key to the success of theproduction.”

As head of automation, programmer andshow operator, it is Willcox’s job to bridgethe gap between the FTSI and StageTechnologies control systems. “It was fairlystraightforward to program the show onthe Acrobat with the eChameleonvisualisation software,” he says. “I wasable to pre-program a lot from the detailedstoryboard and measurements providedby Tim McQuillen-Wright. Patrick [Stanier,DSM] could email me any changes fromrehearsal, after which it was a case of fine-tuning what was already in place.

“Each week something was added - forexample, the performer lift in LordFarquaard’s Castle. This was built by TerryMurphy Scenery and started life as

a manual move. We then decided toautomate it and it’s now controlled by theAU:tour 1 driving a Big Tow Classic. Itproves the Stage Tech’ system is flexibleenough to be able to cope with these fastchanges.”

Willcox also operates the FTSI Navigatordesk to fly the Dragon. “It’s the first WestEnd show for the Navigator and a steeplearning curve for me, as it is a differentoperating system from the Acrobat. Jimhas been a great help and I am impressedwith how it has all gone together. TheeChameleon’s and Navigator’s virtualgraphics means I can monitor every singlescene change which is vital when it is sobusy. Between the two systems we can dosome pretty impressive stuff.”

Finally, Willcox also operates a laptoprunning a Kinesys Vector system to controltwo lighting trusses on variable speedchain hoists, all of which was provided byUnusual Rigging.

LightingThe lighting brief was largely based on thatof the US tour and recreated for DruryLane by Hugh Vanstone with theassistance of UK associate lightingdesigner Matt Daw. The primary requisite isto bring a heightened quality to the bright,bold costumes and sets.

Vanstone’s rig is based around a core ofPhilips Vari-Lite equipment: VL3000 Spots,VL3000 Washes, VL3500 framing spotsand VL500 80V tungsten washlights, aswell as Martin Professional TW1 tungstenwashlights.

These fixtures are rigged across fouroverhead lighting bars: VL500 80Vtungsten fixtures positioned on the twodownstage bars create mid-air effects,while VL3000 spots and washes rigged onthe Kinesys-driven upstage bars cater forthe changing deads throughout the show.

Cross-light is provided by VL3000 spots,VL3000 washes and TW1 fixtures on five

Crew & CreativesDirectors

Jason Moore and Rob Ashford

DesignersTim Hatley, Tim McQuillen-Wright

(associate)

Stage TechnologiesDirector: Ted Moore

Mechanical engineer: Charlie EllisProject manager: Simon Roberts

Project engineer: Chris Havard Electrical engineer: David Hayler

Fisher Technical Services Scott Fisher & Jim Love

AutomationHead: Richard ‘Tricky’ Willcox

Deputy head: Adam Calver Automation assistant: Chris Goode

Unusual RiggingSenior Rigger: Simon Stone

Design Engineer: Jeremy Featherstone Riggers: Chris Evans, Craig Warlow,

Mark Davis

SoundSound designer: Peter Hylenski

Sound associate: Chris FullHead of sound: Mark KarrieSound No.2: Robin ConwaySound No.3: Claire HibberdSound supplier: Autograph

Lighting & VideoLighting designer: Hugh Vanstone

UK associate lighting designer:Matt Daw

US associate lighting designer: Philip Rosenberg

Senior production electrician:Fraser Hall

Production electricians:Richard Mence, Simon Targett

Moving lights programmers:Jonathan Rowse, Dave Sadler

UK media associate & programmer:Duncan McLean

US media associate: Laura FrankLighting supplier: White Light

Video supplier: Creative Technology

Set Building Howard Eaton Lighting Ltd, TerryMurphy Scenery, Scott Fleary Ltd,

Souvenir Scenery, TR2 Theatre RoyalPlymouth Production Centre, Weld-

fab Stage Engineering Ltd

Cloth Painting Gordon Aldred, Alasdair Brotchie,Andy Greenfield, Eugene Neilson,

Richard Nutbourne, Julie Perren

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pairs of dead-hung lighting ladders. iPix BB4 and PixelRange PixelLine1044 LED fixtures are located behind the groundrows, augmented byL&E battens for scenic and cyclorama lighting.

Front-of-house, four VL3500s, with VL500 80V tungsten units on theproscenium, do most of the work, with additional washes provided byETC Source Fours, used sparingly for ‘extra kick’. Three Robert JuliatLancelot 4kW HTI followspots were chosen for their punch over thelong throw distances of one of London’s largest theatres.

On stage, low smoke is fed from four Le Maitre LSG liquid CO2machines through eight HELL pop-ups. Two MDG Atmosphere Hazemachines and two Look Solutions Unique Hazers, located in thewings, provide fast, ambient smoke, while a Tiny Fogger concealedwithin the campfire and a roving Viper on a dolly complete theatmospheric line-up.

The installation team consists of senior production electrician FraserHall and his team of Richard Mence and Simon Targett. The show wasprogrammed by Jonathan Rowse and Dave Sadler and is controlledfrom an MA Lighting grandMA console. All lighting and smokeequipment is provided by West End stalwarts, White Light Ltd.

VideoVideo has become a prominent force within theatre and Vanstone hasworked hard to redefine its use in theatre lighting since his previouscollaboration with Hatley on Spamalot in 2005. Here, video is used toenhance, not dominate, the lighting. Effects range from the obvioussuch as moving clouds, fireworks and green sparkles during Fiona’slevitation, to subtle embellishment of the gold trim on the book

Top, L-R: The Rigging & Automation team: Simon Stone (Unusual Rigging),Adam Calvert, Simon Roberts (project manager, Stage Tech), Richard‘Tricky’ Willcox and Chris Goode.

Middle, left: Associate set designer Tim McQuillen-Wright; Middle, right, L-R: The sound team - Peter Hylenski (sound designer), Mark Karrie (head ofsound) and Chris Full (sound associate).

Above, left: Jim Love of FTSI. Above, right, L-R: Fraser Hall (seniorproduction electrician), Duncan McLean (media associate & programmer),Matt Daw (associate LD), Jonathan Rowse (lighting programmer).


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n bindings in the giant bookcase, heightenedcolour in individual leaves and blades ofgrass, or subtle emphasis of the brickwork ofthe Duloc Castle sliders. The audience mightnot consciously be aware of this but theeffect gives an enriched, hyper-real, cartoon-like quality.

Video content was created by UK mediaassociate and programmer, DuncanMcLean, using original footage from the UStour showfile (from US media associate andprogrammer, Laura Frank) as a basicblueprint. Using a Canon 400D digitalcamera fixed in position beside the Barco20K FLM R20 projector situated on the frontof the Upper Circle, McLean took photos ofthe set from which he cut out the partsrequiring emphasis. These were then placedon a grid and over-painted before being‘transformed’ or keystoned with Photoshop.The corrected images were then projected toform the highlights that enhance aspects ofthe set.

The video system is based around GreenHippo Hippotizer V3s which McLean wasable to program using a grandMA2. Themain grandMA triggers the Hippotizer to runthe cues while Green Hippo Zookeepersoftware monitors all its layers (eight for theprojection and four for the LED wall) whichare then networked together.

“Video is very effective in enhancing the setand is a great help for the lighting as the setdressing is already dealt with,” says Daw.“Projection can’t compete with lighting in thebrighter scenes but it is a very effective wayof treating the set with this kind of show.”

The projector and video system is suppliedby Creative Technology and mounted in a custom-built box made by Andy LathamScenery.

SoundAll sound equipment for Shrek has beenprovided by that other West End stalwart,Autograph. The system features a mix ofloudspeaker brands, including d&baudiotechnik, Meyer, Martin Audio, L-Acoustics and EM Acoustics; amplificationis from d&b and Lab.gruppen. Microphonestoo are a plentiful mix of brands (seeequipment list) though the radio systems areall Sennheiser. A Soundcraft-Studer Vista5SR mixing console sits at front-of-house.

Sound designer Peter Hylenski based hissound design on a mix of the originalBroadway show and US tour, which soundassociate Chris Full translated into theenvironment of Drury Lane. “This set is muchmore of a traditional English flown set,alternating front of tabs and onstagescenes,” says Full. “Drury Lane’s old-styleacoustics work well without a sound system

but this makes it difficult to integrate withamplified content so we had to devise a system that would ideally complement theacoustics.”

“The intention is to take the idea of theoriginal and translate it into the newequipment. We have retained some key toolsfrom the previous shows, such as the StuderVista 5 console, which we have used as a starting point to build the system for thisshow. It is refreshingly easy to use after usingother digital desks in theatre. It is quick toprogram, rather like an old analogueconsole, which means we can spend moretime making the show sound good instead ofprogramming!”

The show has a large musical dynamicranging from rock to traditional musical styleso the system had to cope with both ends ofthat spectrum. The surround sound, absentfrom the touring production, has beenreinstated, whilst the onstage effectsspeakers were re-worked to fit the new set.These add realism for the on-stage Dragon,but otherwise most equipment is in theauditorium.

The tour structure has been retained for theorchestra, now located in the pit instead ofsplit into separate rooms as for theBroadway production. “It was a bit of a squeeze since we had to make enough


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room for Donkey to make his entrancethrough the pit without disturbing themusicians!” says Full.

The show’s larger-than-life characteristicshad to be reflected in the way the showsounds, jumping off the ‘page’ rather thandrawing the audience in in the conventionalmanner. Sound effects - such as burps,roars, pops and farts - are used frequentlyfor comedy value, leaving Hylenski and Fullto achieve a tricky mix of realistic scene-setting and unrealistic comic effects. “It’s a fine balance to make the audience believethey are in a different environment andacceptably connected to the characters tohave an emotional response, whilstsimultaneously introducing the fun elementsto make the characters larger than life.”

The hub of the sound effects system is theD-Mitri Digital Audio Platform and DSP Matrixengine, which Full and Hylenski use to mixelements of the show together and balancethe rock and traditional elements. “It’s verynew and much more powerful than the Matrix3 system of earlier shows,” says Full.

On stage the greatest challenge is theamount of prosthetics in use. Almost everycharacter wears some and the effect on thesound of the microphones is immense. Thesound team had to work closely with theactors and the prosthetics department to find

solutions that were both comfortable andfunctional. “We had to take into account howeach actor breathes, the shape of the face,the mould of the head,” says Full. “Eachactor was different and all had to have theirown individual set. Moving the microphoneeven as little as quarter of an inch had a bigeffect so it was very much a case of trial anderror, and with only one chance per day tomake any adjustments. It was a painstakingprocess and a real labour of love!”

“We were able to draw on the pastexperience of the American team and hone

the present production with a learnedapproach. This has enabled us to go forwardquickly with new ideas and be more bold.The result is a fresh production with a lot ofdepth.”

Shrek the Musical hits the nail on the headfor both adults and children. There may besome criticism about the amount of musicalsin the West End again, but when times arehard, people want to be entertained. For two-and-a-half hours a night it is certainly a BigBright Beautiful World at Drury Lane and justthe tonic you might not know you needed.


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