BATMAN REIGNS - DiGiCo

Opposite: Batman wowed fans and critics in the mini Gotham City. Below: Es Devlin’s set design was intricately detailed.
LH2 Studios in London held the lighting and
automation rehearsals which lasted a month,
supplied by Upstaging and Neg Earth. A further
three weeks of pre-production took place in
Nottingham before a week of technical runs
began in Manchester. Following that, three days
of open rehearsals took place in Manchester for
5,500 people a night, before the official world
premiere took place at the city’s MEN Arena.
SECURING THE CIRCUS
Looking up from the impressive stage, the
ceiling truss has been built into a horseshoe
shape, doubling up as a PA rig with eight zones
in the air for surround sound. “We’re using Clair
Brothers’ i3 cabinets, they do such a great job,”
said an enthusiastic Reeves. There are also 200
moving lights on the rig.
“I enjoy the figuring out of the entire show;
making it move faster, that’s what I get excited
about. For example, we have circus acts,
trapezes and winches up there, but Tait built the
catwalk so that the lights take just 15 minutes
to de-rig. Those planning details really save time
for the future.”
The rigging was secured by Lance Desmond,
and Performer Rigger, Mark Perrin, with
department head Johannes Soelter overseeing.
Trussing was brought in by John Fletcher of Five
Points Production Services, another company
to have worked on the Walking with Dinosaurs
arena spectacular.
A MINI GOTHAM
The set design was in good hands. Es Devlin
received critical acclaim for her Take That set on
the Progress Live tour, a production to which
Lighting Designer Patrick Woodroffe also lent
his talent. Said Reeves: “We have the best
people involved, all around us on this show.
And there’s a lot of detail in the staging, it’s not
just painted on. It’s fascinating; it took eight
weeks to make this mini Gotham City.”
Tait Towers designed and supplied various
visual, scenic and flying effects to bring the
comic book hero’s story to life with a mix
of circus-style stunts and industry-leading
technology, video animation and special effects.
Helping to turn Set Designer Es Devlin and
Executive Producer Nick Grace’s ideas into
reality, Tait supplied over 20 different technical
elements, which were produced specifically for,
and integrated into the set.
Matt Hales, Project Manager at Tait Towers,
started working on the project in May 2010. He
said: “An ambitious production of this size and
with so many new things to be tried, which was
due to embark on such a lengthy tour, needed
close attention to detail; not just on how things
looked and worked, but also how quickly they
could be assembled and how they could be
transported.”
The production centred around one main
stage, which Tait created with visual impact
and ease of assembly and use at the core of
ON THE ROAD: Batman Live
its design. Hales explained: “The rolling main
stage is comprised of a Tait proprietary system
which magnetically locates the decks. We
set up parts in different sections of the arena
floors, which allow the aerial mother grid and
stage to be simultaneously worked on. Once
the grid has been lifted, each stage section
can be rolled into place, aligned with total
accuracy and assembled very quickly. The stage
contains some very complex elements including
prop lifts, circular lifts, video integration and a
pantographic staircase.”
The main stage incorporates a video floor
which was developed specifically for the show
by the Tait design team and Frederic Opsomer at
Tait Technologies in Europe. Made from custom
aluminium, all LEDs are embedded into the deck
structures, offering significantly better durability
and integrity.
“A much higher capacity system,” Hales
continued, “is needed for a production of this
scale to cope with elements such as the 800 kilo
Batmobile and the high pressures excerpted on
the stage by stilt performers and acrobats.”
The track which the Batmobile travels on
is integrated into the structure of the stage,
with the Batmobile travelling at up to 16ft
per second. This is incredibly fast for a theatre
show effect, but it was vital to incorporate this
capacity. Hales commented: “The emergence
of the Batmobile was a key moment in the
performance, almost a character in itself.”
TPi SEPTEMBER 2011 • 43