Make it Move
A behind the scenes look at automation in theatre.
Desks that rise through the stage. Walls that disappear before your eyes. Blackboards that slide downstage by themselves. Objects — and, even more impressively, people — that swoop and glide through the air. This is the magic of theatre in 2018 — and it is brought to amazed audiences through the skill and technical knowhow of the scenic automation team.
Take Disney’s Aladdin. The show guarantees gasps of wonder every night with a wafer-thin magic carpet that glides through the air, and at one point flies across the stage, actors aboard, against the backdrop of a giant moon. In fact, the carpet has become so important to the show that it takes a curtain call alongside the cast. How is it done?
“That remains the subject of feverish speculation,” says Martin Wade (Guildhall alumnus, Technical Theatre 2015), head of automation for Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, currently on at the Apollo. “The cast and production team are contractually obligated not to reveal the secret. Illusion designer Jim Steinmeyer has said that it uses a classic method from the early 20th century, that the equipment takes up a lot of technical real estate, and that he turned to rock ’n’ roll experts Tait Towers for help. But that’s all we know!”
Automation is now a core part of how shows are conceived, so much so that it alters the way directors, producers and designers think. “Automation means we can place items on stage very precisely in terms of time and space,” says Andy Taylor, Head of Theatre Technology at Guildhall. “It’s not just in theatre — I show our students a YouTube video of the artist Pink doing a show where she flies across a space the size of the O2 to be placed down on a tiny podium. She lands on the same spot every night — because it’s computer-controlled, you can be exact. That would have been unthinkable even a few years ago.”
At Guildhall, Theatre Technology students often start their degree with very limited experience of automation — but they get to start pushing the boundaries almost immediately.
“We’re lucky enough to have a fully automated theatre in Milton Court, with the latest stage technology system,” says Taylor. “When students see the potential of what we can do with the set, it’s like science fiction to them. Suddenly, pieces of scenery can be moved not just up and down, but through 3D. And they learn how to programme the flying system, not just operate it.”
Which is lucky, because in 2018, the automator’s biggest challenge is responding to a director’s wish list. Joshua Colenutt (Guildhall alumnus, Technical Theatre 2016), currently working as Automation №3 for Tina: The Musical at the Aldwych, explains: “The director says, ‘It would be great if this piece of scenery could do that’ and it’s your team’s job to make it happen. Audiences increasingly expect the wow factor and the aim is for them to watch and think ‘That’s cool’, not think about how you made it work.”
But while the effects of automation — and the technology itself — are highly creative, the job itself is closely focused on safety and precision. Indeed, aside from the ability to programme complicated stage technology systems such as eChameleon (the system used at Guildhall and many West End theatres), it’s vital that a stage automation operator can keep cool under pressure, as Martin Wade points out. “The cast are the main variable and there are always 10–15 seconds of unpredictability in any show, where you have to keep your head,” he says. “You can have fun with the job, but at crucial times you need to switch into safety mode.”
Safety starts with checking, as Wade explains. “We check all the mechanical pieces, going up on to the trusses to check the cables, nuts and bolts are tight,” he says. “If there are flying pieces, or people, then we go into the grid and check the steel wire ropes and that the rigging is in the right place. Preventive rather than reactive maintenance is vital. You don’t want to be the person who didn’t check something properly.”
Ensuring that everyone involved in the production remains safe is one of the reasons why flying people remains the stage automation hand’s biggest challenge. “If you are flying an inanimate object, it doesn’t matter so much if you drop it, as long as it is not on someone’s head,” says Taylor. “But obviously flying a person brings a whole new dimension of health and safety and risk assessment. We train people in rescue in case there is a power failure and someone gets stuck in the air.”
That rigour is even more important in 2018: while many of the older West End theatres still have traditional ropes, pulleys and a counter-weight system in place, new technology is transforming the way they are used. “Where once a person would be operating a winch, now we press a button to make it happen,” Colenutt says. “Of course, if you press the wrong button, you can hurt someone. But you can also always press the red button to stop everything moving — which you may need to do quickly if an actor is in the wrong place on the stage.”
Colenutt says he has found himself in a position where “something disastrous was about to happen. You learn to anticipate the mistakes actors can make and deal with them calmly, usually by slowing everything down.” And, as Wade points out, “as an 18-year-old you think you can do anything. Being able to learn in the safe space of Guildhall means you soon learn to take responsibility for everything you do.”
But while West End theatres putting on big shows can afford the investment required for full automation, the cost remains a struggle for smaller regional theatres. As Wade points out, having to adjust the show to accommodate different theatres on a tour also brings a whole new set of challenges for the automation team. “When I was working on the Matilda tour, we had to make subtle changes for each venue. In London, the desks come out of the stage on little lifts, but clearly that is impractical for a theatre you are only going to be in for a few days.”
So what does the future hold for automation? Theatre audiences have short memories and have quickly come to expect dramatic onstage effects, placing increasing pressure on directors and producers. “Every new show coming to London will be expected to have one or two new ‘tricks’ in automation,” Wade says. “It’s easy to forget this is still a very young industry. I hope we never get to the stage where we say, ‘That can’t be done’. Today, there are certainly effects that are not physically possible but I am sure we will be able to do five or 10 years down the line.” Colenutt agrees. “Cost has to come into it,” he says, “but technically the potential is huge. I am sure in a few years we will see drones flying around the stage.”
However advanced the technology, the ultimate test is always: does the audience believe it? For most of us, the defining moment of Cameron Mackintosh’s West End revival of Miss Saigon is the arrival of a rotor, a tail light and a cockpit — projection, sound and lighting make it feel like a real helicopter has just landed on stage. And for Andy Taylor, that’s ultimately the only thing that matters.
“For me, the best effects are where you completely believe the magic, and we still have some way to go,” he says. “The opportunities are very exciting, but we teach that automation must always be used in collaboration. It should enhance the performance rather than becoming a stand-alone attraction. The best stage effects come when you get seamless integration of artistry and technology. And the best piece of technology is the one the audience doesn’t notice.”
This article first featured in the Autumn/Winter 2018 edition of the Guildhall magazine, PLAY, and was written by YBM for the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
