Stage direction: RSC drives for success with automated hoist technology

When the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) decided to renovate its home theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, it wanted to create an experience for theatre goers that was closer to how Shakespeare’s original audiences would have watched his plays. But building a relatively small stage that thrust out into the audience created some particular problems for those in charge of controlling the scenery and lighting mechanisms.

‘There are two factors at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre that are slightly different from other theatres,’ said Adam Harvey, head of automation at the RSC. ‘One is we’ve got a thrust stage rather than the normal proscenium arch, so that means there doesn’t tend to be big sets and scenery but there might be lots of little bits and pieces flying in and out over the head of the stage.

‘The second thing is that we do shows in rep so we might do a couple of performances and then a two-hour change into another show and then a two-hour change into another show. So whatever sets we have must be quite flexible in terms of how quickly we can change them over.’