Hoists & Controls

The traditional manually operated theatre flying sets that were relied upon for years to move scenery, lighting and other elements in the theatre are slowly giving way to modern technologies capable of moving more complex loads smoothly and with greater precision, complexity and repeatability demanded by the modern theatre production.

The smooth and silent counterweight system has and continues to serve the industry well. The time consuming and tiring downsides of loading and unloading every time something was hung on a bar were overlooked as there was no other viable alternative.

However the wide spread development and availability of industrial drives with programmable controls, encoders and associated winches and hoists have dramatically changed the landscape of stage machinery. Once only available to big production budgets this technology is now within reach of many productions. Today smaller venues may take advantage of this progress particularly in the areas of lifting safety and risk management.

These technologies, developed for larger markets, have been adapted to the theatre industry to allow a safer and more repeatable infrastructure that assists in creating the “magic” required in theatre production.

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