James Thomas Engineering custom designed and built a spectacular integrated stage set for the touring version of 'Cliff The Musical' - a colourful, light-hearted musical journey through the career of one of the UK's most successful artists.
JTE was approached by Darren Wring of Bristol-based Fineline, suppliers of stage set and lighting to the show's production company That'll Be The Day.
The set idea was initially conceived by Charles Cusick-Smith and Phil R Daniels. When Wring came onboard, he helped evolve it into a tourable structure, and turned to JTE for the construction. He worked closely with JTE project manager Pat Lockwood, and together they produced an aesthetically pleasing, highly practical set designed specifically for the tour.
The set contains all major physical elements of the show - band, entrances & exits, specific lighting positions, scenic guitar frets, projection surfaces, performance areas, etc - in a fixed area. It had to be flexible enough to adapt and work in a series of very different venues, including the Prince of Wales Theatre in London during its popular West End run.
The set's superstructure is a huge platform 8 metres wide by 3 metres deep, with a curved roof extending up to 7 metres, high made from trussing arches. A 13.5 metre truss beam runs lengthways across stage, forming the set's 'virtual' ceiling.
Upstage is a set of 5 robust revolving aluminium scenic doors, used for entrance and exit points by the cast. When shut, these double as a projection surface. With the doors used extensively by the cast, clear 'rat run' access was needed behind them, so the structure is braced from back to front rather than the more conventional right to left, or via diagonals.
The band are located in an elevated upstage area above the doors, complete with inbuilt acoustic shields, and the set also contains two ground-supported arched trussing side stage entrances.
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