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Kinesys for “American Idiot” Copenhagen
A Kinesys automation system with Vector control was used for the production of Green Day’s “American Idiot” rock musical, staged in Copenhagen at Den Grå Hal (The Grey Hall). Benjamin La Cour’s scenography featured three large scenic ‘slabs’ of concrete which lifted, tilted and elevated to change the shape and architecture of the stage throughout the performance. They formed a floor, a ceiling and several other shapes and spaces.
The three slabs each measured 8 x 4 metres and were suspended by four half-tonne Liftket vari-speed hoists fitted with Kinesys Elevation 1+ drives - capable of running up to 24 metres-a-minute. Each piece weighed around 900 Kgs and was picked up from the four points located about a metre from either end.
The undersides of the slabs were graduated, mirroring the shape of the stage below, with which the undersides ‘mated’ when in the down position. The Kinesys system was supplied to the production by Riggingworks Sweden (RWS) from Stockholm, run by John ‘Jonnymac’ McDonough, and was operated on site by Roger Smissen.
The 12 dynamic points were monitored via a Kinesys LibraCell/LibraPro system, together with the 6 static points that were partly suspending the production mother grid on Lodestar D8 Motors. The mother grid comprised two upstage/downstage trusses each suspended by two 1-tonne D8 motors plus a dead-hung point in the middle. All six were fitted with LibraCells.
The upstage edges of the grid were also landed on a ground-supported scaffolding structure serving as the band platform, gaining the last additional elements of weight loading needed to support the upstage lighting trusses.
The grid was fitted tight to the roof-space with the motor chains run in almost to their full length. Two cross-stage trusses rested on top of the mother grid, each supporting six of the 12 Kinesys Liftket (moving) motor points. The last one on each side was cantilevered on the offstage edge of the mother-grid to gain maximum height as the roof starts to slope downwards.
The LibraCell information all fed into the PDU and then into the Vector computer, so Roger Smissen could check and keep an eye on the state of the system there, as well as observing it on the dedicated LibraWatch app. The LibraWatch app also showed the dynamic loading and gave minimum/maximum readings for the weight on each point across the whole show.
The stage and the height of the set pieces brought the bottom surface up to 2 metres off the venue floor, so between that and the low ceiling the team managed to get 5.4 metres of travel on the front end of the slabs and 4.9 metres on the back. Before moving into Den Grå Hal, the complete rig was set up in a test venue so everyone involved could see how the automation could work as an aesthetic vehicle for the production.
Benjamin La Cour - who also created the lighting design with Sune Verdier – director/choreographer Tim Zimmerman and Roger Smissen experimented with numerous different moves, positons and transitions during this technical period. There were over 40 cues in the Vector with multiple changes in many scenes.
(Photos: Louise Stickland)
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