SUMMER | REVIEW
You’re a technician, Harry
The projection wizardry
achieved throughout the show
is all triggered in real-time, as
Access found out when speaking
to the show’s heads of automation,
video and lighting. “We don’t
use timestamps,” says Joseph
Sheppard, automation technician.
“Everything is done by reacting
to real time cues on stage, and
Augmented
The projection wizardry of Cirque du
Soleil’s Toruk: The First Flight pushes
the boundaries of how technology
can interact with live performance
instruction from the stage
manager.”
Reaction is the key word. Cirque
du Soleil has gone to great lengths
to ensure its technology is nimble
enough to react to the dynamic
movement of its performers. It
has worked in collaboration with
BlackTrax, a system which tracks
LED diodes inside each performers’
bodysuit, in order to pick them out
from the busy stage with lighting
and other effects.
During one forest scene, the
entire stage floor is covered
16
kiters perform on is covered in
projected video, and the set can be
changed at the press of a button.
As the show begins, a costumed
narrator stands on a raised
platform, and warns the audience
that the moon of Pandora is
covered in hazards, such as
volcanoes. On cue, a wave of
projected lava billows out from
underneath his feet, and washes
over the first few rows of the
audience.
ity
“W
e’re projecting
onto a surface the
size of five IMAX
screens,” says Janie Mallet, part
of the touring management team
for Toruk: The First Flight. “And
our team contains an even split of
performers and technicians.”
The latest show from Canada’s
Cirque du Soleil, the largest
theatrical producer in the world,
came to London’s The O2 in June
for the final leg of its worldwide
tour. Toruk: The First Flight is
a prequel to James Cameron’s
Avatar, dreamed up under the
supervision of Cameron’s own
Lightstorm Entertainment.
Like Avatar , Toruk makes heavy
use of cutting-edge technology,
despite the themes of natural
mysticism that run throughout
its world of Pandora. The entirety
of the stage which the acrobats,
puppeteers, contortionists and