- 01634 831719
- info@stagesolutions.uk.com
Metrodeck and the Theatre used by the award-winning Drama students of Nescot College in Epsom work under the name Forge Theatre. Their large black box space has a package of Metrodeck staging meticulously assembled over a number of years by Technical Director Clair Prime.
Under Clair’s watchful eye, and with the help of the versatile Metrodeck, students get to experience a range of theatrical performance styles: end-on, traverse, thrust and in-the-round.
But it’s not just the acting area that gets the benefit of the Metrodecks. Clair also uses them to makes raked seating for the audience, who now enjoy the best views of the shows.
Of course, good equipment is no substitute for the skill of the pupils and the knowledge of the staff. But it can certainly help them to expand their artistic horizons in a way that would otherwise be impossible. The very simplicity of the kit actively encourages the use of the imagination.
As Clair said of the Metrodeck: “We’ve been very inventive with different layouts and without a doubt it’s been a massive blessing to our department and our productions!”
Metrodeck and the Theatre go hand in hand so for your next production get in touch info@stagesolutions.uk.com
West Meon Theatre was founded in 1993 by Mary Dawson. It’s a community theatre which performs in a wide range of venues, from the village hall and local pub garden to Winchester Theatre Royal. In 2008, Mary approached us to find a way to extend the stage in the hall. We provided a package of Metrodeck units, all standard sizes bar one so that the extension perfectly matched the width of the hall’s stage. Since then the group has been using the staging in different ways according to the different venues.
It was used in an ‘in the round’ production of “Cider with Rosie” back in 2009. This show was performed in a tent in the gardens of local The Thomas Lord Pub and won the coveted Daily Echo Curtain Call Award for production of the year.
Cider with Rosie
In 2013 Neville’s Island was performed in West Meon Village Hall, with the Metrodeck being used once again as a stage extension.
Neville’s Island
And just last year the Metrodeck was used to create different levels as part of a traverse production of Dylan Thomas’s “A Child’s Christmas in Wales”.
A Child’s Christmas in Wales
Every couple of years WMT is on the phone to us looking for some different legs or an extra accessory to enable its stock to work in a new way. But essentially, it’s the original stock which is still going strong in all these different formats.
As Mary Dawson remarks “Having Metrodeck since 2008 has transformed our work in West Meon Theatre. It is easy and simple to use and store. We are able to move it around from one venue to another and with the varying size extra legs recently bought have the flexibility to create some imaginative staging areas. Stage Solutions have always been helpful and very responsive to our needs. We wouldn’t go anywhere else!”
To produce shows with the Wow Factor is a challenge in any environment. It’s especially tough to achieve in schools, where budgets are small, resources limited and where the pupils have so many other siren attractions. In 2002, HACA’s stage was no longer fit for purpose and was undermining the efforts of Director of Creative Arts Stephen Foster to mount shows which really generated a buzz. Stephen knew that something had to change if he were to create a virtuous circle of interest, enjoyment and success.
So he bought a stock of Metrodeck. There’s no silver bullet in this situation but his instincts were spot-on.
“Buying the Metrodecks literally placed the productions at another level,” says Stephen, “which inspired the stage design team and performers to even greater heights”.
And soon the department had earned itself a reputation for all the right reasons.
“No other stage system I have seen offers the flexibility, strength, ease of construction and storage that I get from Metrodeck. And, crucially, I get great support when I need special pieces – like trapdoors – for shows.”
Over the past 13 years Stephen and his crew have tackled serious plays…
and exuberant musicals…
They have entered national drama competitions and excelled. And, throughout all of this, his original stock of Metrodecks has carried on performing too. Come to think of it, the decks have been in more productions than any of his pupils.
Supplying customers like Stephen over a such a long time is both a privilege and something which offers really practical benefits to both sides.
“It has been the best and longest lasting piece of kit we bought!” says Stephen.
Are you looking to hire 30,000 chairs? Or do you just want to buy a single patio set? In either case, Melton Mowbray-based BE Event Hire can look after you. Their range of work takes them from royal palaces to schools, from cruise ships to rock festivals. And one of their stalwart hire lines is the Steeldeck staging they bought from us almost two decades ago.
“With such a huge range of work, it’s vital to have a stage we can build to the size and shape required for each job” says BE’s Margaret Adams, adding “We’ve been able to rely on our stock of Steeldeck for so long now that it’s hard to imagine life without it.”
Margaret kindly sent us some pictures of the staging decks in action. It’s a tiny selection but it neatly demonstrates the range of work.
Prize-giving at Moat Community College, Leicester and a Children’s Fun Run in Wollaton Park, Nottingham.
The launch of the RRS Discovery, at £75m the newest addition to the UK’s fleet of research vessels, built to support world-leading marine research everywhere from tropical seas to polar oceans. And then a rather different launch – a new model at Beechwood Mazda in Derby!
It’s always good to hear that our kit is still in use after so many years – even better when the customer is coming back to ask for more.
Stage Solutions supplies Steeldeck 7.5 in both metric and imperial configurations and there is a whole host of accessories from handrail and treads to multi-coupliers and bolt-on corner posts.
If you would like to hear more about our Steeldeck 7.5 or any of our other modular staging product or our bespoke audience tiering then please feel free to contact one off our team here at Stage Solutions info@stagesolutions.uk.com 01634 831719
We first supplied staging to Komedia Brighton, record 12-time winners of the Chortle Comedy Award for Best Venue in the South, way back in 2003. Hosting more than 700 live performances a year, the Komedia team certainly knows a bit about the rough and tumble of a continuously changing schedule. As Production Manager Lex Hollingworth explains:
“Here at Komedia we have a modular stage and we change our layout almost daily. For this reason we needed a sturdy, light-weight deck that would last the test of time…
…And that’s precisely what Phil found us. Stage Solutions have always provided us with the perfect product and great customer service and that’s why we have continued to work with them for well over a decade.”
A few years ago we also supplied staging to the new Komedia Bath as well. As Lex and his colleagues know, theirs is a precarious business, so it’s great to be able to rely on the staging show after show, year after year.
Over more than 20 years we have installed orchestra pit infills and stage extensions at theatres and concert halls around the UK. So we were delighted to win the contract to design and install the two layers of staging which were required by the new theatre at the American International School Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
We undertook a rigorous site survey and produced detailed drawings prior to manufacture of more than 50no Steeldeck 7.5 frames, many of them bespoke, at our Chatham workshops. The equipment was flown to site and we sent three technicians to carry out the installation with local support.
As you can see from the photos below, the frames fitted perfectly. We then installed the dual-purpose wall brackets: these hold the handrails when the pit is in use and support the I-beams when the stage is in place. Finally, the decks were topped, scribed in and the surface finishes applied – carpet for the infill decks and dancefloor vinyl for the stage extension.
The result was a spectacular success with the two levels of staging perfectly integrating into the magnificent auditorium.
The client was extremely happy with the practicality of the equipment and with the overall look of the auditorium. And who can blame them?
Click here for a short video of the install.
Nescot College bought a package of Metrodeck back in 2010. Technical Theatre Manager Clair Prime wanted a system that would be flexible enough to offer seating and staging options for the many productions mounted by Forge Theatre and The NEXUS Ensemble who are the companies of performing arts students – but robust enough to survive them.
“We have used it in a variety of formations over the years – the most obvious being end on with all decks at regular height.” said Clair “And on other occasions tier structures like this”.
“We’ve had a full sized boxing ring in the theatre for a production of Frantic Assembly’s ‘Beautiful Burnout’ and the Metrodeck gave us the opportunity to create seating on three sides of the ring to involve the audience in the action. Over the years have used the Metrodeck into many other variations including layouts suited to the musical ‘Loserville’ and an evening of quality devised work.”
So, five years on, the Metrodeck kit is not just surviving but thriving as part of a dynamic department producing a huge range of shows in a variety of formats.
The Bournemouth International Centre hosts a huge variety of events and activities. They have had a stock of our Steeldecks for many years now.
As Operations Manager Peter Woods told us, this week the decks were used to create a temporary stage for a jazz band which will perform during the Bournemouth University Graduation Ceremonies. Some 13,000 people will attend throughout the week including family, friends and, of course, the graduates themselves.
The Steeldecks at the BIC are used in many ways, such as temporary stages, P.A. wings, accessible platforms and camera risers. It’s a great example of how this versatile workhorse of a system goes on providing value year after year.
Metrodeck is our most popular modular staging system and one of the most widely used in the UK.
Customers for this system include professional and amateur theatres; concert and municipal halls; schools, colleges and universities; churches and places of worship; corporate clients, the army, LOCOG and many more.
Until the end of the year we are offering a set of steel legs up to 1m and a black emulsion-painted top for each deck free to customers on the basis of them ordering at least 5no 2mx1m Metrodecks.
Call us for details – and don’t forget to quote FREE15.
If you have heard of You Me Bum Bum Train you’ll probably remember the name. If not, let me explain a little about it.
To call it a unique or immersive theatrical experience conjures up something altogether too predictable. Alone, you pass through a series of entirely naturalistic scenes whose nature you only discover as you enter them. The key element is that you are the centre of attention, the pivot of the action. Each time – and there may be up to 20 scenes – you have to decide how (or if) to respond. The “passengers” are sworn to secrecy so that the scenes remain a surprise for those who come after.
However, examples of scenarios from previous shows include giving the eulogy at a funeral, hosting your own radio phone-in show, excavating a hole with a JCB, conducting an orchestra and giving the team talk to an American Football team. Remember, in each case you walk into the scene without any warning of what it contains and have to react to what you are presented with. It’s a white-knuckle ride.
The other amazing thing about YMBBT is that it is possible to be one of the hundreds of performers needed to make these scenes so real. No acting experience necessary – just sign up through their website. It’s a different but still extraordinary experience which doesn’t come along very often!
We supported the show in 2012 and are doing so again this year with products and the technical knowhow from years in the theatrical-scenery and stage engineering business. You can check it out here – https://www.facebook.com/youmebumbumtrain.
Kate Bond and Morgan Lloyd first devised this format more than 10 years ago. Each show takes two or three years to get together and demands complete dedication from them. Yet, like the thousands of performers who volunteer to take part in the show, they earn nothing from it. This is a level of commitment and integrity which, even in the undervalued arts world, is rare.
I was lucky enough to participate in 2012 and came out seeing every new location I found myself in as if it were a YMBBT scene. Even now there are times when we talk about “having a YMBBT moment”.
Genuinely extraordinary.