Astera Titans for Tense Lord of the Flies Production posted: 31/10/2019
Daniel Monks, Justin Amankwah Contessa Treffone, Nyx Calder and Yerin Ha in STC's Lord of the Flies, 2019. Photo Zan Wimberley
Lighting designer Alex Berlage used 36 x Astera Titan Tube battery-powered wireless LED fixtures, each rigged on two individual winches, to produce a range of lighting, location effects, architecture and scenic elements for a compelling and edgy new production of Lord of The Flies' staged at Roslyn Packer Theatre by the Sydney Theatre Company.
Directed by Kip Williams, the production has been acclaimed for many aspects including its diverse mixed gender 11-person adult cast who brought new energy and insight into William Golding's tense psychological novel that explores some brutal, uncomfortable and uncompromising issues related to chaos, power and human behaviour.
The cast of STC's Lord of the Flies, 2019.
Alex is a theatrical director as well as a lighting designer and he's constantly looking at different and more spatial ways to use lighting for building dramaturgic foundations and challenging some of the more traditional rules of lighting.
Lord of The Flies presented an ideal opportunity for an alternative and experimental approach that blurred and blended the roles of lighting and space ... which enabled the Titan Tubes to help create the scenography.
The Tubes were almost like cast members, he explained, transcending the set, lighting and direction.
Each tube was flown on the two individually controlled Orbisfly winches so they could be used to change shape and definition of the space and interact with the cast. Towards the end of the play, eight were unclipped from their catenary flying wires and used as luminous sticks by the cast.
The cast of STC's Lord of the Flies, 2019.
It's the first time that Alex has utilized Astera products in one of this shows, and the decision came when he, Kip and set designer Elizabeth Gadsby had all decided that a wireless kinetic lighting element would assist in creating the specific desired aesthetic.
They started looking around for suitable options together with Corinne Fish, full-time lighting supervisor for the Sydney Theatre Company and chief LX on Lord of the Flies. It was also the first time that Corinne had worked with Astera.
Her role was working closely with Alex, taking care of all the non-design lighting aspects of the show including managing any hires, managing the lighting budget, running the crew and technical schedules, plus organising, planning and overseeing all rigging / power / data schematics, etc.
Mia Wasikowska in STC's Lord of the Flies, 2019. Photo Zan Wimberley
On this production, Corinne had the additional responsibility of delivering the kinetic system, which involved everything from sourcing appropriate equipment for the budget and ensuring this could meet the design brief.
Chameleon lighting were the main lighting suppliers, so Corinne and Alex gave them a brief for the tubes and winches in terms of what they needed to achieve. This included fixtures bright enough to punch through fully lit scenes, and with enough battery life not just for the two-hour show, but also to last for hours of extended technical rehearsals without having to be recharged and Chameleon came back with some fixture options to consider.
Alex, Corinne and the rest of the creative team then visited Chameleon for a demo session of the various fixtures, and it was here that the Titan Tubes stood out as the best option states Corinne.
Alex immediately loved the quality of the Titan Tube output, plus the colours and intensity. As the show lighting started to evolve, he enjoyed changing the rhythm and pace of the action with the Tubes and having the ability to suddenly flip into bright, rich colours or mesmeric flashing and chasing effects, WOW'ing and surprising the audience.
Working with the Titan Tubes was a thoroughly enjoyable process, he says. The more we used them the more we discovered their versatility.
The kinetic system comprised the 36 Titan Tubes, which were picked up at each end by a total of 72 winches.
Custom brackets were 3D printed for either end of the tube which allowed a more slimline fixing point, and also enabled the Tubes to transition from hanging horizontally to vertically via a 90-degree hinge.
Small clips (similar to carabiners, but easier for the cast to release) were attached to the brackets for the scene where the eight Tubes were unclipped from the winch system.
When attached to the winches, paracord was used to tie them to the clips, extending 9 metres. The paracord also tied onto a swivel / weight assembly to counteract twisting or spinning as the Tubes flew in and out vertically. The weight also ensured that the load on the winches didn't drop below the minimum required to keep tension on the lines. When the tubes went vertical, one of the two pick-ups effectively became a slackline.
The DMX controlled winches were positioned across four house fly lines, with 9 tubes / 18 winches per bar. They were also supplied by Chameleon, and picked for their small size, quiet operation and smooth running.
All the winch positional moves and the Titan Tubes were programmed into the house ETC Gio console by Corinne. As the show was so complex, the general lighting rig was programmed and run an EOS Ti console by Blake Garner, a setup that left Corinne to focus on the Tubes and kinetics.
The whole Tube / Kinetic system was a huge undertaking and a collaboration that took considerable planning, research and testing to eventually arrive at the setup utilised in the show. Set designer Elizabeth was also involved in the imaginative side of how the kinetics were used to enhance the locations for each scene.
Corinne really enjoyed using the Titan Tubes. Th
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
28/08/2025
IBC stand 5.F81
Wowza to Reveal Next-Gen Video Streaming Innovations at IBC 2025
Amsterdam, August 28, 2025 Wowza, a leader in video streaming infrastructur...
Astera Titans for Tense Lord of the Flies Production posted: 31/10/2019 
