THE FUGARD THEATRE GETS THE SCREEN INTERNATIONAL TREATMENT

Super scale: Note the silhouette of Electrosonic's Robbi Nassi at the bottom of the giant screen

The Fugard Theatre in Cape Town proudly bears the name of Athol Fugard, who needs little introduction as South Africa’s most significant and internationally acclaimed playwright. This year he received the ultimate recognition – a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre.

The quaint Fugard Theatre is situated in the historic Sacks Futeran building in District Six and has been the venue for a number of acclaimed productions since it was opened in February 2010.
Electrosonic was involved in the initial equipping of The Fugard, and again more recently when the management team decided to add high definition projection to the 280-seater main theatre.

The requirement was for a large format screen, but because the venue is multi-purpose, the screen had to be out of sight when not in use.  However, making a large screen ‘vanish’ proved to be quite a challenge.

Electrosonic's Joel Davies sourced the appropriate motorised screen – a massive 8,2 x 4,7 metre micro-perforated Cine Pro Screen from Screen International in Italy. The PVC cloth screen has tiny holes which make it acoustically transparent, and four vertical welds which are invisible from a distance greater than three metres. Another unique feature of the screen is the bottom roller mechanism which ensures perfect flatness of the projection cloth.

Selecting the size of the screen was the easy part; the challenge was to hang and rig the 190kg giant from lightweight catwalks. In addition, although the screen rolls up onto its barrel, the screen casing was still in sight.  To overcome this problem, Electrosonic's Keith Pugin, and the owner of Cape Town's Eden Electronics, Brent Thompson,  designed  a winch and pulley system to enable the casing to be lifted out of sight.

Brent and his team spent four days installing the winches and wire rope. To maintain safety requirements, the winches have a 5:1 safety ratio and two 300kg fall arrestors.

A great deal of planning was required to work out how to carry the screen into the theatre without damaging it. In spite of having to lift it over a parked vehicle, the team eventually managed to get it safely indoors.

The successful installation of the mammoth screen is a testament to Keith and Brent’s determination and skill, and Greg Karvellas and Daniel Galloway from The Fugard Theatre were delighted with the results.