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WE WILL ROCK YOU The Next Stage’s Oliver Laight explains how the company built the framework for the famous Queen-themed show.
Starting life as one of the most successful shows on London’s West End, We Will Rock You is now touring the UK, bringing its inimitable brand of Queen-themed entertainment to theatres up and down the country, presented by Phil McIntyre Productions. Stufish Entertainment Architects was brought back in to take the creative lead on the tour, with video design by Treatment and lighting by Rob Sinclair. Stufish has been a part of the We Will Rock You story for a number of years, having designed the original 2002 show and every other official replica production since. For the 2019 iteration, the goal was to move this touring version into a completely digital panorama. Utilising video screens, the set can form different shapes and levels as a way of creating different scenes on stage. With a variety of venues set to host the touring production, the set had to have the ability to fit onto a number of different sized stages. Brought in to provide staging and set production services for the tour were The Next Stage, MDM and Total Fabrications. “We built all of the custom frameworks to fit LED panels onto the set, the support structure for the tracking/flown video screens and the transport carts for these assemblies,” commented The Next Stage’s Oliver
Laight. “Later in the build period, we were asked to build the Killer Queen Throne, a 4 ft tall, rolling riser with telescopic steps up to it. This provided numerous challenges as the piece had steps that retracted into the unit, and LED lighting that all needed to be packaged into it. It also had to have a top deck that could tilt to account for raked stages.” The Next Stage was first approached to work on the project in May. “We had completed a couple of projects for Broome Productions’ Andy Gibbs before – notably sets for theatre productions of Catherine Tate Live and the TV show Early Doors,” explained Laight. “We received initial design concepts from Stufish Entertainment Architects. The design went through a couple of versions, but with only minor changes each time. This design package was very comprehensive with scene by scene breakdowns and an animation of how the set pieces had to move around during the show. The final production was very true to the concept.” Well thought out packaging was crucial. “This is something that The Next Stage specialises in,” noted Laight. “Custom transport carts were built with location cones and latches to hold all of the pieces in position to avoid the LED assemblies from being damaged in transport.” The large LED screens were built into modular sections, which allowed for a faster load 22
