Unusual Rigging Limited is a company specialising in moving, suspending, lifting or shifting “things”. Within their markets in the entertainment, sporting, events and corporate sectors, the “things” that Unusual Rigging handles include people, vehicles, stage scenery, seating and even aircraft. Recent projects include the safety and access equipment for the display on Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth in London and the upside down display of a F1 racing car in the National Science Museum.

Smiths Profiles were contacted by Unusual Rigging to help provide the solution to a problem in the theatre world. In two venues in Dublin, the Grand Canal Square Theatre and the Convention Centre Theatre, Unusual Rigging needed to install a "flying system" of pulleys and counterweights in order to move large items of scenery of up to 500 kilograms in weight. Aluminium extrusions were the ideal material, being lightweight and yet strong. This allowed a design that could be quietly and speedily operated by one person. Smiths Profiles ensured that the black anodising, needed to disguise the mechanism against the stage backdrop, was consistent and complete, and that the aluminium profiles were produced accurately and on time. Like all theatre projects, from a stage production to the ticketing, it had to be "alright on the night"!

The photo shows the systems of counterweights with the extruded aluminium mounting bars behind. The profiles were finished in matt black anodising to blend in with the background of the theatre stage.

"Smiths Profiles understood our needs and were not satisfied until they had delivered exactly what we required to complete our project on time" – Barry Tiernan, Project Manager at Unusual Rigging Ltd. The Wharf, Bugbrooke, Northamptonshire, NN7 3QB
Tel: 01604 830083 Web: http://www.unusual.co.uk/