Live
Placemaking
National Theatre
Dorfman Upgrade
year
2025
capabilities
Machinery Automation
Design & Engineering
Performer Flying
Service & Support
Fabrication
Integration
The Dorfmann theatre is the smallest of the Royal National Theatre’s three venues; a versatile space with a capacity of 450. All of the National Theatre’s performance spaces are equipped with TAIT equipment, built on the Navigator automation platform, which also enables cross-department integration such as tight synchronization of lighting or video with automated effects.
We have upgraded the house flying facilities in the Dorfmann with a TAIT Automated Flying System consisting of nine sets of flybars and six relocatable point hoists into the tight space constraints. The new point hoists are now rated for performer flying and can achieve up to EN17206 UC6. The equipment was provided along with the associated control cabinets. We have extended the motion control system to incorporate the existing lifts, thereby integrating all machinery into one homogeneous system, with control from TAIT epiQ and Compass consoles, including the TAIT Kinesys Digihoist control of chain hoists.
The first production to be staged in the newly refurbished theatre was a new play titled “The Estate”, directed by Daniel Raggett, for which Chloe Lamford’s set design made use of the flybars and lifts for dramatic transitions between scenes in different locations, enabling the story to flow with scene changes taking place in view of the audience without interrupting the emotional tension in the story.
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