Behind the Production of Lewis Capaldi’s Tour
For Lewis Capaldi’s tour, we supplied a complete automation package designed to create smooth, dramatic transformations throughout the show.
A Closer Look at the Automation, Custom Engineering and Moving Elements
Six custom pantographs, a 15-metre curtain and a stage designed to keep changing shape.
The production design called for automation that could reshape the stage visually while remaining clean, controlled and fully integrated into the wider lighting and scenic concept.
The system combined six custom pantographs with a large Austrian curtain, all driven by MOVEKET technology and controlled through an EXPERT console. The result was a flexible setup capable of changing the shape, scale and atmosphere of the performance space from one moment to the next.
Six Custom Pantographs. One Dynamic Stage.
At the heart of the system were six custom pantographs, developed through a collaboration between Motor Stage Automation’s Christian Vigsø and Alfasystem.
Suspended beneath a 15-metre curved truss trimmed at approximately 17 metres, the pantographs formed an arch around the upstage edge of the oval stage.
Each unit incorporated a 500 kg variable-speed MOVEKET hoist, making the pantograph load-bearing. A bar carrying three Ayrton Rivale moving lights was mounted below each one, allowing the lighting positions themselves to become part of the moving architecture of the show.
10 M Pantograph reach
250 KG Maximum load at the bottom
6 Custom pantographs
15 M Curved truss
Behind The Automation
During production rehearsals, it became clear that the ribbon drums used for the Austrian curtain needed additional capacity. MOTOR responded by designing extension sidewalls, 3D-printing prototypes in-house and working with a local fabricator to produce around 100 finished components plus spares — all in less than 24 hours.
Project manager Jimmy Johnson prepared the system together with the production’s automation crew chief and technician Ben Hammett, while operator Jody Diaz Francis programmed and operated the MOVEKET system on tour.
Six custom-built units created variable lighting positions and dramatically altered the architecture above the stage. Motor’s ribbon-drum system delivered smooth and controlled movement of the large Austrian curtain.
Movement That Changes The Atmosphere
Engineered for the movement. Built for the show.
From lighting structures extending into the performance space to a 15-metre curtain disappearing above the stage, the automation became an active part of the visual language of the production.
Different systems. Different movements. One goal: giving the creative team the freedom to reshape the stage throughout the show — smoothly, reliably and night after night.