Opera Australia's
2013 Melbourne Ring Cycle

Client

Opera Australia

Location

Victorian Arts Centre’s State Theatre, Melbourne

Services Provided

  • Flame effect design
  • Control and fuel system design and fabrication
  • Supervision of installation
  • Commissioning and operator training

in 2013 Opera Australia staged the ambitious and challenging Ring Cycle in the Victorian Arts Centre’s State Theatre. Live Element was charged with the design and supply of two flame effects for this iteration of the Ring Cycle, both with their own technical challenges.

A common challenge between the two effects was gas and power supply and distribution to the effects that were both installed on a revolving stage. A specialised rotating gas coupling was selected for the gas supply through the floor to an eight way gas distribution system to allow the required gas flow to get to the outer manifold through extremely tight confines within the revolve’s central lift and power distribution area. Careful equipment selection was required to allow for both effects to be controlled from the same gas distribution system and control system making the two final effects almost a “plug and play” change over as needed.

The Marquee effect had a total of 73 linear meters of flame with a calculated gas consumption of 6MW.  Live Element’s critical consideration on this effect was ensuring a safe and reliable light off for the whole length of the burner across plane transitions and around corners whilst hiding transitional pipework from audience site. The Ring was a 4 meter diameter burner providing it’s own technical challenges in counteracting flame layover once the circle of flame was complete. While several complex solutions were explored, a relatively simple solution to the flame layover was found working with Opera Australia’s Technical Crew on site.

“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.”

John citizen — Managing Director, Opera Australia

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