Grid
FLY TOWERS
Invisible to the audience during performances, the grid and the fly towersFly towers (flies) - The top part of the grid, from which technicians called fly operators manoeuvre parts of the sets up and down. make up the overhead area directly above the Stage, at a height of 22m. It is mainly the domain of the fly operators, who raise and lower the sets onto the stage.
During the rehearsals, the work of the fly operators (who are part of the stage crew) consists mostly of digitally encoding the manoeuvres.
Although everything is motorised now, the presence of several fly operators during the performances is no less crucial! It is not uncommon for parts of sets weighing several tonnes to be suspended in the flies. The watchful eyes of the fly operators verify that each manoeuvre goes as planned (and above all that the singers are in the right place when parts of the sets are being lowered).
The Stage is the domain of the stagehands, but they are involved right from the beginning of the scenic designScenic design - The art and study of the construction of scenery for the stage (closely related to the staging). process. Each production is a new challenge: “We always work with prototypes.” M.M., Head of Stage
During the production of Norma (2021), several parts of the set were suspended in the flies, including the reproduction of a car and a sculpture made of recycled car parts, altogether weighing a tonne and a half!
Build of the castle for Bluebeard’s Castle (2018). The flies are also used to assemble the sets. On this occasion, the build was carried out starting at the top: the upper levels were assembled first before being suspended while the base of the set was assembled.