Blog

By Anton Woodward

Across theatres, performance venues, and live productions, control systems are mission-critical. Yet many venues are still operating with ageing infrastructure, systems that may have been installed decades ago, often by different providers and using now-obsolete technology.

At AVW, we’ve delivered both full replacements and targeted refurbishments across a wide range of high-profile venues and touring productions. Our experience shows that the right approach depends entirely on the condition of the system, operational demands, and long-term goals.

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When Replacement is the Right Choice

In many venues, legacy systems reach a point where refurbishment is no longer viable. Obsolete hardware, lack of documentation, and years of modifications can create significant operational risk.

We’ve successfully replaced control systems originally installed by others at major venues including:

• Wales Millennium Centre
• Hawth Theatre
• The Lowry
• Jersey Opera House

In these projects, we often encountered:

• Outdated or unsupported control platforms
• Limited system flexibility for modern productions
• Incomplete or missing technical documentation
• Increasing maintenance challenges and downtime risks

A full replacement allowed us to deliver modern, standardised systems designed for reliability, scalability, and ease of use—ensuring these venues are ready for the demands of contemporary productions.

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When Refurbishment Makes More Sense

Not every system needs to be replaced. Where the core infrastructure remains sound, refurbishment can extend system life significantly while minimising cost and disruption.

We’ve refurbished and upgraded our own legacy systems across a number of demanding environments, including:

• The Phantom of the Opera International Tour
• Jersey Boys UK Tour
• Bayan Palace, Kuwait
• Thessaloniki Concert Hall

In these cases, refurbishment involved:

• Upgrading control hardware and interfaces
• Modernising software platforms
• Improving safety and reliability
• Enhancing usability for operators and technicians

This approach enabled continued use of proven systems while bringing them up to modern standards.

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Working with Systems—Ours and Others

One of the key challenges in this sector is variability. No two systems are the same—particularly when stepping into installations originally designed by other providers.

Our work often includes:

• Reverse-engineering existing systems
• Identifying critical risks and failure points
• Developing phased upgrade or replacement strategies
• Delivering upgrades with minimal disruption to live operations

This flexibility is essential, especially in live performance environments where downtime simply isn’t an option.

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A Practical, Experience-Led Approach

At AVW, we don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach. Our recommendations are grounded in real project experience—whether upgrading our own legacy systems or replacing those delivered by others.

The goal is always the same:
to deliver reliable, future-ready control systems that support safe, efficient, and high-quality performance environments.

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If you’re evaluating the condition of your control system or planning your next upgrade, we’re always happy to share our experience and help you explore the best path forward.

Anton Woodward

I’ve often said that the best stage automation is barely noticeable. It moves the story along and does not draw attention to itself.

In most production meetings, my focus is straightforward: weight, speed, safety, synchronisation, noise and repeatability.

• • How much does it weigh?
  • How fast does it need to travel?
  • Can it be delivered safely?
  • What does it need to stay in sync with?
  • Will it do it reliably, eight times a week?

Those questions define the work.

Over time, I’ve found that the answers to them influence more than engineering performance.

Speed is an obvious example. A revolve running marginally slower can extend a moment; slightly faster, and it pushes energy forward. The numerical difference may be small, but on stage the effect is clear.

Mass and perceived weight also matter. A large piece of scenery moving with visible effort reads differently from a lightweight element travelling quickly. Even when audiences are not consciously aware of it, they respond to it.

Synchronisation is critical. When motion lands precisely with lighting or music, it feels resolved. When it is fractionally adrift, it can unsettle rhythm and focus.

None of this alters the primary responsibility of automation. Systems must be safe, predictable and repeatable. Without that foundation, there is no room for nuance.

But once scenery moves in front of an audience, it affects pacing and perception whether we discuss it in those terms or not. Decisions about speed, control and behaviour have consequences beyond mechanics.

If automation is doing its job properly, it supports performance and keeps the story moving.

At its best, it is barely noticeable.

Reflections on Stage Automation Since 1988

Anton Woodward

When I began working in stage automation in 1988, it was, in many respects, an unregulated frontier. There were no harmonised safety standards governing stage and production machinery. Every project was effectively bespoke. Control systems, safety architectures, and validation methods varied widely between suppliers and installations. Much depended on the experience and judgement of individual engineers. Systems worked, often impressively, but they relied heavily on competence rather than codified structure.

Looking back, some of it was genuinely unsettling. Not because people were careless. But because the discipline itself had not yet matured. What we lacked was not ingenuity. We lacked a framework. When everything was bespoke, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, each installation felt like a prototype. Safety philosophy was inconsistent. Redundancy strategies were not standardised. Risk assessments were often narrative rather than analytical. Documentation varied considerably. Much depended on “what we did last time.” As automation became more ambitious and more widely adopted, the limitations of that approach became increasingly clear, particularly as control systems grew more sophisticated and software became integral to operation. The dominant question in those days was: Can we make it move? Over time, that evolved into a more important question: Can we justify it moving? That shift marked the beginning of real maturity.

The Move Toward Standards

The development of CEN CWA 15902-1:2008, and its subsequent ratification as BS EN 17206:2020, represented a significant turning point. I was involved in the working party that developed the earlier framework. One of the central challenges was achieving balance. There was understandable pressure to adopt highly prescriptive, industrial-style regulatory models. At the same time, theatre operates in varied environments, historic venues, touring productions, temporary installations, often under tight financial constraints. Over-regulation would have risked making automation economically unsustainable for many venues. Under-regulation would have left inconsistency and exposure to risk unresolved. The task was to establish proportionate safety: rigorous, defensible, and implementable across the industry. In my view, BS EN 17206:2020 achieved that balance. It provided a structured framework for risk assessment, safety functions, and responsibility allocation without making compliance impractical.

Increasing Complexity — and Growing Discipline

Control systems today are far more complex than those of the late 1980s. Distributed architectures, networked drives, integrated safety protocols, and significant software abstraction are now routine. In many technical fields, increasing complexity outpaces safety thinking. In stage automation, safety philosophy has largely kept pace. Structured risk assessment is now expected. Safety-related control functions are defined and validated. Documentation is regarded as an engineering tool rather than an administrative burden. Responsibility is clearer. The discipline matured alongside the technology.

The Disappearance of the “Scary” Practices

There were practices thirty years ago that would not be acceptable today. Not because engineers lacked integrity, but because there was no shared baseline defining acceptable risk. Those practices have largely disappeared. Dual-channel safety systems, formal validation processes, and compliance with BS EN 17206:2020 are now considered routine. Engineers entering the industry today understandably regard this as normal. It wasn’t always so. That normality is a sign of genuine progress.

Making Automation Normal

When I founded AVW in 1996, my aim was not simply to build larger systems, but to make automation more accessible, to move it beyond exceptional, high-budget productions and into a broader range of venues. That goal depended on sustainability. Safety frameworks must be robust, but they must also be proportionate. If regulation becomes impractical, it does not improve safety; it simply discourages responsible implementation. The maturation of standards has allowed automation to become a trusted and expected part of stage infrastructure rather than an experimental addition.

A Thought for the Next Generation

Engineers entering stage automation today inherit a structured and defensible environment. Standards were not inevitable. Proportionality was debated. The alignment between technical complexity and safety philosophy required sustained effort across the industry. The frameworks in place today allow creativity to flourish safely. They should not be viewed as bureaucracy, but as the foundation that enables ambition.

Final Reflection

Since 1988, I have seen stage automation evolve from bespoke, experience-led practice into a structured, standards-based engineering discipline. If today’s environment feels stable and predictable, that is not accidental. It is the result of three decades of collective effort to replace improvisation with accountability. That progress is something the industry should quietly value and continue to protect.

As we look back on the year, it’s been another busy and rewarding chapter for AVW, with projects spanning education, engineering, broadcast, and live performance, often all at once.

Over the past 12 months, we’ve delivered bespoke lifting and control solutions for schools, universities, television studios, theatres, and specialist manufacturers. From a hoist control system for Glantre Engineering and a custom pool table lift using Serapid lifting chain technology, to an orchestra elevator installation at Sunway University, our work continues to balance precision engineering with practical creativity.

Live entertainment has been a major focus this year. We’ve supported high-profile television productions including The Wheel, Gladiators, and Squid Game: The Challenge, alongside large-scale theatrical productions such as Just For One Day, A Christmas Carol at The Old Vic, and Sleeping Beauty at the London Palladium.

Whether it’s a one-off installation or a long-term collaboration, every project benefits from the same hands-on approach, technical expertise, and problem-solving mindset.

We’re proud of what we’ve delivered this year, and excited about what’s coming next.

AVW have had another busy year during 2024 with control system projects for new venues, refurbished venues, new shows and re-imagined shows.

Control systems for new venues include The Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities at Oxford University with state of the art academic, exhibition and performance spaces. AVW have supplied five stage automation control systems for three venues in this new building. Other new control systems for new venues include The Richard Cairns Building at Brighton College and Rockwell PAC in the Philippines. All these new projects were sub-contract to J & C Joel Ltd.

Refurbished venues include a hydraulic orchestra lift control system at the Hawth Theatre in Crawley for Unusual Rigging, an orchestra lift and hoists control systems for the BEAM Theatre and studio in Hertford and a hoist control system at Grammar School for Leeds both for Glantre Engineering and a Liberty Switch control system that transforms between a sprung dance floor and a rigid theatre floor at the touch of a button for the Dutch National Opera and Ballet for Harlequin Floors PLC.

Show projects this year includes ‘Awful Aunties’ for Scena, ‘Lord of the Rings Musical’ (world tour), ‘The Real Thing’ and ‘Just for One Day’ at the Old Vic, ‘Roots’ at the Almeida, ‘Chicago’ (UK tour and world tour), ‘Six the Musical’ (UK tour) and ‘The Producers’ at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Most of the show projects uses our QAxis stage automation control system.

So, we go into 2025 looking forward to working on more new venues and shows!

AVW are delighted to be providing the overstage automation for the brand new production of THE WIZARD OF OZ at the London Palladium using our QAxis stage automation system.

Featuring the iconic original score from the Oscar-winning MGM film including, Over The Rainbow, Follow The Yellow Brick Road and We’re Off To See The Wizard with additional songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, this spectacular production will be a magical experience for all the family.

Join Dorothy and Toto on an unforgettable adventure as they are swept over the rainbow to the merry old land of Oz.

The Korean production of the musical “The Phantom of the Opera” is returning to South Korea for the first time in 13 years.

AVW have previously provided the stage automation for this production in Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Hamburg and Oberhausen; so we very pleased to be providing a QAxis stage automation control system for this iconic production once again.

The latest production is set to premiere in Busan and will feature headlining actor Cho Seung-woo, musical actor Jeon Dong-suk and baritone Julian Kim as the Phantom. Sohn Ji-soo and Song Eun-hye will take the role of Christine.

The Busan performances will kick off at Dream Theatre, a venue dedicated to musicals, on March 30 after a preview from March 25 to 29.

After wrapping up in Korea’s second-largest city on June 18, “The Phantom of the Opera” will take the stage in Seoul from July 14 to Nov. 17 2023.

https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20230109000613

AVW are delighted to be providing our QAxis stage automation for this new musical being staged at the Almeida Theatre in London.

Tammy Faye is a new musical from legendary songwriter Elton John, Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears and award-winning writer James Graham (Ink, BBC’s Sherwood) and features Olivier Award-winner Katie Brayben (Beautiful) as Tammy Faye and Tony Award-nominee Andrew Rannells (The Book of Mormon, Girls) as Jim.

This true story, directed by Almeida Artistic Director Rupert Goold (Spring Awakening), is a testament of faith, resilience and the temptations of success.

AVW Controls started as a sole trader business in November 1996 and was incorporated in 1998 so we have now reached 25 years in the stage engineering business. A lot has happened in that time, we have worked on projects, shows and venues all over the world. We have made friends all over the world and we are very proud of the contribution that we have made to the art of stage automation.

Our mission was to provide affordable stage automation to venues and shows and we believe that we have delivered on that mission and will continue to do so. First with Impressario and more latterly with QAxis we have strived to provide stage automation control systems that get the job done safely, reliably, and affordably.

It’s been a blast and we hope to be around for a while longer yet!

At last the West End is picking up again and AVW are busy building QAxis stage automation systems for new shows for 2021 as well as resurrecting shows that have been closed since March 2020. Recently we have supplied a QAxis system for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat that has just opened at the London Palladium after waiting for a year from its intended opening date. This week we are loading in a QAxis stage automation sytem for Jersey Boys at the recently refurbished Trafalgar Theatre.

Later this year we will be supplying more QAxis systems for Get Up Stand Up the new Bob Marley inspired musical at the Lyric Theatre and for The Drifters Girl at the Garrick Theatre. We are also delighted that &Juliet will be returning to the Shaftesbury Theatre and Only Fools and Horses will be returning to the Haymarket. In addition Everybody’s Talking About Jamie will be returning to The Apollo with an older Impressario system. This will take the AVW tally of stage automation systems in the West End to a creditable seven systems.