Rick Moore served as Technical Director for Made for Stage UK Ltd’s production of We Will Rock You: six shows over four days at the Empire Theatre in Blackburn. He designed and built the Killer Queen’s throne, a smoking fire pit, the brain-frying helmets and a set of junkyard instruments, and contributed to the stage lighting alongside the theatre creative team.
Discover the story ↓The production needed props that could carry whole scenes: the Killer Queen’s throne, a fire pit, the brain-frying helmets, and smaller pieces including fake musical instruments designed to look dystopian, as if thrown together from bits of junk, and the bar with its TV.
Stage props have different requirements from anything in a house. They have to read clearly from the back of the auditorium, survive the handling of live performance, run on power that is safe for performers to sit on or wear, and respond reliably to cues. Some had to be completely mobile, and nothing could put water or a naked flame on the stage.
The cast, all high school and college students, took what was built and brought it into the show, making it part of the narrative and part of the act. Rick worked backstage for five of the six shows and watched one from the audience. It was phenomenal to watch, and a privilege to be part of.
These are real project photographs and original production footage from the run at the Empire Theatre.
The Killer Queen’s throne on stage, framed by the production’s lighting and projected scenery, built to read clearly from every seat in the house.
The throne had to be completely mobile, so its power is underneath it: two 12-volt batteries. On charge, a switch keeps them separate so each one charges on its own charger. Flick the switch to run mode and the batteries are connected in series to give 24 volts to the LED strip.
The LED strip runs through a DMX controller and receiver with a wireless link back to the lighting desk. That gave the theatre creative team full control of the throne from the desk: on and off, dimming, colour and intensity, cued with the rest of the show.
The illuminated throne within the moving production, under live control from the lighting desk.
The fire pit went through several versions. The first idea used ultrasonic foggers to make a smoke effect from water vapour, but it was far too wet. Water on a stage is a slip hazard, so that was out, and a real fire was never an option.
The final version uses a small but remarkably effective smoke machine, triggered by remote from off stage. Inside a washing-machine drum, two 240-volt LED lamps with a built-in flicker effect, in the right colour, glow through the perforations. A 240-volt UPS acts as their battery pack, so the whole prop is safe, portable and needs no cable across the stage.
The finished effect in operation, with flickering light and stage smoke forming the illusion.
In the brain-frying scene, the actors standing behind the helmet wearers grab their heads and move them around. Each helmet has a hidden push-to-make switch, so as they do it they can touch the switch: while it is held down, the electroluminescent wire on the helmet is energised and glows.
Chasing EL wire makes the light pattern move, so it stands out even more from the audience. Each helmet is powered by a wearable battery pack, made up for the job from eight AA batteries, which runs the EL wire’s inverter.
The brain-frying helmets appear in the opening seconds of Made for Stage UK Ltd’s own opening-night video. Video by, and shown with the kind permission of, Made for Stage UK Ltd.
Engineering on stage begins with fabrication, practical testing and preparation, including the junkyard instruments and the bar with its TV. These are genuine production and workshop photographs.
Every prop had to be safe, portable and reliable for six shows, with no trailing cables across the stage.
Charged separately, switched into series for show mode, feeding LED strip through a wireless DMX receiver linked to the lighting desk.
Hidden push-to-make switches operated by the actors, with wearable eight-AA battery packs powering each EL wire inverter.
A remote-triggered smoke machine and two 240 V flicker-effect LED lamps inside a washing-machine drum, run from a UPS.
Made for Stage UK Ltd’s production at the Empire Theatre, Blackburn, with a young cast of high school and college students.
Engineering a prop is only half the story. The other half belongs to the cast and crew of Made for Stage UK Ltd, who took a throne, a fire pit and a set of helmets from the workshop and made them part of a performance.
Production photographs and footage courtesy of Made for Stage UK Ltd ↗.
The young cast absolutely rocked it. It was a genuine privilege to work alongside so many talented performers and such a dedicated production team, and to see the work come alive in front of a full audience.
The same problem-solving mindset works in luxury homes, accessible living and complex commercial projects: understand what the result must achieve, bring disciplines together and engineer it until it works.