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Set, Stage & Projections
The imaginative set design of ECHO revolves around the CUBE ("Ruby", which comes from
Rubik's cube), a simple yet profound
set piece that blends a spectacular range of audio, visual, and tactile media. Mesuring
23-feet x 23-feet (7-meters x 7-meters), the cube sets the stage for a wide range of
acrobatics and theatrics. At different points, it may be dismantled, stripped, and
rebuilt, scaled by animals, swung from by artists, and used as a mesmerizing projection
surface. And surrounded by a stage that resembles water in a lake, every interaction
with the CUBE creates a unique effect that ripples into the future.
With so many elements involved in a single set piece, ECHO Author-Director Mukhtar
Omar Sharif Mukhtar says the Cube is up to interpretation. "It's not just as literal as
'this is the world'," he says. "It could be anything: a relationship, love, something
you cherish... it could represent the world, or the planet, but it's really a symbol.
The more we take away from it, the emptier it becomes, and the more we put into it,
the fuller it becomes. That's what I would love for people to see when they see this."
Designing the CUBE was a massive undertaking. Not only does it need to support the
acrobatics and theatrical performance of the show, but it also has to meet the technical
requirements of a traveling Big Top show. Here are a few highlights:
- BASICS — The cube measures 23 square feet and weighs roughly 12 tons. It is
built to track from upstage to downstage on a single central pivot. The roof of the
cube contains a lightbox with 2.7 kilometers of LED strips. Lighting it from within
instead enables the technical team to highlight performers and characters with
greater precision than relying strictly on outside lighting.
- STRUCTURE — The primary structure of the CUBE is mostly made of steel with some
aluminum trussing. There are 40 lightweight blocks that fill in the CUBE, which are
made of different materials based on their use. There are soft blocks made of foam
so they can be easily dropped from various heights, while "acro blocks" are made of
carbon fiber or fiberglass to support the requiements of the performers. (Assistant
Technical Director Sarah Morales said that each piece must be placed in exactly the
right spot. "As much as all the squares look interchangeable, they absolutely cannot
go anywhere aside from where they're supposed to go and you don't have the time or
space to fix it," Morales said.)
- PROJECTIONS — It takes 10 projectors to project imagery on the rotating CUBE and
throughout the stage - the most ever for a traveling Cirque du Soleil show. Each video
projector tracks a single zone of the stage, and crossfades projections between zones
as the CUBE moves and rotates. These projectors can create 3D effects on the surface
of the CUBE to appear like it's deconstructing and constructing while never moving an
inch. To ensure so many projecors could meet the mobility demands of a Big Top show,
Cirque technical teams had to design a special self-standing infrastructure just for
this equipment.
- ACROBATICS — At one of the most surprising points in the show, one of the CUBE's
walls supports 40 artists. In a first-of-it's kind performance, a dual slackwire act
takes place within the rotating CUBE. Meanwhile, beneath the slackwire performance,
at the base of the CUBE are real flames, which means everything had to be made
fireproof.
Yet despite so much built into one impressive structure, Production Director Serge
Côté says the biggest challenge when designing the CUBE was integrating it in a way
that brings theatricality to the performance - not attention to its technical feats.
"We want people to forget about the technicality... to come into the Big Top, which is
kind of a magical space, forget about everything that goes on [behind the scenes], and
step out with a smile."
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