Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2007 - 75

book

reviews
rigging. Each chapter takes the same approach,
with a component-by-component description
and an operational overview. As the details unfold, Glerum is concise in his descriptions and
calls out typical safety concerns and points of
interest. There is a mix of extremely practical how-tos with informative photographs and
line drawings that make an easy read. In fact,
it is such an easy read, I encourage you to go
through the chapters twice to fully absorb the
extensive amount of material presented.
Although most motorized equipment is
custom-built for each particular theatre and
production, the section on motorized rigging is
a primer for any facility owner who will be working with a rigging contactor in the design of a
motorized system. The revised chapter includes
a brief section on recently developed "packaged
hoist systems." As the balance between safety
and costs remains a justiﬁcation for motorized
rigging, and electronic show control systems

THEATRE

DESIGN

continue to expand, the industry will be seeing
more and more of this type of equipment.
Part Six is a catch all of skills needed to
examine the weakest links of any rigging system:
terminations, attachments and hardware. The
section details both ﬁber and wire rope and
includes knots and hardware. The simple line
drawings of standard knots, an essential skill for
any rigger, remain from the ﬁrst edition. I wish
Glerum had taken just a bit more room and detailed each of the critical knots in a step-by-step
fashion. This would aid those of us who try to
teach knot tying to those who are often severely
"knot impaired." The section concludes with
some details of commonly encountered "special
problems." When ﬂying people, for example,
Glerum's admonition to bring in a professional
is well placed and should be adopted by all.
Despite the lack of national standards
for overhead theatrical rigging (a project being led by ESTA and still in progress), the need

TECHNOLOGY
F

2007

for ongoing inspection of the largest machine
in a typical stage space is essential. Part Seven
speaks to issues of frequency and documentation, providing both outlines and checklists to
encourage this activity. The awareness this section raises is good, and after reading the chapter
everyone should have the conﬁdence to conduct
rigging inspection on a regular basis. My only
wish is that Glerum had stated more strongly the
need to regularly employ the services of a professional for inspection. While many technical
directors might feel fully qualiﬁed to conduct
their own inspections (and they should do so
annually), there is merit to bringing in an outside professional to provide external validation
to the rigging concerns in your own facility and
to beneﬁt from an outside professional's experience with multiple venues.
Great advances in awareness and improved
practices in stage safety have occurred over the
past twenty years. One of the most signiﬁcant is

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2007