Welsh National Opera’s set construction company, Cardiff Theatrical Service (CTS), is no stranger to projects which are a bit out of the ordinary, such as creating the inside of Dr Who’s TARDIS. However their latest project is certainly reaching new heights as the team build a 16m high Bun Tower!More usually a feature of Hong Kong festivities this Bun Tower is a stunning addition to the Lord Mayor’s Show in London and is being built on behalf of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office. This marks the start of an unusual cultural exchange between WNO and Hong Kong, as the award-winning Opera Company will be performing as part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival in 2007. The Bun Towers of Cheung Chau have a fascinating history. They are built as part of a local festival and, measuring 18 meters high, these towers are covered in sweet buns, which are considered to be blessed. After midnight on the first day of the festival young men race up the towers trying to grab as many as possible, which is thought to appease the spirits. Although local men climb the towers in Cheung Chau, Londoners won’t get a chance to get their hands on the buns. Instead a team of ten acrobat’s, from Bristol-based company Impact Artists, have been training for two months to master the art of ‘scrambling’ up the tower whilst picking off buns and packing them into sacks. Designed by Jane Ripley and built in association with Russell Beck Studios and Packman, Lucas Associates the tower is in fact the tallest structure CTS has built to date. It measures an impressive 16 meters high, 3.5 meters wide, weighs 3.5 tons, with 3.5 tons of ballast inside and is designed to withstand winds of 40mph. It is so big in fact that it had to be constructed outside in the car park with two cranes. The tower will finally be covered with bamboo, tissue paper and 5,600 buns. It will take four to five days to cover the tower in buns - fortunately they aren’t real so no-one will get tempted. ‘It’s not everyday you turn your car park into your workshop’ says Simon Cornish, Construction Manager, CTS. ‘But this project was very unusual and made some very exceptional demands on the workforce.’ CTS are certainly no stranger to unusual projects having built the inside of Dr Who’s TARDIS, a life sized fishing boat for a local Cardiff restaurant and the scenery for the Muppets’ new adult Broadway show Avenue Q. |
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Wednesday, November 1, 2006 |
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