Superdoo first a question. do you need to have the walls fall
flat? Instead of falling
flat could they
swing out of the way from the centre in two halves? You mightn't have the space for them to
swing upstage but what about
downstage?
Also how many times do they need to go up and down during the actual show as opposed to just the beginning and ending.
Also if you have them
flat on the
deck what loads are they going to have to bear. Just performers or set
etc? I ask because the heavier the load the stronger they wall/floor has to be. The stronger they are the heavier they are going to be raise and lower. The heaveir the harder
etc you get the idea.
Are there any scenes played out in front of these walls while they are up? If not and you still want to do this then I would
build the
stage slightly differently if possible. Assuming no scenes in front of the wall
build the front part of the
stage with no flooring panels bracing only. Then you
build the back of the wall to be the
stage floor for the forward section so when it is lowered it becomes the front of the
stage. The
stage bracing would strengthen the wall the effort instead of having to
build all that framing into the wall.
Build the back part
stage to the same height for clean flow though.
I looked at thelightingmancan's idea with the rope. The theory is not bad but in practice if you need to raise the wall during the show with the ropes only the effort ( tourqe) would be very high. If
stage crew can help lift the wall then there is less torque required on the ropes.
If I was doing it I would put up two towers at the back of the
stage with a pulley on top of each. The rope would run from off
stage up to the pulleys then down to the top of the walls. This angle would pull up the walls better. Youd could use boat trailer winches.
My preference would still be the walls to
swing sideways with the ends hinged at the
stage side and opening in the centre. The weight would be carried on casters so it would take less effort to move them and you could still use ropes to move them. You could work out the arc they would follow and just
build guide rails at the side of the
stage for them to travel over so you don't need to
build a full side of
stage.