How Terhal by Dragone was given a tech-driven revival with help from Disguise
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Terhal, an immersive show by theatre company Dragone, is an ambitious production that brings together 120 performers across two massive stages. First launched in Saudi Arabia in 2023, it represented something entirely new for the region and became an unprecedented success for the company. But when Dragone looked to relaunch Terhal for a sold-out second run, they didn’t want to simply mirror their original production - they wanted to elevate it.
Technical project management company, A Loud Minority, came back on board to drive the tech-enhanced revival of Terhal, using Disguise hardware and software to introduce new content, sprawling projections, and a gigantic chandelier of LED screens to ensure that the landmark show was given a fresh lease of life.
The challenge
The original 2023 production of Terhal had been a resounding success, but Dragone saw room to expand the show's ambition across video and lighting by incorporating large-scale digital elements. These new additions had to seamlessly integrate into the production, but most importantly also needed to be developed and implemented within the team’s tight delivery timeline. Karl Jenkins, Co-Founder of A Loud Minority, and his team had just two months between confirmation of the show’s revival and its premiere to make these ambitious changes happen.
The brief called for an expansive projection that would cover the entire in-the-round staging area, along with an elaborate digital ‘chandelier’ to complete the set up. This would comprise three concentric rings with kinetic LED screens on both sides, moving to different formations throughout the performance - a challenging concept to design for.
A Loud Minority identified Disguise as an ideal partner for realising the show’s new digital elements. But because Disguise had not been involved for the first run of Terhal, everything needed to be built from scratch around the pre-existing narrative and choreography of the production.
The solution
The simplicity of Disguise’s workflow helped the team overcome these challenges with ease and hit their tight timeline. Designer enabled Jenkins and his crew to create a fully realised previsualisation of the set in the early stages of pre-production, giving the team maximum flexibility to experiment with different approaches and test out more creative choices. A Loud Minority had the advantage of building upon the framework of a show they were already familiar with - the simplicity of Disguise’s workflow just meant that the transition to a more digitally-focused production design was as smooth as possible.
This experimental workflow was particularly useful for the double-sided circular screen setup, which utilised both the exterior and the concave interior of the chandelier rings. Every element of this setup - from how content appeared on the curved screens, to how it related to visuals on other moving screens nearby - was easy to manage and visualise in order to achieve the best outcome for the show.
Previsualising the show in Designer allowed us to prove that these new LED and projected elements were going to work. The Disguise workflow gave us the creative flexibility we needed to make instant changes, share with the rest of the creative team, and show how the digital additions would enhance the production.
Co-Founder, A Loud Minority
The whole stage acted as a projection surface, with various fabrics helping to create different textures and effects. Jenkins and his team used Mapping Matter to perfectly map their projectors to these fabric surfaces, allowing them to test out the optimum projector set up and easily collaborate with stakeholders who could visualise updates and request changes via the Cloud-based app.
Disguise’s integration with Notch also opened up new possibilities for A Loud Minority, enabling them to track movement on stage and generate live halo effects around the performers. All visuals across LED and projection were powered by VX 4+ media servers, designed for heavy content and complex compositing.
The result
Terhal by Dragone was a huge success, selling out all 28 performances over its second, Disguise-enhanced run. But for Jenkins, the real joy was the opportunity to revisit the original show and reimagine it with fewer constraints. Fuelled by Disguise, Jenkins and his team succeeded in realising the show as it was always intended: a grandiose, epic, and technically dazzling production that lived up to the scope of its dramatic content.
