What is the drum revolve?
Within the National Theatre, deep down underneath the Olivier theatre stage, standing four stories high and 15 meters across, lies one of the most unique pieces of stage technology in the world. There are similar pieces of stage machinery in the Burgtheater, Vienna, for example, but nothing quite like the Drum.
See the Drum Revolve in discover: Making Theatre
Drum Revolve in use for Oklahoma! photo Philip Carter
This marvel of engineering is not a new innovation. The drum revolve was first constructed when the National Theatre building was built, in the 1970s, but it was not brought into use until the mid 80s. By the mid 90s the original equipment was unreliable and in need of repair and the drum fell out of commission, only recently getting a new lease of life. In 2002, decisions were made to refurbish it and bring it back into use for productions such as His Dark Materials. The following pages are designed to give you a simple overview of what the drum revolve is, how it works, and how it has evolved over the last 30 years
The drum revolve, as its name denotes, is a giant rotating stage. But beneath its surface is something more interesting: two large elevators, which can be raised and lowered 8m below stage level, allowing huge pieces of scenery to be loaded via four large scenery doors. The disk which can be fixed to the stage or driven directly with the drum itself, makes up half of the stage, while the other half is raised, using either elevator.
The beauty of the drum revolve is that it presents directors and designers with a very versatile tool, which can deliver whole pieces of three-dimensional scenery in seconds.
