‘Portolan’ – Sunderland Tall Ships

Client: Sunderland Culture

Audience: 20,000 audience members

The brief:

We were commissioned to create a world class, large-scale finale show to end the four day cultural festival programme as part of Sunderland Tall Ship Races 2018.

Challenges:

The show we proposed was one of the most ambitious high wire walks ever attempted in the UK. Expert wirewalkers Chris Bullzini and Johanne Humblet were to walk unharnessed along a 200m long highwire, to be suspended at a 35 degree incline, across the River Wear to the top of the Wearmouth Bridge. The biggest challenge was the schedule: we had two days within which to rig the wire, and its 40 supporting wires, across the river, and the river needed to be navigable throughout.

We brought together 2 sensational wire walkers to perform the feat, backdropped by local choirs singing specially composed music, with umbrella dancers on the river banks and a waterfall of pyrotechnics as they reached the bridge.

What made this performance so remarkable was the legacy it left with the 20,000 audience, 100 participants, local authorities and communities understanding that they had collectively witnessed history being made in their city.