The stage, re-engineered.
The most technologically advanced stage in South Africa.
A ground-up upgrade of the machinery that drives the Nelson Mandela stage — from the motors in the plant rooms below, up to the lifts, wagons and fly bars controlled from the fly floor above.
A landmark built on technology.
Johannesburg’s Civic Theatre opened in 1962 on top of Braamfontein Hill. A major late-’80s rebuild made it one of the most technically proficient theatres in the southern hemisphere — a reputation this upgrade carries forward.
Civic Theatre opens
Built by the city council, creating a high-profile landmark on the top of Braamfontein Hill.
A R120-million rebuild
Closed for renovations budgeted at R29m, the overhaul ultimately ran to R120m over five years — backstage and technical areas rebuilt, the main theatre’s height raised, and electrics, lighting, cooling and heating all improved.
The most advanced theatre in the world
On re-opening, it was not only the most modern, technically advanced theatre in Africa — but in the world.
Rebranded Joburg Theatre
The Civic Theatre takes on the name it carries today.
From the plant room to the fly floor.
The Mandela stage is a machine three storeys tall. The drive equipment lives in the plant rooms beneath the stage; the performance happens on the stage deck; and it’s all controlled from the fly floor high above.
Fly floor
High above the stage, operators control the fly bars (battens) that raise and lower scenery, lighting and drapes — now driven and sequenced from upgraded control desks.
Stage level
The stage deck itself: powered lifts that rise and sink sections of the floor, and rolling wagons that move whole sets on and off — the parts the audience feels.
Plant rooms
Beneath the stage sit the motors, drives and winches that power everything above — now run by a modern, maintainable PLC control system.
Running a modern stage on 1990s hardware.
The machinery was installed by AEG in 1990, with a design life of 15 years. Twenty-seven years on, spares were obsolete and replacements no longer existed. The controllers still needed 386 DX computers running MS-DOS, and the software was no longer supported — making even simple effects a struggle.
Legacy system
◆ Deprecated- SupplierAEG
- Installed1990
- Design life15 years
- In service27 years
- Control rig386 DX · MS-DOS
- Spare partsObsolete
- Software supportDiscontinued
Upgraded system
Online- ControlModern PLC platform
- OperationSoftware-driven
- Stage liftsComplete
- Wagon desksBackstage + side-stage
- SequencingProgrammable
- Hardware upgraded100% complete
- SupportCurrent & maintainable
- RoadmapMore to come
Rebuilt in phases, around a live stage.
Work began in August 2018 and had to happen between productions — each piece of hardware was changed, tested and returned to service before the next show. The machinery hardware upgrade is now complete and the new control software is running the stage — and with that modern platform in place, further enhancements are still to come.
Upgrade begins
Hardware upgrades start on stage equipment, worked in around the live production schedule.
Upper machinery & phased rollout
Contractors move through the system, rolling hardware changes out across the stage machinery.
Stage lifts complete
The stage-lift hardware upgrade is finished and its control software is completed and commissioned.
Wagon control desks online
The control desks for the backstage wagon and side-stage wagons are fitted and wired into the system.
The most advanced stage in South Africa
With the upgrade complete, the Nelson Mandela stage is the most technologically advanced stage in the country — and, with the modern control platform in place, it keeps evolving.
The stage it all serves.
The magic, re-programmed.
Most of the upgrade happens out of sight — but its effect is on stage. Producers and technical crews can now push the machinery further, and audiences get to see whatever they can dream up. A few of the new possibilities:
Programmable “Mexican wave”
Stage lifts and fly bars can be choreographed into a rolling wave — working independently, or perfectly synchronised.
Lifts that clear on cue
As the backstage wagon rolls off, each stage lift can drop or rise the moment it’s cleared — motion flowing in step with the scene change.
Staggered-start sequences
Fly bars and stage equipment can begin moving at different moments, cascading one after another for a striking, richly layered effect.