Manual Rigging

Hemp Sets
A quick and simple way to manually raise and lower lightweight scenes, drapes and light equipment, using the basic principle of a hemp rope running over a series of pulleys to a batten that ties off to a double cleat on the side stage wall. Ideal for limited budgets.

Pilewind Winches
Pilewind Winches are the industry workhorse. The J&C Joel range of Pilewind Winches are available in safe working loads from 125kg to 1000kg. The units are available in single and multi-cable options and with either standard or custom mounting hardware.

Counterweight Sets
Counterweight Sets are the backbone of any traditional theatre and are used worldwide. They are the ideal manual way to move all manner of sets, drapes, lighting bars and anything else on a stage that needs to fly in and out during performance.

The system, as the name suggests, uses the basic principal of balanced movement. The load over stage is counterbalanced by an equal amount of counterweights housed in a counterweight arbour or cradle attached to the side stage wall. When space is not available the double purchase system comes into play, requiring only half the distance for the cradle to travel, but still achieving the full onstage travel distance. With a trained stage technician, operation is very straightforward, hence its use in the industry for over 100 years. We provide both single and double purchase systems and offer a range of designs.