Wondering where some of our newest graduates are going after RCS?

Toby Cass, who graduated in July from the BA Production Technology and Management programme, has landed a coveted position at an international entertainment giant.

Toby is taking up the role of Integration Engineer in September at TAIT, one of the world’s top names in staging, scenic and automation for live events, who have worked on everything from Cirque du Soleil and Rihanna’s halftime Superbowl show to tours for Taylor Swift, Rolling Stones, Beyonce, Coldplay, Elton John and U2.

Tell us about  your exciting new role at TAIT

I was invited to apply for the role after spending a five-week work placement at the start of the year.

It came about after I went to London last summer for the ABTT (Association for British Theatre Technicians) show where I was presenting a product I’d invented. RCS production lecturers were also there, including Steve Macluskie, who introduced me to a few companies, one of which was TAIT.

I asked about placement opportunities, and I was invited to look around their premises in Wakefield, which has design offices, fabrication warehouses and integration halls – it was phenomenal. It’s where they build the sets for shows before they go on tour.

I had a placement in January this year and learned so much – they were the kindest, nicest people to work with and I brought so much knowledge back with me.

What drew you to RCS?

I was a drummer at school and was in a lot of bands and because I was carting all the equipment around, I ended up getting really into sound. I was also helping in a youth theatre company so did the sound for them, as well as some staging.

I saw the course at RCS and applied for sound but switched during the first term to be in the technical stage department.

Any highlights from your studies?

Working on the new desk from TAIT – it was only brought out about a year ago and it is at the frontline of the industry. We’ve worked with two other automation desks here, but we’ll be the first to graduate with experience of working all three.

Another highlight was working on the musical Sweet Charity because we had big set pieces that tracked around the stage using the new system.

Everything is so fast paced at RCS and I love process of going from tech to the show.

Tell us about your invention

It’s a dropbox hopper system which I created in second year for a show in the Chandler – Lear and Othello.

There were multiple deaths during Lear and each time someone died it required a red feather to fall from the ‘sky’. This could have been achieved by dropping manually from the catwalk, but this would require crawling silently back and forth quite quickly in order to hit each position in time.

Therefore, we turned to a ‘duck drop’ method. I decided to go with an electronic system that I designed and created using 3D printing and solenoids. There were eight drop units each running on their own channels to allow for individual control of all eight feathers.

The reason I took it to the trade show was because I wanted the integration of a product that sound or lighting could trigger and I found a company that could do it.

Toby Cass photographed by Jacob Martin Walls