Tarzan swings on the carpet
Tarzan loves Jane. Jane loves Tarzan. And they both love M2 CARPETS! In the true sense of the word. The entire stage setting for the touching love story which is presently performed as an action packed musical at the Metronom Theater in Oberhausen has been fitted with digitally printed carpets form our production site in Nottuln:
Climbing plants, ferns, lianas and intertwined treetops in all imaginable greens and earthy tones. This is the jungle – diverse and with explosions of colours – the home of ‘Tarzan’ and also the stage setting of the musical of the same name at the third venue in Germany. With our state-of-the-art digital print technology we convincingly recreated the multifaceted nature of the African jungle. This was the requirement for designing a spectacular scenery for an incomparable show event. The responsible persons of the Studio Hamburg workshops who decided to cooperate with us one more time confirm: digital print by M2 CARPETS allowed for a new dimension of stage design with carpet.
Love at first sight
We love the story: Tarzan, the son of a British lord was brought up by a caring mother monkey after the tragic death of his parents. As a young adult he meets the beautiful Jane. It is love at first sight and the start of a dramatic romance with a happy ending. For many years this legend has been celebrating international success with stars who perform artistic and musical excellence – without neither a safety net nor a false floor. They sing, dance and fight. Daring, passionate and naturally barefooted. Like in the real jungle life – only on carpet. When swinging from liana to liana, in any case Tarzan and his friends should have a safe and soft landing.
For this reason, only carpet flooring was considered right at the beginning when designing the stage floor for ‘Tarzan’ worldwide. The German set designers of the Studio Hamburg Atelierbetriebs GmbH chose M2 CARPETS as their only cooperation partner.
Not new, but better!
The requirement to use carpet as stage floor covering was brought over from the USA to Germany together with the musical. In 2008 Tarzan was performed in Hamburg for the first time. “This was really a challenge for us”, Werner Bensien remembers. The project manager and his colleague Tim Jablonski are responsible for the set design. “It was our job to find a competent and reliable manufacturer who is able to satisfy the high standards of our customers.
The designers had very clear ideas and of course, we also wanted an extremely durable product and a durable print quality that retains its color brilliance even at maximum stress and under the influence of various lighting situations. M2 CARPETS was the first and best recommendation we got. And actually, we were really surprised because right from the start our requirements never had been a problem for M2 CARPETS.”
Carpet – a good grip
Also for the Stage Metronom Theater in Oberhausen we were the partner of choice and according to Werner Bensien, we were the only company in Germany which was able to realise the unusual stage concept. “It was a major challenge for us and it needed a lot of preparatory work before we were able to exactly equip the entire walls and wooden height installations with the design carpet”, the project manager explains. However, it was well worth the effort. Both the visual and haptic effect was improved. This is an important aspect for Bensien, since the actors have direct contact with the setting. “When the monkeys swing from wall to wall, push off or hold on to it, carpet simply has a better feel and grip than wood or other hard material,” the expert says. “Amongst other things we also tried felt. But carpet is ideal, also in terms of costs.”
Jungle feeling thanks to process colour printing
We were and are still enthusiastic about it. The ‘Tarzan’ stage setting is a fantastic example of what carpet can do – the right printing provided. We very much enjoyed accompanying the process from the development up to realization. Due to state-of-the-art technology and our expertise in the area of process colour printing, we achieved to create a unique stage design with original jungle flair.
Tarzan has been on stage since last November. Meanwhile we delivered carpets for repairs and replacements when due. The print data are stored and can be retrieved at any time and because of our printing technology with process colours we are able to produce very fast and flexibly. This is part of our idea of ‘carpet printing on demand’ which makes M2 CARPETS unique in the European market.