The Hidden Stage: Engineering the Magic of The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby. When the curtain falls, the actors bow, and the applause fills the room, the magic of theatre feels complete. But long before that moment, another kind of magic has taken place, one the audience will never see. At Scott Fleary, that’s our world: the unseen side of theatre, where design meets engineering, craftsmanship meets technology, and vision meets delivery.

One project that perfectly captures this hidden process is The Great Gatsby: A New Musical, staged at the London Coliseum. It was one of our most ambitious theatre builds to date, combining an intricate Art Deco-inspired aesthetic with huge technical demands.

From Sketch to Stage

It all begins with the designer’s vision. For The Great Gatsby, designer Paul Tate dePoo III, supported by UK associate designer Paul Atkinson, imagined a world that embodied the glamour and decay of the Jazz Age. His designs drew on the opulence of Art Deco architecture and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s symbolic palette: fretwork, gilding, curves, and metallic surfaces that mirrored the duality of the era.

Our job was to take those designs and turn them into a living, breathing environment. That meant combining scenic artistry with structural integrity, ensuring the set was not only visually stunning but also safe, functional, and perfectly engineered for performance.

Engineering the Impossible

A project of this scale starts with detailed 3D modelling. At the London Coliseum, space was tight: the scenic environment spanned more than 25 metres wide and nearly 17 metres deep, yet had to integrate seamlessly with the venue’s fly tower and technical infrastructure.

The solution was a custom show deck fitted with 13 integrated automation tracks. These supported scenic elements that moved fluidly in time with the performance. Overhead, flown structures had to be carefully engineered and rehearsed in advance, given the tight clearance above the stage. Every millimetre counted.

This was more than just building scenery, it was precision engineering on a theatrical canvas.

Craftsmanship in Motion

Back at our South London workshop, the construction began. Using CNC-cut sheet material, mild steel, mesh, and mouldings, our fabricators brought the set to life. Finishes were applied in rich metallic tones, distressed to capture the period feel.

One of the biggest challenges was integrating technology directly into the scenery. LED tile apertures, light boxes, and projection-mapped surfaces had to be built to fine tolerances while housing delicate digital components. This marriage of physical construction and digital integration created a visual language that became one of the production’s defining features.

The craftsmanship wasn’t just about the build, it was about anticipating how every element would perform under the lights, in sync with video content, and in motion during the show.

The Art of Project Management

For us, one of the most vital roles on a project like this is project management. At Scott Fleary, our project managers are the glue that holds the process together. On The Great Gatsby, this meant constant coordination between automation engineers, lighting designers, video specialists, and stage managers.

Every scenic element was pre-built, pre-fitted, and tested at our workshop before arriving at the Coliseum. By the time we installed on-site, we knew exactly how each component would behave. This level of preparation is non-negotiable, especially when timelines are compressed, as they always are in high-profile theatre.

Collaboration and communication were the keys to success. Without them, the technical artistry of the build would never align with the creative vision of the designers and directors.

From Workshop to Stage

When the set finally arrived at the Coliseum, months of unseen labour culminated in something that, for the audience, looked effortless. The transitions were seamless, the scenery breathtaking, the integration between physical and digital flawless.

For us, that’s the reward: knowing that the hours of planning, design, fabrication, and problem-solving created an experience where the story could take centre stage.

Theatre is magic. And the magic comes from hard graft, technical precision, and a team that lives and breathes their craft.

At Scott Fleary, we’re proud to stand in that unseen space where imagination meets engineering, and bring visions like The Great Gatsby to life.

You can view some of the production images on our Social Media.