Take That’s Circus tour opened at St Mary’s Stadium in Southampton on 29 May 2026, bringing the band’s celebrated 2009 stadium show back to life for a new run of dates. Wonder Works was initially approached by production director Chris Vaughan to design a method to raise and lower the show’s signature circus tent safely, and subsequently expanded the role into leading the technical design for the show.
The tent itself was the starting point. Due to constraints of the structure, the 2009 production lifted the tent using cables set at angles <60 degrees from vertical, a method that has since been superseded by more efficient rigging geometry. Wonder Works’ solution was a catenary cable spanning the stage-left and stage-right towers, with a diverter pulley dropping a line straight down to the tent. The lift now happens in two phases: a first cable raises the tent to roughly 40–45 degrees, before a second cable takes over to complete the move to 90 degrees. A passive counterweight system — 3.5 tonnes on each side, 7 tonnes in total — is used to maintain control during the lift as the tent passes its centre of gravity, removing any need for synchronised hydraulics or multiple winches. The catenary system was engineered by Rasti Bartek, with fabrication and delivery by Stageco. The tent and hinge was fabricated by Area 4 Industries.
The iconic elephant presented its own set of engineering challenges. It folds down and hides beneath the B-stage between appearances, with the deck it stands on becoming the B-stage itself. A motorised cart running on an E-track carries a revolve, for a 90-degree turn, and a scissor lift, to bring the elephant up to its full height, travelling the fixed distance between main stage and B-stage at every venue. The execution of the elephant replicates the 2009 tours, with the exception of the causeway decks, which were previously pushed out by hand and now fold up mechanically.
Overhead, the show’s giant tethered balloon needed a rethink for safety as much as spectacle. The original automated winch system used three cables that could go slack in the wind, requiring close manual management from crew. A new, safer and more reliable solution was developed for 2026, removing the slack-line issue entirely and making the balloon far more controllable in variable stadium conditions.
The ringmaster puppet is an entirely new build, constructed by Airworks Inflatables as a towering gold figure that stands tall over the stage. Its most striking feature is its face: rather than the static projection used in 2009, the new puppet uses a BlackTrax system, with infrared emitters on its face read by cameras so the projected features follow its motion in real time and in three dimensions. Jeremy Lloyd, Co-Director at Wonder Works, commented:
“Working from an existing show is often harder than starting fresh — you’re constantly pulled back to old decisions — but it meant every system could be rebuilt for how a stadium tour needs to run today.”
Seventeen years on, Circus is back to entertain us — bigger, safer, and built for the modern stadium. From the tent lift to the ringmaster’s face, the show has been re-engineered using technology that simply wasn’t available in 2009, bringing a beloved production up to today’s standards without losing what made it special in the first place.
CREDITS:
Creative: Concept – Take That, Show Director & Concept – Kim Gavin, Production Design – Misty Buckley, Lighting Design – Patrick Woodroffe & Tim Routledge Design, Props & Art Direction – Laura Woodroffe & Richard Olivieri
Production: Production Director – Chris Vaughan, Production Manager – Richard (Wez) Wearing, Site Coordinators – Phil Broad & Jez Craddick, Technical Design and Engineering – Wonder Works
Vendors: Set Construction – The Next Stage, Tent Fabrication – Area 4 Industries, Elephant Scenic – Asylum SFX, Ringmaster Inflatable – Airworks, Audio – Skan PA, Lighting – Neg Earth, Video – 4 Wall, SFX – ER Productions, Performer Rigging – The Wire Rig Company, Steel – Stage Co
