Technical Reflections on a City-Wide Performance

In 2015, we had the privilege of leading the technical delivery of ‘The Last Battle‘, commissioned as part of The Harris Museum, Library, and Art Gallery’s programme The Last Battle on English Soil. This wasn’t just a theatre show; it was a full-scale promenade performance that spilt out into the streets of Preston, transforming Church Street into a battleground where history met the present day.

We animated the streets by projecting the Jacobite uprising into today’s Preston, transforming the Minster and surrounding spaces into living canvases. We connected people by asking: what would you do if you encountered an angry Jacobite in a takeaway on Church Street? Run a mile? Join the rebels? Inform the government? Or just ask for a chip? And, above all, we celebrated the city and its layered history by placing the events of 1715 into the contemporary contexts of 2015.

Community Engagement: Bringing Heritage To Life

The performance evolved from deep community engagement. Stories written and performed by local children became audio installations. Lanterns made during public workshops were handed out on the night. Families, historians, and artists all contributed. On site, audiences weren’t just spectators; they picked sides, built barricades, joined in protest chants, and carried lanterns through the streets.

Audiovisual Systems at the Core

As technical lead, our role was to weave together the many audio and video systems that carried these stories. Commissioned audiovisual interventions ranged from large-scale projection mapping on Preston Minster to CCTV installations and pre-recorded film scenes played through laptops, TVs, and tablet screens placed in shop windows and open venues. Commissioned sound pieces were spilt onto the street through shop tannoy systems and speakers, while taxis parked along the route became listening booths for recorded stories.

Each layer of audio and video contributed to an immersive world, making the audience feel as if they had stepped directly into the battle. The technology didn’t sit in the background, it drove the experience.

The Challenge of Outdoor Tech

Projection mapping onto a historic building like Preston Minster was both a pleasure and a challenge. The stone’s rich texture created a striking canvas, but precision was vital for the visuals to land effectively. Working outdoors in late autumn added another layer of unpredictability, with the weather an ever-present factor. Ensuring safety meant more than just weatherproofing the equipment in IP-rated enclosures, it required clear communication and coordination with Council staff, the production team, and stewards to protect both the kit and the audience throughout the event.

The reward was seeing Church Street alive with light and sound, a historic landmark transformed into a character within the story. That’s the power of combining heritage with contemporary technology.

Listening, Responding, Connecting, Transforming

For us, The Last Battle was a reminder of what happens when community stories, artists, and technology converge. The result was a living, breathing performance that invited audiences to play their part in history, not as passive onlookers, but as active participants in Preston’s story. Delivering a project of this scale and complexity was both a challenge and a joy, and it reaffirmed our commitment to producing high-quality work that serves communities. This is the kind of experience HardaleAV strives to achieve: ambitious, collaborative, and deeply connected to place.