Tower Bridge Launches 'Tale of of Two Towers'

‘Tale of Two Towers’ Launches Spring 2012
Exciting New Show that brings the Story of Tower Bridge to Life
As Modern Technology meets Victorian Innovation

Tower Bridge (www.towerbridge.org.uk/TBE/EN) invites visitors to an audience with Her Majesty Queen Victoria, along with her faithful subjects Sir John Wolfe-Barry, the Victorian civil engineer who designed Tower Bridge, and its architect Sir Horace Jones, to experience the story of the bridge in an exciting new show that opens at the world-famous London landmark this spring.

Using the latest techniques in visual effects, this immersive experience features top stars from stage and screen, including Cally Lawrence (Coronation Street, Law & Order UK) as Queen Victoria, Sebastian Abineri (The Bill, Kingdom) as Horace Jones and Robert Benfield (Sherlock, Emmerdale) as Sir John Wolfe-Barry, to tell the fascinating story of Tower Bridge in an entertaining and light-hearted way that will appeal to all ages.

The Experience:
• On arrival at the North Tower of Tower Bridge, visitors are guided to engineer Sir John Wolfe-Barry’s Victorian ‘ virtual’ study - a realistic three-walled set created by 3D mapping (with a floor-to-ceiling height of approx 4.5 metres and a back wall width of around 4 metres).

• The audience enter the newly themed area and the four-minute show commences, using a projected figure of Sir John Wolfe-Barry in conversation with Her Majesty Queen Victoria and architect Sir Horace Jones, who are both depicted as talking portraits (animated plasma TVs).

• This exciting new initiative uses the latest developments in 3D mapping – a technique that projects images onto a 2D plane which has a textured surface creating the illusion of depth in a dynamic way. In this instance, we are projecting a textured visual effect of Sir John Wolfe-Barry’s study, as well as incorporating ‘Magic Lantern’ illustration and animation.

• No additional cost for the visitor.
This imaginative show was devised and created by Eddie Saul, Creative Projects Manager at Tower Bridge, and developed by innovative film and media company, ay-pe www.ay-pe.com/, whose previous work includes an animated pop-up book for Windsor Guildhall, the Scotch Whisky Experience in Edinburgh and an epic CGI film of Housesteads Roman Fort for English Heritage.

Ay-pe’s Creative Director, Richard Playford, comments: “This is a great opportunity to create a unique piece of immersive media theatre to help interpret and complement this truly iconic structure.”

Tower Bridge’s Creative Projects Manager Eddie Saul adds: “Sir John Wolfe-Barry will be able to pull books from shelves, open them up and have animations pop from the book to cover the whole expanse of the wall. He can even click his fingers to transform the space into the Tower Bridge Engine Room. The possibilities are endless!”