Acclaimed designer Jean Rabasse does not distinguish between the interior of the theatre and the set design of LOVE. In his view the two are so intertwined that it's impossible to say where the interior of the building ends and the décor begins.

The core concept of the design grew from the idea of surrounding the Beatles in a “bubble.” Rabasse started with the interior of the existing theatre and gutted the classical 1,500-seat proscenium layout to place the action in the center, with 2,013 seats surrounding the stage in a 360-degree configuration. There are six entrance and exit points to the stage with four tracks to carry the artists and four control booths, one at each corner of the theatre.

One vital objective of the design was to situate the audience in the intimacy of the experience by putting them as close to the performers as possible, hence the furthest row from the stage is only 98 feet from all the action. “I set myself the goal of giving the audience the opportunity to connect with the performance at a childlike emotional level through simple stage techniques and transcendent music,” says Rabasse. In a sense, he was also recreating the atmosphere and sensations of the big top-within a permanent structure.

While the set elements are certainly attractive to look at, few things on stage are there for purely decorative purposes. Everything has a function. The greatest challenge for Jean Rabasse was to allow for seamless transitions between scenes with complex decors. For example, the show opens in the sky and then the scene dissolves to the rooftops of London for the Beatles' last concert atop their building in Savile Row, and from there it travels to the gritty ruins of wartime Liverpool.

The theatre has ten 12,000-lumen projectors for each of the two huge 2,000-square-foot panoramic screens, plus four 832-square-foot semi-transparent screens that are moved by eight motors and served by four 16,000-lumen projectors.

While this is the most technologically advanced theatre ever built, most of the technology is not on display and therefore does not come between the audience and their enjoyment of the show.

In addition to the visible elements there is a highly sophisticated infrastructure at work behind the scenes and above the auditorium. There are nine lifts and eight automated tracks and trolleys that can simultaneously move 24 props, set elements or performers, and they provide the production with 140 different ways to put a performer into the air.

By integrating the lighting, projections, acrobatic equipment and sound design into this environment, Rabasse has created the ideal immersive space in which to present the music of Beatles and the performances of the Cirque du Soleil artists. And for Rabasse, the central and constant role of his design is the music, and the way it sounds. “You can create true theatrical magic using simple techniques, and when it's integrated with the sound system that Jonathan Deans has created for LOVE the result is an experience that is completely immersive and totally involving,” he says.

Text from the Cirque du Soleil Press Room.