Theater Basel

In autumn 2025, Theater Basel staged Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. The production demanded an extraordinary video setup: live cameras, projections, surtitles, and real-time control across multiple locations inside and outside the theater. To realize this vision, the video department turned to Vertex by ioversal - a decision that shaped both the creative and technical success of the project.
The Challenge
Unlike conventional opera productions, Mahagonny unfolded in different spaces: the theater forecourt, the foyer, the auditorium, and the stage itself. The audience was free to move between these spaces, following the performers directly or experiencing the action via eight projection screens. To achieve this, the team had to integrate six wireless live cameras, multiple projection surfaces, and real-time video mixing with minimal latency. At the same time, the setup needed to be reliable and efficient, enabling a seamless workflow for rehearsals and performances.
Why Vertex?
The team at Theater Basel considered several alternatives and ultimately found that Vertex offered the best balance of flexibility, functionality, and usability.
“Vertex is not just a playback and mapping tool - it goes far beyond that,” explains David Fortmann, Head of Video. “The scripting capabilities, the remote API, and the OSC and TCP/UDP interfaces were particularly interesting for us.”
Compared to other systems, Vertex stood out because it runs on standard in-house hardware, supports a container-based workflow instead of traditional layers, and integrates transcoding, content versioning, and masking directly into the software. The team appreciated the transparent product structure - without hidden costs for future updates - and the close, personal support provided by ioversal.
Previously, a production of this scale would have required a traditional media server, combined with a separate video mixer. With Vertex, both tasks could be handled in one system.
Implementation and Workflow
The six live cameras were central to the dramaturgy of the production. Two mobile camera teams captured key moments across all locations, transmitting wirelessly to six receivers. These feeds were ingested via three Magewell dual HDMI capture cards on the main server. Vertex enabled the team to recreate a live video mixer within the software, complete with automated processes to reduce operator workload and potential errors.
Cue-based scripting in Vertex controlled projector shutters, output opacities, and effect transitions. Additional notes embedded in the cues displayed contextual information directly in the preview output, ensuring smooth operation.
Surtitles were integrated through Panthea’s Spectitular software, which generated a webpage of text cues. Vertex displayed these via an HTML content object, using luma keying to overlay the surtitles seamlessly on top of the video output.
The eight projectors were mapped using Vertex’s canvas/surface concept. Each output had its own surface for scaling, keystone correction, and brightness adjustments, while all referenced the same master canvas. This flexibility allowed the team to dynamically adapt projection brightness to match the lighting design.
Control and Operation
For live operation, the team used a nanoKontrol MIDI interface, programmed to switch between live inputs and trigger pre-produced video cues. Custom scripts ensured that only the active video container was visible, highlighted the current feed in the preview window, and provided clear visual feedback on the controller itself. Faders were assigned to fade sequences or adjust overall output levels, making the workflow intuitive even during the complexity of live performance.
“Programming the show in Vertex requires some initial learning, especially for scripting,” notes Nils Klaus, Video Technician. “But once the system is set up, the live operation is incredibly straightforward. The automation allowed us to focus fully on creative decisions rather than technical workarounds.”
The preview output displayed live feeds alongside scene-specific labels such as the next cue or upcoming video insert, helping the operator and stage management keep track of the show’s complex structure.
Integration with Other Departments
Vertex was tightly connected to other systems via OSC and ArtNet. Cue synchronization with the lighting console and Ableton Live ensured that video, lighting, and audio elements aligned perfectly. In addition, ArtNet allowed the team to remotely power-cycle wireless receivers when frequency changes caused reconnection delays - saving valuable time during rehearsals.
Technical Performance
All of this ran on just one Lenovo P8 ThinkStation equipped with a Threadripper Pro CPU, NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada GPU, and three Magewell HDMI capture cards. A backup server and an editing workstation were kept in sync with minimal effort, thanks to Vertex’s flexible multi-user and redundancy assignment.
A decisive moment came when the production team compared Vertex to a Blackmagic ATEM mixer: the latency of the live inputs was so low that it posed no perceptible disadvantage in practical use. “That was a turning point,” recalls Calvin Lubowski, Video Technician. “We realized we didn’t need a separate video mixer, which simplified the entire setup enormously.”
Results and Benefits
For Theater Basel, Vertex delivered measurable improvements in efficiency, creativity, and collaboration. Show programming became faster and more streamlined, the integration of live video with pre-produced content opened new creative possibilities, and cross-departmental workflows were simplified.
The directors, initially skeptical about using a media server for live signals, were convinced by the low latency and flexibility. The audience, too, responded positively to the immersive combination of live performance and video.
Looking ahead, the team is particularly excited about using Control Views and the integrated web server to create custom interfaces for operation, remote access for other departments, or synchronized playback across mobile devices.
“With Vertex, we achieved something we couldn’t have imagined with our old setup: a stable, efficient, and highly creative workflow - all on a single server.” - Theater Basel Video Team