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New Products and New Exhibitors Confirm ABTT’s Leading Position
The Association of British Theatre Technicians’ annual showcase – the ABTT Theatre Show, to be staged in London’s Royal Horticultural Halls on 16th -17th June this year, is set to be bigger than ever, boasting a broad cross-section of companies that will provide a vital technical showcase for all professionals involved in theatre and auditoria.
By encouraging new exhibitors from areas such as PA/VA, Video and Building Services, alongside those from the more familiar lighting, rigging and audio sectors, the show has broadened its appeal and is already 95% sold out.
A plethora of lighting companies will use the show as a forum to demonstrate some of their most innovative products. VLPS Lighting Services Ltd, for instance, will be showing the new Virtuoso EX1 Media Server which brings a whole new dynamic to digital lighting by using a moving perspective camera and four-point lighting in a virtual 3D environment.
The EX1 employs five independent light sources (an ambient light source and four directional lights) to model objects in a three-dimensional environment. The positional camera has the ability to dolly in and out, and orbit on the x-, y-, and z-axis. This allows the camera or viewer's perspective to "fly through" anywhere in the 3D environment, including going inside any of the 3D objects.
ETC will exhibit a selection of its lighting, control and dimming product such as The Source Four Revolution, which has already won the "Best Debuting Product/Promising Prototype" Award at LDI 2003, whilst the new “CEM+” (Control Electronics Module), takes dimming technology to a new level. The new RRFU (Radio Remote Focus Unit), which will also be on display, joins ETC’s popular RFU (cabled Remote Focus Unit) and WRFU (Wireless Remote Focus Unit) in the company’s hand held offerings.
Fourth Phase London will be on hand at ABTT to answer any technical queries ranging from how to project an image onto a building to the supply of an entire lighting rig. With an enviable reputation under its belt, Fourth Phase London’s includes supplying the entire lighting rigs for We Will Rock You and Cats in Madrid, to the Lion King on London’s West End and the European touring production of Fosse.
Avolites is showing two new products – eDMX and the ART2000S (stand alone) dimmer module – plus its range of ART2000i installation dimmers and lighting control consoles. EDMX completely removes the need for data cabling between lighting desk and fixtures and is ideal for physically challenging venues and locations.
James Thomas Engineering will highlight the new weatherised architectural versions of its innovative Pixel LED range. The full Pixel entertainment industry range will also be on show, plus JTE’s revolutionary PixelDrive control software.
Rigging companies present at this year’s show include PCM who will be showing the new reduced-noise version of it’s award winning Unibar – which was launched at last year’s show. With the Unibar motor now housed in a sound-proofed box, the new near-silent Unibar can be used to move equipment and scenery in and out during the quietest of performances.
One of Europe’s leading manufacturers of custom aluminium structures, truss and staging systems - LiteStructures - will also be present with their industry standard LiteDeck. Flexible, easy to manoeuvre, convenient to store and extremely cost-effective it is available as a traditional 8’x4’ staging unit as well in various shapes. ChromaDeck is the latest addition to LiteStructures’ range of staging and decking solutions and brings an almost limitless range of colours to the ground beneath your feet and can either be programmed or controlled manually.
Since winning the ABTT Product of the Year award for the third time at last year’s show, Triple-E is back with demonstrations of its extensive product range including its variable acoustic systems and the most flexible of all of track systems, Chaintrack, plus the Unibeam with Chain drive - designed specifically to replace a helical-drum hauling system provides motorised operation for both curtains and scenery when space is limited.
After their first full year back as an independent business, Hall Stage will be showing new products to support their existing ranges, including steel band and chain hoists from their German partners, ASM Steuerungstechnik GmbH. Their first joint venture is the DGS counterweight drive system - a retro-fit hoist which powers existing counterweight installations and brings to an end the days of slow, painful and labour intensive cradle loading.
Theatrical video experts XL Video are at the 2004 ABTT Show in the Lindley Hall, the first video company to exhibit there. XL will be demonstrating a variety of methods in which video can integrate with other technical production elements for theatre, and show a selection of projectors and playback devices. XL’s current theatre work includes award winning shows like ‘Hitchcock Blonde’ and ‘Jerry Springer The Opera’, ‘The Beautiful & The Damned’, ‘Permanent Way’ and the Siobhan Davies Dance Company’s ‘Birdsong’.
As the UK’s only dedicated trade event for theatre professionals, ABTT offers an exclusive opportunity to go “backstage” and discover the spectrum of products and services that underpin contemporary theatre venues and modern productions.
For Exhibitor information contact: Simon Garrett or Isobel Hatton @ Pandemonium Productions Ltd Tel: 01895 259559 Email: abtt2004@pandemonium.com
19th April 2004
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