This year The ABTT Theatre Show (Association of British Theatre Technicians) reflects the link and features many exhibitors who have supplied equipment for major school and college theatre installations over the last couple of years.
Sound and lighting equipment will feature heavily at The ABTT Theatre Show, but also on show is a whole range of products and services - from staging to floors to rigging and electro-mechanical hoists - that are as important in creating a theatre or performance space as loudspeakers and lights.
Among this year's exhibitors is Centre Stage Engineering, which has supplied and installed flying support systems, lifts or hoists at, among others, Alleyn's School in Dulwich, south London, the Dormston School, a mathematics and computing specialist college in the Midlands, and Woodbridge School in Suffolk.
The Michael Croft Theatre at Alleyn's School, named after a former head of English there and founder of the National Youth Theatre, features a motorised lift at the front of the stage, as well as cabling and rack equipment from Canford Audio and lighting dimmers from Electronic Theatre Controls (ETC), both of which are exhibiting at the show.
Unless theatres are going for an Elizabethan groundlings style, they need seats to put bums on. Seating specialist Hussey Seatway will be displaying its retractable, telescopic and fixed systems, which feature in a number of high profile theatre installations, including the Sallis Benney Theatre at the University of Brighton.
The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School is among the most respected drama teaching centres in the UK and underwent a refit during February, installing a Nomad control console and winches supplied by Stage Technologies, which specialises in mechanical, electrical, electronic and software engineering for theatres.
The education and theatre training sector appears to be bucking against general economic trends, with more installations and new building projects planned for this year. The ABTT Theatre Show itself is part of this trend and has grown in size and attracted a number of exhibitors making their first appearance at the exhibition. These include the SSE Audio Group, Rigging Projects, L Acoustics and Yamaha, exhibiting in its own right for the first time.
The ABTT Theatre Show 2009 takes place at the Royal Horticultural Halls in Westminster, London from 10-11 June.
(Jim Evans)
