Pastures New - War Horse is moving on to pastures new after a seven-year run in London's West End. The play, based on Michael Morpurgo's book, has been a major success since its award-winning puppetry first took to the National Theatre stage. The final performance at the New London Theatre will take place on 12 March next year. Morpurgo paid tribute to an "iconic play, but not simply a play, certainly not a musical, a show like no other, with puppets at its heart". He said, "It has moved millions in London and all over the world. How great to see the theatre always full of people of all generations, all caught up in the story playing out before them, in a show once called 'the greatest anthem to peace ever seen on a stage'." War Horse is the most successful play in the NT's history.

Cultural Ties - Shakespeare's Globe and the National Theatre ar

World - Flight case and speaker component manufacturer Penn Elcom has invested close to two million pounds in new manufacturing plant and technology across the group's international operations in China, Mexico and the UK.

Over a million dollars alone has been ploughed into upgrading the powder coating lines at all sites, part of a planned reinvestment strategy in Swiss made Gema spraying equipment designed to increase efficiency and output worldwide for Penn to keep abreast of the current growing demand for its products.

The powder line installed at the factory in Guangdong Province, China, is completely new and replaces the previous one with the latest air cooled technology. This will enhance the working environment for the 30 employees as well as being more energy efficient, kinder to the environment and more cost-effective to maintain and run. The plant is also run on re-cy

UK - PLASA has announced the first of its nominees for the 2015 Awards for Innovation, which recognise and reward new product ideas. Nominated products should meet at least one of the Awards' criteria for 'Innovation' - to offer a new style of thinking, an improvement in existing technical practice, a new or improved aid to safety, a new commercial advantage, use new patents or unique intellectual property, or introduce new technology, materials or manufacturing techniques.

The final assessment of those claims will take place at the PLASA Show, where an independent panel of industry experts will judge the entries, based on the strength of their innovation alone. Respected for their impartiality, the panel will hear a five-minute presentation from each of the nominees, and have the opportunity for questions and answers, before making their final selections.

There are no product

UK - Launched last September, Current RMS has been working hard building new features into the system, now being used in over 400 event rental businesses worldwide.

To celebrate a year on, the Current team has launched a new website as well as the release of the new Resources Module. Now, Current not only manages all of the renting and sale of products but also the services that go with these jobs too whether that be crew, transport, venues or rooms.

Key features of this new Module include: View all your bookable resources and any job with unallocated services; Flexible service charging by; hours, days or distance; Simple resource allocation using drag and drop functionality; Handy iCal feed for all resource bookings; Use Stores to determine the whereabouts of your resource; Specify periods of unavailability for bookable resources.

The Current team look forward to demonstrat

USA / Japan - This September, the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) conducted two Plug Fests: the 2015 Japanese EtherCAT Plug Fest in Yokohama, Japan, and the 2015 North American EtherCAT Plug Fest in Newark, New Jersey, USA. Both events showed the typical high variety in EtherCAT devices, as well as a high level of system conformance.

The 2015 Japanese EtherCAT Plug Fest was held 10-11 September at the facilities of Beckhoff Japan in Yokohama. The ETG was pleased with the improved quality, variety, and functional range of devices at the event, even when compared to the equally impressive results from the year before. In 2015, the Plug Fest had significantly more devices exhibiting advanced features such as highly-precise synchronization through Distributed Clocks, as well as modular device description (Modules/Slots). Additionally, the number of new and unique EtherCAT Slave Cont

UK - What can just £5 do? It can win you an Amazon Gift Card for £100, £250 or even £500 - but more importantly it can help a colleague in need who has fallen on hard times because they, or an immediate family member, is seriously ill or injured.

Stop by the Behind the Scenes UK stand (C10) at the PLASA Show 5-7 October to do your part to bring help and hope to your colleagues in need. Raffle tickets are just £5 each and will be available throughout the show. The drawing will be held on Tuesday afternoon, 7 October but you do not need to be present to win.

The raffle is to help raise funds for the new UK charity Behind the Scenes which provides grants to entertainment technology professionals that may be used for basic living costs, some medical related expenses, transportation, retraining, or funerals. One grant recipient said, "I just want

UK / USA - To allow PLASA to refocus and concentrate on the needs of their respective membership bases, the PLASA Governing Body announces that PLASA's North American and European Union Regional Boards will end their cooperation agreement and return to functioning as separate associations.

A statement from PLASA reads: "This move will allow the associations to set strategic direction to meet their individual demands. It affords more focus of resources in each market toward the activities that are most relevant and pertinent to members and it will allow for more agility and decisiveness.

This in turn will foster the health of both organisations and protect their futures. As we did prior to the start of the cooperation agreement, the two associations will continue to work cooperatively on issues of common interest for the benefit of their members and the industry."

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UK - Fifteen special theatre industry events take place on The Theatres Trust's TheatreStage at PLASA Show 2015 from Sunday 4 to Tuesday 6 October at ExCel London.

The TheatreStage plays host to key organisations and associations in the theatre sector announcing their latest activities, making presentations and giving awards, including the Association of Lighting Designer's Michael Northen Award on Monday 5 October at 1.30pm.

The programme includes 15 presentations over three days from the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT), Association of Lighting Designers (ALD), Backstage Heritage Collection, Behind the Scenes UK, Production Managers' Forum, Society of Theatre Consultants, The Theatrical Guild, and ourselves, The Theatres Trust, the National Advisory Public Body for Theatres.

We're delighted that many academic institutions are also part of the line-up on th

Middle East - Trilogy has announced the appointment of Andrew Childs as business development manager for the Middle East. Childs arrives at Trilogy from Quantum where he was regional sales manager for the Middle East.

Trilogy sales director Ewan Johnston said, "With the launch of exciting new products, Trilogy is expanding its sales capability. The Middle East is a very important market for us and the addition of a local presence will enable us to better serve our customers and partners and take advantage of the significant growth in the region. I know Andrew will be just the right man to pursue and secure the many opportunities to accelerate Trilogy's growth in the Middle East."

Childs added, "Trilogy is a highly respected brand in the Middle East, and with so many compelling new product developments like the new VoiceFlow communication unit and Gemini II distr

UK - Charcoalblue has created a new internship programme in partnership with the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA). Aiming to develop theatrical design talent and broaden experience of the art and craft of theatre consultancy, Charcoalblue will be awarding three annual internships through this special link with LIPA over the next three years.

The internship award offers a paid position, and an introduction to all aspects of theatre consultancy, including auditorium design, technical systems and project management.

The first award winner, student Kathryn Nolan, has just started her placement in Charcoalblue's London Studio.

"Kathryn is already bringing her enthusiasm and great talent to our studio and challenging our thinking every day," says Charcoalblue's managing partner, Andy Hayles. "It's great to have her join our team. It was a delight to pr

UK - SAGE (Safety Advisors Group in Entertainment) have raised concerns of the competence of some event safety advisors and have launched a campaign with the support of IIRSM (International Institute of Risk and Safety Management) to help event organisers and promoters to ensure they know what the really should be looking for in a prospective safety advisor when planning an event.

The role is safety critical and therefore a high level of competence is required. SAGE is recommending the prospective candidate should meet the following criteria:

•Membership of a Health and Safety Institute (IIRSM or IOSH)

•Qualified to NEBOSH Diploma Level (or equivalent)

•Membership of an event industry trade association

•Five years of event industry experience (not necessarily health and safety experience)

•Taking part in a Continuing Professional Development (C

UK - As PLASA Show 2015 opens its doors at ExCeL London, visitors from 101 different countries, with a combined purchasing power of over £3 billion, have registered to attend.

With headline sponsors Robe, Clay Paky and TMB, this year's show features over 300 brands, many of which are showing new products and services, and sees PLASA Show adopting the successful 'Focus' model of a sector-specific, zoned layout, which will allow both visitors and exhibitors easier networking and navigation.

Over 50 leading brands from the pro audio sector are in attendance, with many new names joining that list including A.C. Entertainment, Autograph, d&b Audiotechnik, FACE, FBT UK, Flare Audio, POLARaudio, Ten 47, Unity Audio, White Light, Yamaha, SSE Audio and Wigwam Acoustics.

The lighting zone features manufacturers such as Altman, Avolites, Elation, ETC, Laserworld AG, and Robe, whi

UK - Britannia Row's Mike Lowe, Colin Pink and Luca Stefani will today present 'Training in the Production Industry - A Vision for the Future; Creating a live mix; A talk on System Prediction, Analysis and Optimisation'.

"The traditional training grounds for young people entering the live audio industry are in the main, a distant memory," says Mike. "Technology has advanced and can no longer be learned solely on the job. Audience expectations of audio quality are forever on the increase and budgets determine that there is usually only room for technicians and engineers who know what they are doing. The 'pioneer' generation of live engineers and technicians are reaching retirement age, while the requirement for live audio continues to increase.

"Most available live audio training or education comes either as a minor adjunct attached to studio engineering or

UK - Pixar's director of photography Danielle Feinberg will today present a seminar entitled 'Pixels to Pictures - The Cinematography of Pixar's Films' as part of PLASA's industry leading Professional Development Programme at PLASA Show 2015.

"Cinematography: the art of lighting and photographing a movie. Translated into animation, how does this work? In this insightful talk, Pixar Director of Photography Danielle Feinberg will shed light on the magic of cinematography in animated film and how the creative freedom computers allow must be harnessed for ultimate storytelling," say organisers.

"After hearing about PLASA for years, I am so thrilled to be taking part this year," says Danielle. "It is a rare and wonderful thing to be in a room full of people that appreciate the immense power of great lighting."

The session takes place today at 2.30pm

UK - As PLASA Show 2015 opened its doors yesterday at ExCeL London, visitors from 101 different countries, with a combined purchasing power of over £3bn, had registered to attend.

With headline sponsors Robe, Clay Paky and TMB, this year's show features over 300 brands, many of which are showing new products and services, and sees PLASA Show adopting the successful 'Focus' model of a sector-specific, zoned layout, which will allow both visitors and exhibitors easier networking and navigation.

Over 50 leading brands from the pro audio sector are in attendance, with many new names joining that list including A.C. Entertainment, Autograph, d&b Audiotechnik, FACE, FBT UK, Flare Audio, POLARaudio, Ten 47, Unity Audio, White Light, Yamaha, SSE Audio and Wigwam Acoustics.

The lighting zone features manufacturers such as Altman, Avolites, Elation, ETC, Laserworld AG, and Robe,

UK - Lighting company, ELC Lighting, has unveiled a brand new identity at this year's PLASA show, symbolised by a revitalised logo that reflects the key essence of its product range.

"The launch of our brand new logo kicks off a new era at ELC Lighting that speaks of who we are as a company and portrays the ease of use and efficiency of our products", said Silvio Cibien, sales manager, ELC Lighting.

"We are proud to always be ahead of the curve in a rapidly evolving industry and our new brand identity will illustrate not just who we think we are but how our customers regard our products - straightforward, unpretentious and dynamic."

The new logo which can be seen on the company's stand D60, is bold, easy to read and contemporary. "It is just how we see our products," says Silvio. "We do not need to package them up with bows and gimmicks. EL

UK - Award-winning creative technical event production expert, Hawthorn, has unveiled its new brand at PLASA 2015 this week.

Named by the London Stock Exchange this year as one of the '1000 Companies to Inspire Britain', and after nearly 30 years in the business, Hawthorn has never stopped growing. With the acquisition of Core Creative, renowned drapes brand Rex Howard and the hugely admired creative technical production business Anagram, it was felt the time was right to amalgamate all of these respected brands under the one name: Hawthorn.

Hawthorn was the brainchild of Martin Hawthorn, who in 1987 spotted a gap in the market for a good quality equipment hire company, to support theatres, dramatic groups, schools and colleges. With great customer service front of mind, he promptly set up shop in his garage in Leicestershire and the rest, as they say, is history.

The Hawtho

Festival Fever - Thousands of festival goers were left disappointed after Glastonbury tickets sold out in just over half an hour. The £228 tickets went on sale at 9am and, 32 minutes later, they were all gone - not quite beating the 14 minutes it took this year's festival to sell out in October 2014. Emily Eavis, co-organiser of the festival and daughter of its founder Michael Eavis, tweeted, "Tickets have now sold out. Thank you to everyone for your incredible support and sorry to those who missed out Bring on Glastonbury 2016!"

The 120,000 tickets were snapped up even before the line-up was announced, with only rumours about who might play at the festival. Adele and Coldplay are the top bets, with the Foo Fighters also hot favourites after pulling out of this year's event when front man Dave Grohl broke his leg. ACDC, Blur and Fleetwood Mac are also being tippe

UK - Blitz|GES, supplier of audio-visual equipment and services to the live events industry, has secured a new three year contract with major London event venue, Olympia London, to provide a range of technical event services including sound, lighting, video, graphics and staging, as well as allowing the venue access to the full range of services from Global Experience Specialists (GES).

Gillian Kiamil, venue director at Olympia London said, "Blitz|GES's technical services are consistently highly rated by event organisers; they are the leaders in their field for the full range of event support, including large scale live events, conferences and exhibitions, which suits our considerably diverse events portfolio perfectly. We've worked together as a team over the past seven years and look forward to a fruitful partnership for the immediate future under the new banner of Blitz|

UK - As part of the Arts In Place Series, Beam is presenting a rare opportunity to see presentations from leading light artist Nayan Kulkarni and Lumiere Festival producers, Artichoke, in a session entitled Lighting the City, taking place on Saturday 17 October, 10am-1pm at The Orangery in Wakefield.

Artichoke produce Lumiere Durham, which will once again transform the historic city with an ambitious programme of light installations from international artists from 12-15 November. Artichoke who have a reputation for bold, groundbreaking outdoor arts events was founded in 2005 with the mission to invade public spaces with extraordinary and ambitious art.

Light art installation specialist Nayan Kulkarni is currently working on innovative new artworks as part of Hull 2017, drawing on his experience with some of the most ambitious light works in the UK. Nayan Kulkarni's site

On The Campaign Trail - Aerosmith's Steven Tyler has asked Donald Trump to stop using his band's song Dream On on the campaign trail. The singer's lawyers have sent a cease-and-desist letter, saying the use of the song "gives a false impression" he endorses Mr Trump's presidential bid. The politician has been playing the power ballad all summer, even air-drumming to it at a rally in Las Vegas. Tyler, who is a registered Republican, says it is not a "personal" issue but one of permission and copyright.

It is the third time a musician has confronted Trump about using their songs to promote his presidential bid. When the businessman announced his candidacy, his campaign played Neil Young's Rockin' in the Free World - a song that contains the lyrics "He's just a rich old man / He never cared for anyone". Young, a well-known liberal, demand

UK - Rosco, a major manufacturer of products for the entertainment industry, has once again shown its support for the new charity Behind the Scenes UK by donating the year's proceeds from sales of Rosco 313 Light Relief yellow.Mark Engel, CEO of Rosco, stated, "Our industry is constantly changing. Designers and technicians move from show to show, and technology advances by the moment. Ours is not a community that sits still. In such an environment, stability is critical. Knowing you have a safety net, that your friends are there for you, is essential. Behind the Scenes UK is that safety net, and we are so pleased to be able to help fill that net year after year. This year's contribution, thanks to every designer and technician who used Rosco 313 Light Rlief Yellow, is £1,398.51."Upon receiving the cheque presented by Cristian Arroyo, director of sales for Rosco EMEA, John

USA - On 25 September, ANSI's Board of Standards Review approved the reaffirmation of the 2010 edition of ANSI E1.30-4, EPI 26, Device Description Language (DDL) Extensions for DMX512 and E1.31 Devices, and the revised version of ANSI E1.37-2, Entertainment Technology - Additional Message Sets for ANSI E1.20 (RDM) - Part 2, IPv4 & DNS Configuration Messages. ANSI E1.30-4 does what the title says: it defines protocol-specific extensions to the Device Description Language for describing DMX512 devices. ANSI E1.37-2 is another part of the multi-part, open-ended E1.37 standard. It provides Get/Set parameter messages for configuring network interfaces, routing information, and DNS settings on devices with IPv4 addresses.

Both standards are now published. They may be downloaded at no charge from http://tsp.plasa.org/freestandards; the free download is sponsored by Prosight Specialty I

Mercury Rising - Former Supergrass frontman Gaz Coombes has been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, 20 years after his band's debut album made the shortlist. The singer was just 19 when Supergrass appeared on the list. His solo album, Matador, is more introspective and experimental than his Britpop band. Other artists nominated for the £20,000 prize include Florence + The Machine, Jamie xx and Wolf Alice. The winner will be revealed live on BBC Four and BBC 6 Music next month.

The Book's The Thing - A new theatre company hopes to reinvigorate local libraries through theatre. Librarian Theatre will tour productions to libraries across the UK in what founders Tom Cuthbertson and Kelly Eva-May, who are both actors, say will be the first touring company dedicated to visiting regional libraries. Its first production, an adaptation of Hamlet called The Book'

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