Author: Steve Chapman

Yes, we are exhibiting at PLASA 2023!

Look out for Electro Kabuki at the PLASA 2023 show in September. You’ll find us on Stand A35.

As visitors at the last two years of PLASA events will know, our flop & drop demonstrations are highly engaging and interactive. That’s why we’re rigging it up again this year.

Come and see the effectiveness of a two-stage kabuki reveal for yourself – and feel free to press the Fire button. In fact, make sure you do because there’s nothing quite like a bit of hands-on action to get the feel of this sophisticated yet supremely simple-to-operate kabuki effects system. Flop & Drop is just one of the many configuration options open to users of Electro Kabuki.

This year’s PLASA event takes place live at London Olympia from Sunday 3rd to Tuesday 5th September 2023. Electro Kabuki is on Stand A35. Be sure to visit when you attend the show.

Should you hire or buy Electro Kabuki? It depends…

If you need to stage a reveal or curtain drop while being absolutely certain that your effect will work perfectly first time every time, you really have no choice about the mechanics: it must be Electro Kabuki.

if you don’t already own EK, you have a choice. Do you hire or should you purchase?

There are arguments in favour of each. It comes down to the scale of your kabuki drop rig or how often you’ll be rigging these types of theatrical reveals.

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Kabuki Drop on Strictly Final.

We were delighted to see a kabuki drop used to truly great effect in the ‘Strictly’ 2021 Final this weekend.

Dependable as ever. Check it out during John and Johannes’s show dance routine on the YouTube clip at the 44-second mark…

Presidential appointment for Electro Kabuki in France.

 

The French high-speed train network (TGV) celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. That railway milestone was commemorated in style with a special unveiling of a new TGV train at an event attended by France’s President, M. Emmanuel Macron. The drop was rigged by our good friends at Blackout France using Electro Kabuki to ensure a faultless reveal.

As you can see from a post on President Macron’s own Instagram account, the result was ‘parfait’.

The train unveiled is the TGV-M, a new class of high-speed train due to enter service across France in 2023. President Macron’s Instagram post calls it “The TGV of the future” that will be “more accessible, more connected and more ecological.”

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New rigging company chooses Electro Kabuki.

We have a new direct Electro Kabuki customer in Erlend Webb, director of newly formed business Webb’s Rigging Ltd and a highly regarded professional in the rigging sector.

While Webb’s Rigging may be a new business in the events industry, Erlend is not. In fact, he’s a veteran with more than 20 years of experience in TV productions, theatre, film and live events including rock & roll tours and Olympic ceremonies – and he is acutely familiar with Electro Kabuki.

Erlend set up his business in March 2020, which unfortunately coincided with the arrival of the first coronavirus lockdown. Despite the difficulties imposed by Covid on the events sector, Erlend’s reputation and expertise have kept him busy over the past 18 months.

He has used Electro Kabuki many times over the years, predominantly with his work in TV using rented EK systems or EK kits belonging to studios or venues. That’s why the dependable system became his kabuki drop solution of choice for any rigging project that required curtains, drapes or props to be released with precision timing.

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Are those green shoots we see?

Some of the glimmers of hope we saw at Electro Kabuki HQ over the first couple of months of this year have turned into a reassuring resurgence of interest.

In the past weeks, we have received EK enquiries from companies in Norway, the United Arab Emirates and in the US. We know that the customer in Norway has rented Electro Kabuki systems in the past and is now looking to purchase its own system for tours planned later this year. We look forward to that order.

This week, we are packaging up a full Electro Kabuki demonstration system and sending it off to the Dutch National Opera & Ballet in Amsterdam.

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Now UK customers can order Electro Kabuki online.

If you’re reading this news, you may have already noticed a change to the layout of the menu bar at the top of this website.

We have added a new Store function for online Electro Kabuki shopping. It allows the selection and purchase of Electro Kabuki systems, dropper modules, parts, accessories and spares, right from this website, with online payment options included.

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Joy as Japan’s Kabuki-za Theatre Reopens after Coronavirus.

As purveyors of the world’s most dependable kabuki drop system, it would be rude and disrespectful of us not to mention the good news from Japan this past weekend (Saturday 1st August 2020).

After five months of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, the BBC reports that Tokyo’s famous Kabuki-za Theatre has reopened, to the palpable joy of many. The Kabuki-za is the city’s main theatre for performances of Japanese kabuki dance-drama.

Watch the BBC Online News coverage (courtesy of bbc.co.uk/news)

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Rigging Jump reveals new Ford Ranger Raptor Off-road Pickup in Chile

During a challenging time of coronavirus lockdown here in the UK and across many parts of the world, it’s reassuring to see some events teams continuing to operate and provide great staged reveals. None more so than our friends and Electro Kabuki enthusiasts Rigging Jump in Chile.

Rigging Jump shared images and video of setting up an Electro Kabuki drop for a reveal of the new Ford Ranger Raptor, billed as the ultimate off-road pickup experience. It was a launch event for the rugged new vehicle that was also aired on TV in Chile. Well done, guys!

Our thanks to Mauricio at Rigging Jump for allowing us to use the video from their Instagram feed (@rigging_jump).

With Covid-19 continuing to impact many aspects of daily life for many people, we’d like to let you know that we are still manufacturing and shipping Electro Kabuki systems and spares to our customers across the world. And yes, we are doing so while adhering to the British government’s strict social distancing and personal safety guidelines. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need information or support from us.

Stay safe wherever you are.

Earnest RADA students drop flowers on stunning production.

In one of the last events we were able to attend before coronavirus forced us all to stay at home, we were invited to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art’s impressive theatre complex in Chenies Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1, to see a performance of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. As you’d rightly expect, the entire production was staged, performed, produced and directed by RADA Acting and Theatre Production students. And what a professional show it was!

For one of the highly imaginative scene changes, the production called for hundreds of flower heads to be dropped to the stage. That signalled the transition of the play from Algernon Moncrieff’s rooms in Piccadilly to the garden of the Manor House, Woolton, where the actress Harmony Rose-Bremner playing ‘Miss Prism’ was sat at a garden table – protected from the falling blooms by the butler (RADA graduate Jack Flammiger) holding a parasol.

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