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

Steve Chapman August 3, 2020 Comments Off EK Community

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 1^st 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)

EK drops flower heads at RADA production

Earnest RADA students drop flowers on stunning production.

Steve Chapman March 30, 2020 Comments Off EK Community

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.

Brussels sprouts, as parachuted by a London theatre using Electro Kabuki.

Electro Kabuki Suits All Sorts.

Steve Chapman March 2, 2018 No Comments EK Community

Looking over our recent orders for Electro Kabuki reveals (no pun intended) a surprising array of applications that are a perfect fit for EK’s technological staged reveal capabilities.

Among the systems despatched to all four corners of the world, we have uses that include parachuting Brussels sprouts (yes, really! – and that should explain the image) during a festive performance at a highly-regarded London theatre, reveals for two major international opera companies, and a cruise ship show featuring a high-profile ‘Strictly’ celebrity.

Seasonal Surprise in Pasadena

Steve Chapman January 16, 2018 No Comments EK Community

Remember our blog in late October about the new EK users at the First Baptist Church of Pasadena?

Now we have some footage of part of this festive season’s famous Singing Christmas Tree extravaganza – an annual event in its 33^rd year. Despite more than three decades of history, this was the first time the Church had chosen to conceal, then reveal, the Christmas-tree-shaped stage as it holds 150 people ready to burst into song.

We are delighted to report that the DMX-controlled Electro Kabuki drop worked flawlessly. Take a look at a clip from the video here.

Best of all was the message we received from Brent Shore, Technical Director at FBC Pasadena:

“The Electro Kabuki system worked flawlessly as we expected it would and added the grand opening we were looking for to our annual Christmas Production of the ‘Singing Christmas Tree’. The system was easy to install and set up in our configuration to operate. We look forward to using the system for years to come to bring a moment of awe and wonder to all in attendance when our 32-foot-tall Christmas tree with 150 singers standing in it is revealed for the first time in our production.”

Reveal up to 4 Thai Ladyboys with the new EK Firing Box!

Steve Chapman August 23, 2017 Comments Off Distributor News, EK Product News

A new basic firing box has been added to the EK accessory line-up. The 4-way box is only termed ‘basic’ because it deploys the straightforward push-button firing mechanism of the standard Basic Firing Box – but this new model offers the ability to fire up to four strings of EK modules, one string at a time, so there’s nothing ‘basic’ about that.

With simplicity in mind, the new firing box features a rotary switch to select each of the circuits.

The curious case of Electro Kabuki enquiries

Steve Chapman July 24, 2017 No Comments EK Community

Casting our eyes over the enquiry log for Electro Kabuki creates a sense of wonder at the diversity of the system’s geographic appeal – and generates more than a little curiosity about the kinds of organisations looking to deploy staged reveals. We despatch EK systems to the four corners of the globe. A quick glance at the enquiry log for the last couple of months alone shows the US, Japan, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, the UAE, Mexico, France, Germany and Iceland amongst others.

Now you see it, now you don’t! Rigging EK live in a dance show.

Steve Chapman July 3, 2017 Comments Off EK Community

News just in from one of our Electro Kabuki users in the US. Our friends at Cedar Point, a top amusement park in Ohio (and known as the roller coaster capital of the world) sent us a cool video showing how they use an EK drop in the middle of a live pyrotechnic and laser-filled music and dance performance. And it all takes place outdoors! That’s no problem for the EK system – it’s fully weatherproof.

Get DMX Automation from an EK Starter Pack

Steve Chapman June 13, 2017 No Comments EK Product News

Since its introduction a couple of years back, our Basic EK Starter Pack has been pleasingly successful in helping to introduce staging professionals to the benefits, and rock-solid reliability, of Electro Kabuki.

For many of these people, being able to prove the dependability of the EK system before deploying it in anger at a high-profile event was key. And our special Starter Pack pricing means a minimal investment, which makes the whole thing affordable. It’s worth mentioning that a very high percentage of Starter Pack users have gone on to extend their EK systems significantly.

We began to notice an increasing number of EK enquiries asking about DMX control. It’s clear that some people need this automation option from the outset. As it turned out, that proved to be the case in many instances, but there was another motivator…

Magnets for Her Majesty

Steve Chapman May 11, 2017 Comments Off EK Community

Not every theatrical reveal lends itself perfectly to Electro Kabuki, though most do. But this high-profile event, staged by our very good friends at FE UK Ltd, demanded a perfect reveal for a new war memorial sculpture in London’s Victoria Embankment Gardens to be unveiled by The Queen.

The drape covering the sculpture needed to drop to the ground for the reveal, with the world’s press watching and beneath the gaze of 2500 military veterans. No pressure there, then!

Tag: kabuki drop