Robe UK attended ABTT (Association of British Theatre Technicians) expo, staged at Alexandra Palace in London, and presented two dynamic exhibition areas. A stand upstairs in the main hall, together with a large demo area located downstairs in the venue’s Palace Suite.
Robe also delivered four presentations which touched on topics related to sustainability and creative lighting.
The Robe booth occupied a position in the main exhibition hall and featured some of Robe’s newest lighting technologies designed for theatre, performance, TV, and broadcast scenarios, together with selected Anolis, Avolites and Artistic Licence products. Atmosphere and haze specialist MDG, which is distributed in the UK by Robe, was also present on the stand.
A video wall at the back offered four separate brand windows / digital messaging boards for snapshotting information, two dedicated to Robe, one to Anolis and one to MDG.
Robe products showcased on raised displays around the stand included the TX1 PosiProfile, LEDBeam350, PAINTE moving light, the FOOTSIE 1 Slim footlights fixture, the popular T11 Profile, and the T15 Fresnel.
Robe also coordinated product talks and a black box demonstration area to demo more fixtures ‘in situ’. The product presentations from Robe’s Will Blackie, Chris Purnell, and David Catterall, each lasted approximately 10 minutes and were tailored to run through all the pertinent points.
The iFORTE LTX was demonstrated complete with a LightMaster kit which turns it into a programmable manual follow spot with a near equivalent 4K HMI output.
Visitors were impressed with T32 Cyc’s 1:6 height-to-distance ratio and optical design, together with the smoothness and even spread of light thanks to its asymmetric beam and patented VertiSpot motorised hot spot control.
The T15 attracted attention as a compact fresnel / PC and the output which is equivalent of more than a 2Kw tungsten source in open white. Another product that everyone was looking at was the iProMotion, Robe’s moving head effects and video projector, which can have custom artwork, photographs and videos uploaded and has a live streaming input facility from external HD multimedia interfaces plus an array of controls including keystone, iris and motorised focus.
The ABTT seminars were staged in an adjacent space to Robe’s demo area, Catterall hosted two of Robe’s presentations. “What has sustainability done for me?” which explored some of the ‘secrets’ of sustainability in lighting, and “Upgrading to LED? – Planning for financial and artistic success” which focused on the transition from tungsten to LED and was packed with interesting financial and artistic facts-and-figures for those considering the conversion.
Dave Whitehouse talked about “CRI and Colour Temperature – why they are so important?” including sharing vital info on how to make the best LED selections for lighting people, costumes, and sets.
In “Planning to replace your houselights? – what to consider” – Anolis’s Ashley Popple discussed the importance and impact of houselights in installations, highlighting safety and architectural features and how to plan and execute upgrade projects.
Robe’s architectural sister brand Anolis displayed products from its Ambiane, Eminere and Calumma ranges and ran an iProMotion demo in the Palace Suite.
Avolites also highlighted their D9 and Tiger Touch II lighting consoles in the Palace Suite demos, with sessions overseen by Ron Carrington and Sarah O’Gorman.
Robe UK’s Ian Brown concluded, “ABTT is always a great show! It feels completely unique from others around and allows for professionals to come together to interact with familiar faces, as well as make new connections. With the demo room arrangement, the team couldshowcase products to visitors for around 20 to 30 minutes each, which worked very well. Utilising headphone technology, both the ABTT seminars and the Robe demos which were in the same area could run simultaneously and more efficiently without interference.”
