Way out West (incorporating Way up North)

Beards and sandals

Wearing my theatrical hat, I went to the ABTT (Association of British Theatre Technicians) annual trade exhibition this week. Rather improbably, for the last few years this has been held in the Horticultural Halls in Victoria. In the past it used to be forced untidily into a theatre somewhere, but at some point it was decided that it all looked a bit amateurish and it moved to its present home.

The ABTT show is quite small, very much the poor relation of the annual PLASA beano at Earls Court. It is unusual for any companies to be presenting us with anything new, although (unlike PLASA) most of the techy toys demonstrated usually work.

It is quite different in character from PLASA, there are no power buyers in sharp suits, buying equipment for Asian monster theatres, instead there are a lot of old men with beards, happy to talk for hours on how they used to do it all with string and sealing wax, and how it was so much better when there weren't computers everywhere.

I don't know what it is that leads the genus techy to do so much bad hair, long greasy hair in a pony tail is still commonplace (although the pubic hair goatee is no longer as ubiquitous). How these gangly spotty little scrotes morph into the tubby beardy sandal wearing old men is a mystery, although I suspect that beer is involved.

As ever, the best part of the show was going to the pub after, the crowds of drama school students with their carrier bags full of pamphlets don't make it to the pub, so the chat tends to be a bit more analytical, until there have been a few beers, when it starts to become demolition. Still, it is a theatrical institution, and long may it remain; people don't try and sell you things, which is nice.

www.abtt.org.uk/

www.plasa.org/

posted by Lampy @ 6/17/2005 10:52:00 am