"I spend a lot of time in the theatre, but I end up doing more than just shows. I can't help it. I say it's because I like to keep busy and don't want to get bored. Friends with a greater belief in astrology than me would no doubt pin it on my being a Gemini..."

Rob has been writing about lighting, sound and theatre production since 1992, for magazines including Lighting&Sound International, Lighting&Sound America, The Stage, Lighting Dimensions, Theatre Crafts, Entertainment Design, Live Design, Total Production and others.
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The 'greatest hits' from these are now available collected into two volumes, Entertainment in Production 1994-1999 and Entertainment in Production 2000-2006, published by Entertainment Technology Press.
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His popular 'console tips' for the 500-series consoles are still available from Strand Lighting. Console tips>

He is now also a user of other consoles, including MA's grandMA, ETC's Eos and Strand's Palette.

He has taught at drama schools including LAMDA, Guildhall, Central, Rose Bruford and RADA in London and NIDA in Australia. He has been a guest artiste at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, most recently in April this year. Website>

He has provided lighting console training for English National Opera, Glyndebourne Opera, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, the Sydney Opera House, the Victoria Arts Centre, the Churchill Theatre Bromley, the Theatre Royal Newcastle plus various West End and other regional UK venues.

He enjoys taking pictures, figuring that its the flip side of being a lighting designer - capturing the light instead of creating it. He'd quite like to be a production photographer next time around.

Rob has spoken and been on panels at trade shows including PLASA, LDI, AC North and Showlight 2009. At LDI, he has spoken about working on Oklahoma! and Mary Poppins; the Art of Programming panel he was part of in 2007 with Jim Ohrberg, Brad Schiller, Nick Phillips and Marcus Krömer was repeated and expanded in 2008, again to great acclaim.

The LDI panel, now a full day event, was a hit again at the 2009 show in Orlando. A hit once more, The Art of Programming will be back in 2010, and Rob will be involved in various other panels as well. LDI>

At last year's Showlight, he described the 26-universe, 1.5 tonne (fabulous) cyc-lighting folly he designed for the touring Mary Poppins. Showlight> That Cyc>

He regularly offers thoughts and advice to manufacturers of lighting consoles, sometimes whether they want it or not! Some of these thoughts now also appear in a column in Lighting&Sound America magazine, in the hope that others will agree and start nagging their favourite manufacturer! Articles>

He created the FocusTrack production lighting documentation system when he found he couldn't remember enough about the productions he'd worked on years earlier when they were revived. Website>

FocusTrack has now been joined by SpotTrack, a tool for creating and managing followspot cuesheets. Website>

He is a member of the ALD and the ABTT in the UK, and IATSE in the US.