A Sense of Theatre, the project which has occupied much of Rob’s attention over the last year and a bit, has started landing with those who supported it’s production over the last week - and is available to everyone from May 1st.
This is the last work by the lighting designer and theatre consultant Richard Pilbrow, who sadly passed away at the end of last year. It is a book charting the history of the National Theatre, both company and building, from its inception in 1963 to the present day.
This is a story Richard was uniquely placed to tell: he was invited by the National’s first artistic director, Laurence Olivier, to light the company’s opening production. From there he became involved in the planning of the National’s new home on London’s South Bank, informally at first, then as a member of the Building Committee assembled to advise the architect on how to build a theatre, then finally as the National’s theatre consultant. In that role he and his company, Theatre Projects, not only created some remarkable technical innovations, particularly the Drum Revolve stage in the Olivier Theatre and the remarkable Lightboard lighting console, but also helped define the very shape of the building itself.
Richard documents this history with extensive access to the minutes of the meeting of the Building Committee, plus his own extensive archives. But this is not his voice alone: he also talks to many who have been part of creating remarkable shows at the National, and documents the history of those productions using a remarkable range of photographs, many of these also never before seen in public.
Rob has been working with Richard to help shape the book since its inception nine years ago. As Richard became frustrated with the lack of interest in the book from ‘big publishers’ (who perceived it as covering too broad a range of subjects to sit comfortably in any one of their ‘lists’) and, as he had done throughout his life, just decided to publish it himself, Rob became partners with Richard and his son Fred in a new publishing enterprise. After Richard’s passing he saw the book through to completion.
Publication of the book was supported through a Kickstarter fundraising campaign, which successfully achieved almost double its funding goal, as well as industry support from the ABTT, Robe, Autograph, ETC, Steeldeck, Ambersphere, Howard Eaton Lighting Limited, 3LR, Martin, Pathway Connectivity Solutions, Push The Button, TAIT, Unusual, White Light and of course Theatre Projects.
The book started arriving with those supporters from late April.
The book is now available to all through all good booksellers, including, of course, Amazon.
A Sense of Theatre website: [link]
Making A Sense of Theatre in Live Design: [link]
Designer Flora Cox on A Sense of Theatre: [link]
A quick flick through the book: [link]
A Sense of Theatre in The Stage: [link]
Purchase A Sense of Theatre direct from its co-publisher, Unicorn: [link]
Purchase A Sense of Theatre from Amazon: [UK] [US] [CA] [DE] [ES] [FR] [IT]
There will be a celebration of Richard’s life and work at the National Theatre on May 17th: [link]