LAMDA Remembers Richard Pilbrow
LAMDA and Richard Pilbrow enjoyed a long and distinguished relationship together, going back to the 1960s. Back then, Richard was already a young entrepreneur and successful lighting designer, very much in demand. He’d been making an impact from the late 1950s by revolutionising the art of stage lighting, and with it the role of the lighting designer, attracting much attention as he grew his portfolio of high-profile work particularly in London and New York.
Early in his career he established Theatre Projects Ltd with some equally adventurous peers. He steered Theatre Projects from its industry service origins into a leading consultancy to its theatre owning clients by responding to the changing demands placed upon teams designing modern theatre and performance spaces and adapting existing performance spaces for modern uses. Theatre Projects Consultants has for decades remained a leading strategic and design-led consultancy to the theatre and wider performing arts sector around the globe.
In the middle of his busy professional life Richard enthusiastically encouraged LAMDA to create a Technical Theatre Training Course, which was launched in 1965. Richard being Richard, he persuaded his friend and mentor, Bob Stanton, to head the Course, helping it to become a standard bearer for Production and Technical training for the stage and screen. Considered ground-breaking at its formation, and for almost 60 years since, the Course has produced thousands of graduates who have gone on to make their mark and influence the live and broadcast performing arts and wider events industry worldwide.
Richard supported the Course personally for decades by involving himself and his colleagues at Theatre Projects within the curriculum. Meaning students on the Course had access to many leading practitioners to learn from.
LAMDA’s Rob Young, a graduate himself, and Head of Production & Technical Arts Training since 2005, added:
