Dates: 1933 – December 6 2023

Lighting designer, theatre design consultant, author and producer. Chairman and founder of Theatre Projects Consultants. Theatre projects: more than 500 theatre design consulting projects in 50 countries, including the new Goodman, Steppenwolf and Shakespeare Theatres in Chicago; the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood; the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia; and the renovation plans for New York’s Lincoln Center and the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington.
A pioneer of modern stage lighting in Britain, he was recently the lighting designer for The Magic Flute, Los Angeles and Seattle Operas. Other credits include On Raftery’s Hill at the Druid Theatre, Galway and the Royal Court Theatre, London; The Life on Broadway (Tony Award nomination); and Hal Prince’s Show Boat in New York, London and on the U.S. tours (Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award 1995 and DORA Award 1994 for Best Lighting Design).
(From PLAYBILL http://www.playbill.com/celebritybuzz/whoswho/biography/9588)

Full biography is available at the Theatre Projects website.

Also – see ‘Re-discovering Lighting – Past, Present and Future’ – a seminar presented by Neil Austin, Robert Bell, Rob Halliday, Jim Laws and chaired by Richard Pilbrow.

See also Drum Revolve at the National Theatre

Memorial

A Memorial event took place on Friday 17 May 2024 in the Dorfman at the National Theatre. The Order of Service brochure below was designed by Flora Cox, who also designed the recently published A Sense Of Theatre. 


LSI: A Sense of Richard Pilbrow (July 2024)
[External Website]
From Lighting & Sound International

Richard Pilbrow Memorial (May 2024)
[External Website]

Order of Service: Richard Pilbrow Memorial (May 2024)
[PDF]

Theatre Projects: Richard Pilbrow (December 2023)
[External Website]

LSI: In Memoriam - Richard Pilbrow (December 2023)
[External Website]
From Lighting & Sound International

LSI: Remembering Richard Pilbrow (2024)
[External Website]
From Lighting & Sound International

2024

A Sense of Theatre
Buy at
Amazon UK
Amazon US
2008

Stage Lighting Design: The Art, the Craft, the Life
Buy at
Amazon UK
Amazon US

Selected Publications

  • A Sense of Theatre, 2024
  • A Theatre Project, 2015
  • Stage Lighting Design: The Art, The Craft, The Life, 2008
  • Walt Disney Concert Hall: The Backstage Story, 2003

As Producer


LSI - Richard Pilbrow & Theatre Projects (November 1985)
[322kb PDF]
From Lighting & Sound International

Protocol - Richard Pilbrow Profile (July 2012)
[External Website]
From Protocol
Gone with the Wind - Richard Pilbrow
Gone with the Wind - Richard Pilbrow (March 1972)
[LX Plan - click on the thumbnail]
From David W. Kidd Collection

Classic Gear: Stage Lighting (2024)
[External Website]
From Lighting & Sound International

Beating the Drum (Cue - 1988)

A Multi Lantern Complexity - Why? (Tabs - 1967)

Travels of a Lighting Designer (Tabs - 1974)

The National Theatre

The Making of The Photon Connection (1982-83), featuring Richard Pilbrow