J Pearce Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 Haven't seen an official source yet, but news is spreading that Francis Reid has died. A man who achieved much, and inspired many, and whose name will live on on bookshelves and reading lists for many years to come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LampTramp Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 I've tried to find info but nothing as yet...If it's true that's two well known LD's that have passed away this year from the days of lighting innovation as Richard Caswell passed at the end of Feb.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted June 10, 2016 Author Share Posted June 10, 2016 Sadly now confirmed by etnow. http://www.etnow.com/news/2016/6/francis-reid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indyld Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 Sad news. He had been less mobile for a while and quite ill recently I believe. Had a text message yesterday but couldn't find anything else about the news on my wires until today. A big influence in our world. RIP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 Indeed - a truly decent chap. I'll miss him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinntec Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 Despite coming up to my 200th credit as a lighting designer in 2017, I still regularly consult Francis' books next to me especially The Stage Lighting Handbook. It is probably the only book that includes information about how to do something and why for both full resources and limited resources - and the essential priorities. I regret never having had a chance to meet him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 I still enjoy reading his account of lighting an open air event at Hintlesham, at the back of the Stage Lighting Handbook. It's just comforting to know that even the great and good of the lighting world have to bodge jobs together sometimes to make it happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 My best friend at school got a job working for Francis in Norwich - and I used to go and sit in the lighting box, and Francis was always explaining things to me. He put me up for my ALD membership years ago, and he had a Glyndebourne Opera Birthday party for his 80th. I got an invite from and my wife - who has never been a theatre person, and never even been to an Opera. The party was scheduled for a performance day of a lesser known opera (Rinaldo, from memory), so we had our first course, did Act 1, then the main course, did Act 2, then desert before Act 3. I told Ali to be on her best behaviour and don't let on you know nothing of Opera. To my shock the seating places were pre-arranged and she was sitting with the theatre's Chief Exec on one side, with Glyndebourne's CE on the other. I was on the opposite side of the table. Imagine my horror when one asked my wife if this was a favourite opera of hers? She said "Well, I've never actually been to the opera ever...". They were really pleased and everyone spent the chat time explaining to her what was about to happen, then at the next course, checking she had understood what had been going on, and preparing her for the next. I apologised to Francis but he just grinned - he thought the spectacle of the two experts talking to the opera virgin really funny. To be honest - my own slight dislike of Opera vanished that night - and it was a brilliant evening. I also asked him for help when I got my first Company Manager role - because some things I clearly did not know, and as he'd taken on learning all about theatre admin from scratch when he took over Bury St Edmunds Theatre Royal, I figured he'd be the one to explain the basics. He helped me no end, and I owe him a lot for help in that department. Those books he wrote were the instructions for people of my generation -Like Vinny says, there is still stuff in them that really does work. Plenty of other books came and went, but these stood the test of time. A shame the internet killed this kind of thing off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 I can only echo what's already been said. I never had the pleasure of meeting Francis in person - but the two books I devoured as a teenager were Richard Pilbrow's, and Francis' "Stage Lighting Handbook". I suspect the same is true of a lot of people of my vintage and older - that's what there was in those days, no internet, no lighting design courses, just whatever books one could find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junior8 Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 I only met him once when he spoke at the Fred Bentham memorial at the Palladium but what a nice man and such a modest but excellent speaker. One of a pioneering generation that really influenced us back in the seventies. The fact that his books are still relevant is more proof that it is only the equipment that changes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart91 Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 Looks there is a new book which was due to be released later this summer. Hopefully the manuscript will be complete enough to allow that to still happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_s Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 I'm also one of the lucky ones who had some brief professional contact with him, which proved very enjoyable and from which I learnt much. A production of Siroe by Handel at the Britten Theatre in the early nineties, subsequently referred to in a later edition of Stage Lighting Handbook. in less busy moments on cans (there were less than 50 cues in a 3-hour opera), we found we had The Cosy Nook Theatre in Newquay in common - he had done panto there in the fifties, lighting the show, calling the show and playing the demon king... (I had been there years later with Orchard Theatre Co, a west country touring company now sadly defunct). He was amazed to learn that the Cosy Nook had survived so long! As others have said - a real theatre man who did lighting, rather than a lighting man who did theatre... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Some Bloke Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 I was at an ALD meeting one time at which Francis Reid was the guest of honour and at the Q&A session he was asked "which piece lighting of kit has been your favourite invention since your career began?". We all expected him to say the scroller or the moving light or the digital lighting board, but no: his reply was "the hook clamp". All about cutting the time for rigging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 As well as a formidable force in the world of lighting, his book on theatre administration is also a wonder, and he brings insight to the world of actually running a venue. Its a bit dated now, but a fascinating read nevertheless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 Yep - a bible for the people new to all things non-technical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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