Designing for the Theatre by Francis Reid: Review

Designing for the Theatre by Francis Reid (second edition 1996) is a Routledge book on how to design for the theatre. Francis Reid taught Lighting design at RADA for nearly 20 years and has toured the world giving lectures on Theatre design. He is one of the best teachers of his subject in the world. An educational book which aims at the post A Level student and amateur enthusiast who wish to design either at college/university or for their local society or group; this book goes through the various stages of design. Starting on chapter one with the role of design through the history of the theatre space onto the various whys and how to design up to how to critically evaluate a design. This book has everything for the budding student to help them along with their studies or, as I said before, everything for someone just interested in what designing for theatre entails. The book is full of diagrams of theatres, design schematics and concepts as well as photos from several notable productions where the design featured heavily in the show which gives clear examples of how design works and adds to the theatrical experience. I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the design aspects of the theatre. I found it a very easy read because of the writing which covers every aspect in a descriptive but not too technical way so you don’t have to have knowledge of theatre design or the technologies to read it. My favourite chapters are chapter 2 which are The Theatrical Building and chapter 5 Some Practicalities. The Theatrical Building covers all the different types of theatre space or theatre you are likely to come across and how that can influence the design and help inform the work produced. Some Practicalities is for me a breath of fresh air as you sometimes read textbooks and it just says how to do something, this book whilst telling you what to do in this chapter lays out some of the things you have to remember when putting together a theatre design, from budget to sightlines. Overall this is one of my favourite books in my collection and an excellent resource to reference to and re-read when I need it. You can still buy this on Amazon.co.uk despite being printed in 1996, in fact you can get it for a fairly low price before postage costs, and you can find it here.

Xtofer