Rob has been working in entertainment lighting as an electrician, lighting programmer and lighting designer for almost two decades. He’s been writing about entertainment technology for nearly as long.

He began lighting shows at school, and subsequently joined Britain’s National Youth Theatre, working on shows in London, Edinburgh, Moscow and elsewhere. He then completed a ‘proper’ degree despite spending far too much time in the college theatre. During this time he wrote for a variety of technical publications, and was a category winner in the 1991 Young Business Writer of the Year competition.

From there, he joined the English Shakespeare Company, touring the world for two years before a chance phone call led to him working with lighting designer David Hersey for the first time, on the musical Piaf. This led to working as the lighting programmer on a wide range of other shows, including Oliver!, Les Misérables, Miss Saigon, Martin Guerre, Ragtime, Mary Poppins, Equus and may others. He mixed this work with designing show of his ow, including the musical Daddy Cool in London and Berlin, as well as designing new tools for the lighting industry such as FocusTrack.

While touring with the ESC, he wondered why the company had never been covered by any of the lighting industry’s magazines. When he asked, he was invited to write about the company for Lighting&Sound International magazine, beginning a collaboration that lasts to this day, notably with his regular Classic Gear column. He has also written for Lighting&Sound America, Live Design, The Stage and a variety of other publications both in and beyond the world of entertainment technology.

The two volumes of Entertainment In Production gather together the best of the articles written for these various publications between 1994 and 2006, also adding retrospective looks at each show’s history, details of each year in the entertainment industry (including details of award winners each year), and an overview of events in the world beyond showbusiness.

Rob writes about lighting as a lover! His words take you with him to the production desk...
           - Richard Pilbrow

Rob Halliday manages to provide something for everyone... These books provide a record of those who were at the cutting edge of theatre design and technology during a decade which saw much change - and a glimpse of the process of putting on a show

   - ABTT Sightline magazine

Rob Halliday...