Last week, the industry came together to say goodbye to WL’s Co-founder and former Chairman John Simpson.

Taking place at The Royal Court Theatre in London, the ‘birth-place’ of White Light, the memorial was an opportunity for all of those who knew John to hear stories about both his career and life, and celebrate what was a truly brilliant and inspirational person.

The event was hosted by renowned actor Simon Callow, CBE, who was a good friend of John’s. What then took place across the entire afternoon was a series of other well-known industry figures all regaling tales of John and the impact he’d not only had on them but the theatre world in general. This included Giles Havergal, who spoke about John’s life before he entered the lighting world, given that Giles was the Artistic Director of the Glasgow Citizen’s Theatre when John was the General Manager at the venue. After, Sir Howard Panter took to the stage in which he talked about his experience of working with John during those early days when he was at the Royal Court (and yes he did admit that he was working there at the time). He also shared the story of what he believed to be the origins of WL’s name and how he maintained a strong working, and also personal, relationship with John over the past five decades.

Following Sir Howard was Andrew Gibson, who was a long-time friend of John’s and shared his memories of when WL first moved to Filmer Road. Throughout the speeches, there were various images shared on stage, capturing the bygone times on which the speakers reflected. Sadly though, a lot of the adventures that took place at Filmer Road would not pass today’s Health and Safety laws so these photos were somewhat limited…

The memorial also featured a range of live performances. These were songs from certain musicals that were particularly significant in John’s career as well as firm family favourites, including The Last Night of the World, Let’s Go Fly a Kite and Stan’ Up an’ Fight; all performed by West End stars Chumisa Dornford-May, Hayden Oakley and Sam Edwards, under the direction of Stephen Ridley.

Other speakers during the afternoon included Robert Fox – the son of Angela Fox with whom John had established Simpson Fox Associates: an agency which represented the industry’s technical creatives. There was also Matthew Griffiths, former PLASA Chair who worked for the WL Group in the early 90s; Piers Shepperd, who is a Trustee of the charity Back-Up for which John was chair; Dame Rosemary Squire, who knew John from his time on the board of TurnStyle and then ATG, followed by Mark Ager from Stage Technologies. For those who sadly couldn’t be there, they sent across video messages with their personal memories of John. These included the multi-Olivier Award-winning Lighting Designer Paule Constable along with Designer Es Devlin who knew John through his support of the Motley Design Course.

The afternoon also featured several appearances from the man himself. Using footage filmed for WL’s 50th anniversary last year, the memorial interspersed clips of John throughout, including a particularly memorable one in which he comments on how, despite spending the most amount he’d ever spent on equipment for the West End premiere of Miss Saigon, he left the opening night unsure how long a show about a war would run. Luckily, for him, it ran for the next ten years…

The day was brought to a close by WL’s Managing Director Bryan Raven – a man who worked closely with John for thirty years and considered him a mentor. Bryan shared some messages from those who could not be there but also his own memory of how John said that, when he passed, he wanted to be ‘wheeled off in a flightcase’. And whilst logistically that would have always proved difficult, a flightcase sat centre stage for the entire afternoon as a poignant reminder of a much-loved and much-missed man.

Thanks again to all of those who attended and, mostly, thanks to you John for everything you did. We will never forget you.

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