Stephen Thomas Holroyd is the undoubted King of Pantomime Lighting in the UK and Prince of Pantomime Direction. He has played a major role in the Technical and Direction of over fifty pantomimes and plays.

As a young boy of age thirteen, Stephen began his theatrical career at The Rochdale Hippodrome in 1967. Starting only as a ‘Call Boy’ (before the age of back stage relays and calls) he had the responsibility of running to an artist’s dressing room and requesting their presence to the stage.

Two years later he became an apprentice trainee at the Theatre Royal Brighton where his skills and love of theatre developed. He then moved on to work for the Leeds Theatre Trust and a year later in 1972 he became Deputy Master Carpenter/L.C. Flys at the Cardiff New Theatre, in Wales.

He was then offered the post of Stage Manager at the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham which then led him to work seasons with Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Westminster Theatre in London.

In 1975, while in London he was given the impressive job title as Senior Arts Technician in the London Borough of Lambeth which led onto the top post of Arts and Entertainment Officer for the same Borough, a position he remained in until 1981.

From 1982-1985 he became the Technical Supervisor and Manager of the Barbican Theatre in the City of London and freelancing his talents to the Royal Household for special events and engagements including Lighting Director for Lady Elizabeth Anson.

During the early 1980s, Worthing’s Connaught Theatre, a repertory and regional theatre, was suffering from poor audience attendance and a tired programme of shows.

Sadly the theatre closed and so ended its life as a repertory theatre.

But in 1986 it was regenerated and re-staffed and Stephen stepped in as the theatre’s Technical Manager taking on the task of improving the existing structure and running of the stage. The theatre’s proscenium was removed and rewidened (to take larger scale shows) and a summer repertory programme was introduced, injecting a well needed enthusiasm and dedication with which his team of technicians and crew applauded.

It proved a great success and he was promoted to General Manager in the early 1990s. With the Connaught enjoying its most lucrative period he then decided in 1997 to move on as a Freelance Theatre Director and Lighting Designer a position he now holds until this day.

As a freelancer, he has worked among many companies such as the Channel Theatre, Proper Pantomime and Theatreworks. In 2002 he became a Member of the Board of Directors (Charitable) for the Rainbow Theatre Company Worthing, producing major open-air productions of Shakespeare’s works.

Stephen has designed lighting for a varied range of productions from one-night concert’s stages to national tours. He is also a very experienced designer in the field of Opera and Music. He has worked with and honed his craft from legends of pantomime such as James Bleakley, Dougie Squires, Chris Wren and Christopher Lillicrap with whom he enjoys the fight to keep traditional pantomime alive and innovative.

Stephen delights in a challenge and loves making statements with lighting design to give both the audience and actor a good believable working environment. He also loves studio work and designing lighting states that help tell the story.

Most recently Stephen has worked as a Lighting Designer and Production Director for Universal Shows in Dubai for the last four years directing classic hits such as Peter Pan, Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio, Ali Baba, and last years award winning Treasure Island performed in Safa Park on the lake!

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