FROM SIMON BLACK

For those who know me, my profound apologies for not being here in person, since family commitments make it impossible for me to get away from Cardiff for this sad day.

It was with great regret that I heard about the passing away of Mervyn Stockbridge Gould.  A great leading light of the theatrical scene has gone out for good and remains forever dark.  Of course, if he were here, he would be telling me off for using the word ‘light’.  “It’s a lamp or a lantern you stupid boy”  would be the cry, for which misdemeanour I will almost certainly have to pay the price of the next round.

I had the delightful experience of learning the technical workings of the stage under Mervyn’s tutelage at the Department of Anguish and Trauma at Loughborough University in the late 1080s and early 1990s.  I also have it on good authority that it was Mervyn himself who coined the very term, which is still in use today.  I also believe he was responsible for the term ‘shabby-gentile’.

There are a couple of us who steered clear of the bitchiness and backstabbing that came with the actual performance of drama and tended to take on all the technical and backstage work on a regular basis.  Mervyn was always delighted when a student came forward in this way, since it freed his time up and gave him an opportunity to check on the flow levels of the hand pumps in the EHB bar.  Incidentally the EHB at the university did have a small technical and lighting capability, which fell under Mervyn’s due care and diligence.  It was on just such a mercy errand for a ‘special bulb’ with Mervyn that I discovered that the EHB was the only bar on campus which still served beer from old fashioned jug handled glasses.  These special bulbs required much diligent care and attention.

After university, I spent several years working as a stage lighting technician

for a number of theatres, including Nottingham Playhouse, which Mervyn lauded, and for a number of touring rock bands, which Mervyn derided as “new-fangled skiffle”.  I would not have done this were it not for his support and guidance, and the all important three-fold rule of theatrical timing:

“Never forger, Black, that there are three vitally important times in this business:  Opening Time; Closing Time and with appropriate brevity in-between ‘Show Time’”.

Mervyn remains forever in our memory – a lighthouse in a sea of mediocrities,

and one who sadly must remain bright only in our memories.  Please raise your special bulbs to the last and finest example of the old school.

Kind regards

Simon Black.