British Theatre History · Original Working Copy · 1928–1934
Stage Lighting in Practice — Original Working Plans for Northern English Theatres, 1931–1934
C. Harold Ridge · Stage Lighting · Cambridge, W. Heffer & Sons, 1928 · From the Frank Bradley Collection
Catalogue details
Description
A practical working copy of an early British stage-lighting manual, preserved with original manuscript surveys of real theatre and civic-hall spaces, hand-drawn switchboard configurations, stage measurements and equipment sketches. Dated entries span 1931–1934. The volume carries the circular ownership stamp “The Frank Bradley Collection — Theatre”. The anonymous hand who made the drawings has not been established.
- Dimensions
- Measurements gladly provided on request
- Printed work
- C. Harold Ridge, Stage Lighting; preface by Norman Marshall
- Imprint
- Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons Ltd, 1928
- Material
- Printed illustrated reference manual extensively used as a technical working notebook
- Handwritten dates
- December 1929 ownership/reference inscription; annotated plans and measurements dated 1931–1934
- Identified venues
- Stockport Town Hall; Bolton Town Hall; Levenshulme Town Hall; Reform Club, Heaton Moor; Drill Hall, Bury
- Reference
- TBH-GB-THEATRE-STAGE-LIGHTING-RIDGE-1928
- Condition
- Please consult the photographs for condition. Additional photographs are available on request.
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Historical context & sources
Why this copy is historically important
A working record, not merely a printed manual
The distinctive value of this example lies in its contemporary use: ruled notes record room and stage dimensions; pencil diagrams explore switches, lighting instruments, electric circuits and their placement. Several plans refer to named English venues, allowing the annotations to be read as evidence of how technicians surveyed performance spaces during the interwar adoption of electrical stage lighting.
Among the places explicitly named are Stockport Town Hall (ballroom), Bolton Town Hall, Levenshulme Town Hall, the Reform Club at Heaton Moor and a Drill Hall in Bury. The volume also mentions additional halls whose names need fuller palaeographic verification. These contemporary references do not by themselves prove that the writer personally installed lighting systems in every building.
The Frank Bradley Collection — Theatre
A circular collection stamp reading “The Frank Bradley Collection — Theatre” appears on the preliminary leaf. Frank Bradley (1903–1995) was associated with the theatre and scenic arts; his theatre-related collection is documented separately in museum literature. The stamp supports collection provenance but does not establish that Bradley personally wrote or drew the annotations.
A pencil inscription dated December 1929 and an additional name on the preliminary leaf require further comparison and should not be confidently attributed to Bradley. The original annotating technician has not been conclusively identified.
Historical context and research
Early electric stagecraft in Britain
C. Harold Ridge’s 1928 book was printed at Cambridge by W. Heffer & Sons, with a preface by Norman Marshall, within a period of experimentation in modern British stagecraft. The author’s professional connection with the experimental Festival Theatre at Cambridge places the printed text within an important technical and artistic context.
The manuscript additions are of special interest to researchers of theatre technology, historic town halls, architectural services, performance spaces, and regional British culture in the early twentieth century.
