Explore every episode of the podcast Lights Down

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Episode 4: The Rig

What’s actually in a lighting technician’s kit bag after a lifetime in theatre — and what do you do with it all once the job that needed it ends? This episode moves from tungsten to LED, from manual boards to networked consoles, and lands on the question of what happens to decades of tools, gear , and skill when there’s no next show.

It’s not all one-directional, though — alongside letting go of old kit, there’s new kit coming in too, bought on purpose to keep a hand in.

In this episode: - What’s really in the kit after decades in the trade

How the technology changed across a career , and what that demanded - The real choices for old gear: sell, gift, keep, or let go

The skills that actually transfer — from theatre lighting into retirement, and into entirely different careers for those still working

Why some new kit, including affordable moving-light equipment, is coming in rather than going out — and the plan to put it to use at local events

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Episode 3 - Notice

Giving notice in a career built around production schedules, not office calendars, is its own strange negotiation. This episode covers the moment when Graham actually said the words out loud — who they told, how the exit would fit around already-booked shows, There are also interviews with friends who have already retired and their experience of retiring becoming a reality.

In this episode: - Why notice periods work differently in theatre - The practical considerations of an exit from a long career and the succession, passing on the baton. Also touching on how colleagues and management reacted.

Next episode:

“The Rig”

— what’s actually in the kit bag after decades in the job, and the question of what to do with tools, gear , and skills that took a lifetime to gather .

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Episode 2: The Call Sheet

What does a working week actually look like for a theatre lighting technician — and what does decades of unsocial hours really cost, and give back? This episode walks through the typical working hours across Graham's career , and looks at the harder question: what that schedule took from ordinary life, relationships, and health — and what it gave in adrenaline, craft, and camaraderie.

In this episode: - The realities of the hours needed to put shows on - What live theatre gives you that a 9-to-5 never could - The cost: relationships, missed ordinary life, sleep and health - The benefits: skills, resilience and unique experiences.

Next episode:

“Notice” — the conversation where the retirement became real, and what it feel like to think about leaving a career built around production schedules rather than office calendars.

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After 46 years as a lighting technician in theatre, Graham is retiring in

January 2027 — and rather than let it happen quietly , this podcast is

going to talk through it in real time. Lights Down is a countdown: part

practical guide to leaving a long career , part honest reckoning with

what it means to walk away from work that was both a passion and a

punishing schedule.

In this first episode: why this show exists, what a life in theatre

lighting actually looks like from the inside, and the first honest

admission of what retirement actually feels like from 7 months out.

In this episode: - What theatre lighting work really involves - Why

“Lights Down” as a title - The double loss of leaving a passion career

with unsocial hours

What’s ahead this season

Next episode:

“The Call Sheet”

— unsocial hours, and what a busy and unpredictable working week actually meant across my career, and a first touch on funding my retirment,

Intro & Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/matt-stewart-evans/final-waltz

License code: OKNFKWDRQHNFFFRG