Vale Trent Barclay 

Arts Centre Melbourne crew and the broader production community are mourning the loss of beloved friend and colleague, Trent Barclay, who passed away on 2 January.

Hailing originally from Cairns, Trent’s involvement in theatre began at an early age at the local dance school run by his mother. What Trent lacked in talent for jazz and ballet, he had in spades behind the scenes. Trent transitioned immediately from school theatre into a full-time career programming and operating lighting for Cairns’ Civic Theatre and then travelling the country as a touring technician with Talking Audio. Ben Coe, Head of Broadcast and Digital at Arts Centre Melbourne, worked alongside Trent in Cairns and described him as “a wizard from a young age. He had a natural talent; everyone wanted him on their show.”

In 2012, Trent relocated to Melbourne and began working at the Arts Centre, where his career flourished and he made many lifelong friends.

Trent’s understanding and intuition with IT systems and consoles was second to none. A proficient programmer, he earned the nickname “twinkle fingers” for how quickly his hands danced over a lighting desk. Efficiency was his jam, so much so that he developed an app, EOS Remote, which, although not an official ETC product, garnered worldwide acclaim, allowing users to program from a phone or tablet onstage, saving steps back and forth to a control room. 

In 2019 Trent was promoted to the position of Lighting Supervisor at Hamer Hall, a role that would see him design and program hundreds of shows from live music, talk shows and orchestral music. Even in the Covid era, which saw months of the Hall being dark, Trent designed and programmed ‘Ghostly Machines’. Touted as a ‘mechanical ballet’ it combined programmed moving light looks and fly-bar moves, time-coded to form an interactive experience that would be ready to be performed the moment doors could be opened.

Lighting designer Paul Jackson says: “I was fortunate enough to work with Trent Barclay a number of times. On the last occasion he was my programmer and Associate LD on a project which toured to multiple Australian festivals. Trent was intelligent, calm, highly skilled and deeply committed to the theatre. He always made a significant contribution to the projects he was working on, and he was a sensitive and creative collaborator. His untimely death is a great loss to our lighting and theatre communities. He will be greatly missed. My deepest sympathy to his family.”

Every year, no matter what show was on or how busy the Hall was, Trent made the voyage back to Cairns to light the annual concert at his mother’s dance school. This fact epitomises what his colleagues will miss most about Trent – his generosity, kindness and commitment to those he loved. 

Though he will be sorely missed, the light he shone will continue to be felt by all those who worked with him.