History of Theatrical Lighting - Essay Example

A HISTORY OF THEATRICAL LIGHTING Lighting has played an important part in stage productions throughout time. It began simply as the light of day from the sun and the diffusing effect of the clouds, which of course were often unpredictable, to the current computerized state of precise timing, intensity and hue. The human eye is often called the mirror of the soul and that which touches it touches the spirit directly. Lighting in its various forms has an intrinsic emotional quality that can affect the mind of the observer long before any words are spoken. As darkness connotes mystery, brightness relays a feeling of certitude in ones surroundings and so on through a myriad of effects from limelight to fireworks and beyond. The history of lighting in theatre is by nature a map to our own imaginations. In general there are two kinds of illumination for the theatre, General Composition Illumination and Selective Illumination. General Composition Illumination is used to produce a ‘wash’ of light across a space, with little or no shadows. It is diffuse and undifferentiated. Selective Illumination is the creation of shafts or pinpoints of light that can be directed or fixed on certain areas of the stage in order to highlight a specific person, prop or scene. This draws the audience's attention to that area (McCandless 1958). Theatrical lighting has taken these two general categories and over the centuries learned to manipulate their intensity and colour for a myriad of effects and the creation of a more dynamic stage element. However, for the purposes of this analysis attention will be given to that lighting which is of a manmade origin. This of course begins with the humble candle. Attributed to invention circa 400 AD, the candle was at first relegated to religious ceremonies. As better materials were developed and the brightness and portability of the candle increased, it began to be used more generally. But it wasn't until the late fifteen hundreds that there are records of candles being used in theatres in Italy. Their popularity spread over Europe and to England by the early sixteen hundreds (Graves 1999). Candles became the most significant light source for theatre productions. In the beginning candlelight was used to illuminate the members of the audience as well as the production and its actors. Candles were usually set in chandeliers over the audience and the audience section was under constant illumination during the performance while the stage would have varying degrees of light. Stagehands would snuff out and light candles according to the stage directions and there were also mechanical contrivances, different full chandeliers and partial branches were also used: Some of the branches could be lowered by wires and pulleys so that the candles could be lit, snuffed, and extinguished. Lines, ropes, and pulleys are frequently mentioned in the accounts [of performances], but there are only a few explicit references to the raising and lowering of lights (Graves 1999: 162) Candles were also used as footlights and ladders in the wings to add side illumination. Then in the sixteenth century Sebastiano Serilio created a technique that gave candles a whole new dimension. By the use of coloured liquids made from various sources like saffron (yellow), burgundy wine (red) and so on he was able to give candlelight colour. He utilized a polished barber’s basin to reflect candlelight through these bottled liquids to project on actors and scenery. In a sense this was the first attempt at selective illumination as well. (Graves 1999) However candlelight had many drawbacks, one of which is the intensity and the quality of the light produced. Many candles, up to and sometimes exceeding thirty or more per several chandeliers were necessary to have sufficient illumination for the stage or audience. Intensity is an important concern as relates to human vision. Detail can be lost if there is not enough light to discern them. Under low illumination one would not be able to see colours as they would normally be seen in bright daylight. The scene becomes a wash of grey. Candles also required constant maintenance during the performance, wicks had to be trimmed to eliminate smoke and either be lit or snuffed out, as the scenes required. Melting candle wax was often a problem, dripping on the audience as they watched or the actors as they performed (McCandless 1958). In 1780 Aime Argand created the Argand lamp, or the modern oil lamp, that utilized an adjustable taper which could be used to more easily dim the lamps as opposed to constantly snuffing out candles creating smoke. The oil lamp was a welcome invention and quickly replaced the candle for use in theatres and was well accepted by the general public. In the theatre they were used much in the same way as candles were for lighting, chandeliers, footlights, ladders and wing lights. (Tregenza and Loe 1998). Just prior to and during this transition from candle to oil lamps, a fundamental change in lighting was happening. For the most part theatres had the audience lit with chandeliers throughout the performance, but at the Drury Lane Theatre things were about to change. The manager of the theatre, David Garrick, after a trip abroad brought many innovative lighting ideas from France. One of these was to have all lighting recessed behind the proscenium and to light the audience only before, during intermission, and after the play. Also, prior to this the footlights were just simple flames in the floor projecting light 360 degrees. Garrick installed shields that acted as reflectors, intensifying the footlights and making the flame invisible to the audience, leaving them in darkness. Moreover, there were many other changes that were occurring during this period. (Scene Design and Stage Lighting 2004) The next innovation was the use of gas as a fuel source for the flame. In the beginning most theatres were able to produce their own gas by using oil, resin or coal. By being able to channel the gas though pipes and tubes, the ability to remotely control the lighting on the stage became possible. For the first time in theatre history a light board was introduced, using a series of valves to control all of the lighting on and off stage. This not only improved the quality of lights but also allowed the quantity of lights used to be increased adding greatly to the illumination possibilities (McCandless 1958). As stated previously, there are two types of lighting in theatres, General Composition and Selective. During these early phases, while there were some forays into selective illumination, they were very limited. Some parabolic reflectors were used to guide lighting in specific arches across the scene, but there was little in the way of pinpoint accuracy. There was also one major problem with illumination to date, it was always in the form of a flame and had to be held vertically over its fuel source, protected from anything that could burn and had to be fed by oxygen. This limited the type of housing that could be used as well as the positioning possibilities of this type of light source. (Tregenza and Loe 1998; Graves 1999) The first attempt at a focused shaft of light was created by the introduction of limelight. The limelight, or calcium light, was produced by directing an oxygen/hydrogen flame at a cylinder of calcium carbonate (limestone) which caused it to glow brightly yet not melt or burn away. The light was slightly green in colour, hence the name, limelight. Although short-lived, from the middle to late 1800's, the limelight has left its mark on theatre language; followspots are still referred to as limes. However, the heat was intense and there were apparently many fires attributed to this device (McCandless 1958). The advent of electricity produced the greatest innovation in lighting techniques. Although known since the early 1800's, there was no practical way of generating it until the mid to late nineteenth century. Once a more efficient generator was constructed, carbon arc lamps took over from limelights in almost all theatres before the end of the 1880's. Carbon arc lamps emitted an intensely bright light that could be focused and controlled more efficiently than any other instrument so far. These carbon arc spotlights and followspots continued to develop as more refinements for using electricity came along. Then, incandescent lighting became more versatile and its intensity increased so that by 1920 many carbon arc lamps were replaced by 1000 watt incandescent spots for most general theatrical use. Different lenses and housing became available for a variety of uses and effects. However, Carbon Arc lamps remained in service as followspots as late as 1990 (Scene Design and Stage Lighting 2004). The advent of electric current gave rise to even more creativity and the light board became an essential instrument to the theatre. Now, not only could the intensity and colour of lights be exceptionally controlled, but also by the use of motors and pulley systems, spots and lights could be rotated and moved into any position without the aid of a stagehand. Eventually, with the advent of computer technology, light boards could be programmed for many levels of sophistication and performance, as well as automatic timing. There are of course a myriad of other innovations and inventions that were used and discarded over the course of this development. There were also property lights, props that represented the moon, sun or stars. They could also be used in other ways: Sometimes property lights serve theatrical purposes in two or three of these modes at once. In scenes of pomp, for instance, the introduction of many richly garnished lights could throw enough artificial light on the scene to create the illusion of the artificial light at a noble entertainment in a hall. (Graves 1999: 203) Torches were also used in theatre productions, both as hand held props by the actors and as sconces on walls. This not only added to the overall feeling of the play but also helped in bringing more light into the scene. Most fires presented on stage were usually represented only by smoke, but candles, which were also originally used for religious and court purposes, would be used as props by actors in grandiose processions, this would often bring enough illumination into the scene without the use of other general lighting. Fireworks were also often used as a ‘special effect’ in a stage production, often signalling the end of the show or a prominent occurrence within the play (Graves 1999; Babbage 2005). The environment of the stage design plays a major role in lighting as well. When trying to present a look that is bright and airy, surfaces in the room should have high reflectivity. Very light coloured floors and large windows are also associated with this feeling. However, if the feeling is for gloom like that of a cave than the surface areas should be dark in colour and low light will make the room seem uncertain to the audience and help to create a more mysterious or frightening air, and so on. . (Tregenza and Loe 1998) Light creates an unconscious reaction that when used well can be extremely convincing in the context of a production. But light is also more than that. In his article, Listening to Light, Stephen Strawbridge explains that although, ‘one can never talk just about light. Light must always be thought of as part of a larger whole. ‘Yet he goes on to confirm that light, ‘is the means by which all other elements of a production are revealed’ (Strawbridge 2003: 26). In this simple statement the author relates the most important fact of all. Light reveals. Yet with proper control No one knew this better than Adolphe Appia, a Swiss lighting designer and stage production reformer. Appia saw the stage itself as a living and fluid presence, much like music to the ears, the lighting, colour, etc. of the stage design was a crucial to the artistic component of the production. (Drain 1995:16) This resonance can be found in Appia’s basic architecture of the stage, ‘In Appia 's designs, the stage space is made to resound outward in arcs, invoking a universal rhythm that connects the audience to the performer.’ (Andrew 2009: 28) He also viewed the stage more three dimensionally than his counterpart. Realizing that the actors are not two dimensional, then why the staging should be any different (Cardullo 2010). Appia is a crucial pioneer, seeking a theatre sensitive to ‘the spirit of music’, and a stage that could offer equivalent qualities of rhythm, tone and harmony in the unfolding movement of its actors in a space architecturally conceived, the whole freely moulded and accented by the play of variegated lighting. Such considerations were not only foreign to theatres of the time, but impossible to realise without a wholesale rethinking of current stage practice, and indeed equipment. Appia carried this through, preparing the way for Craig and others, and implicitly introducing the stage to the concept of abstract form. (Drain 1995:4) As previously stated Appia viewed the stage and lighting as if it were musical elements, somewhat akin to a fresco. He viewed music as, ‘the direct expression of our inner being; that is, its hidden life. (Appia 1960:18) Music also represents timing and is part of the overall canvas that Appia functions from, what he refers to as ‘Living Time’ (Appia 1960:24). For him there is also the concept of the stage as ‘Living Space’: For our eyes, then, living space--thanks to the intermediary of the body--will be the resonator for the music, so to speak. One could even advance the paradox that inanimate spatial forms, to become living, must obey the laws of a visual acoustics. (Appia 1960:30) Living Colour is also an important concept to Appia as it is part of the way staging achieves ‘life in space’ (Appia 1960:37) as it helps to represent and solidify objects on the stage. This brings about an Organic Utility that is the ultimate three dimensional representation that Appia is looking for, ‘a certain ordering of space,’ that is ‘beautiful and acceptable."(Appia 1960: 57-58) All of this result ultimately in a orchestrated collaboration with the audience, who is after all, not only the recipient, but a real participant in Appia’s staging and lighting. "It is precisely the poor spectator who conditions the technique of living art; without him there is no technique." (Appia 1960:67) Bibliography Andrew, Nell. 2009. Living Art: Akarova and the Belgian Avant-garde. Art Journal 68:26-32. Appia, Adolphe. 1960. The Work of Living Art: A Theory of the Theatre. Edited by Barnard Hewitt. Translated by Albright, H. D. Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami Press. Babbage, F. (2005) The Play of Surface: Theater and the Turn of the Screw Comparative Drama 39.2 131-147. Cardullo, B. (2010). Theater and Film, or Adolphe Appia and Me: a Discussion with Hans-jürgen Syberberg. Literature/Film Quarterly 38:5-21 Drain, R., ed. (1995). Twentieth-Century Theatre: A Sourcebook. New York: Routledge. Graves, R. B.(1999). Lighting the Shakespearean Stage Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. McCandless, S. (1958). A Method of Lighting the Stage. 4th ed. New York: Theatre Arts Books. Scene Design and Stage Lighting. (2004). The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. Strawbridge, S. (2003) Listening to Light. American Theatre 20-38. Tregenza, P., and Loe, D. (1998). The Design of Lighting. London: E & FN Spon. Read More