UK Theatre Network

Stage Lighting

Stage design will not be complete without lighting.  Lighting focuses the attention of the audience on certain performers and areas of the stage, establishes the time of day as required by the story and also helps in establishing the overall mood of the play.  Modern theatrical productions make extensive use of lighting techniques since most are indoor performances as compared to productions of early times that were done outdoors thereby using the sun as their light.

Lighting instruments used to be comprised of candles, oil lamps and gas lamps.  Lighting effects were achieved through the use of colored filters, mechanical dimming devices and reflectors.  Due to the relative dimness of the early theaters in contrast to the brightness of present ones, illusionism in scenic painting was quite popular and effective.  Brightness and light control were only made possible with the discovery of electricity.  With the four (4) controllable properties of light namely intensity, color, movement and placement on stage, a lighting director is able to achieve visibility, composition, mood and revelation of form. 

White light is considered too harsh for theatre use thus the need for mechanisms and materials that would induce softening of the light to create a more suitable effect.  Designers would most often use both warm and cool colors to produce textures and shadows.  Lighting effects are meant to be unobtrusive except in specific scenes where the opposite effect is desired.  Stage lighting is said to be most effective when it accomplishes its purpose without the audience realizing it.  Lighting effects should not distract the audience but instead guide them through the flow of emotions throughout the show.

Lighting design should take into consideration all the artistic and financial factors that come with the production of a play.  Any plan should be tied-in with the scenery and the movements of the performers as determined during rehearsals.  To do otherwise would simply be courting failure as the performers’ capabilities are not maximized due to poor lighting coordination. 

The art of lighting design is more than just aiming lighting instruments at the stage.  Performers are expected to be visible at all times but only the proper and masterful play with lights will they appear three-dimensional and alive for the benefit of the audience.  Technicians would need to know how to properly angle instruments and balance colors. They would also need to know when and where to do it.  Recent developments in technology provide the use of the memory board which is essentially a computerized control system wherein the information of each light cue or light change is stored.  This has eliminated the manual operation of individual dimmers since everything is accomplished at one touch of a button.

Projections have substituted for most painted and constructed scenery.  These are still or moving images that create special effects such as stars or written legends that serve as scene identification.  Image projections can be done on opaque surfaces or semi-transparent curtains that have been stretched across the stage.  Refinements in technique and equipment have managed to put the lighting director within the ranks of true artists.