Theatrical Illumination

In this essay, the author

• Explains that lighting in a performance context manipulates the audience's attention to focus on what the director has deemed important. when an actor or space is no longer an integral part, the lights around them dim.
• Explains how innovative devices to maximize, control, and alter light in early theatre illustrate its importance. artists such as michelangelo and leonardo da vinci were called upon to supervise italian productions.
• Explains that the earliest permanent performance architecture did not include facilities for lighting or stage effects. the only variation in illumination possible, given technology, relied on scrupulous timing with the setting sun or the lighting of torches.
• Explains that a general rule was applied early in the transition to indoor theatre: full illumination when the subject is happy, shade or extinguish light at the earls 4 first unhappy occurrence
• Explains how the combination allowed technicians to direct light towards actors rather than illuminate the entire theatre (bellman 1967). placing candles onstage to light scenery became a regular practice during this time.
• Explains that performance lighting was brought behind the proscenium and wing and boarder lights were added. kerosene lamps replaced candles in 1783, and gas was used in quantity.
• Explains that the paris opera became the first performance facility to use predominantly electricity in 1846. technicians manually submerged cables in salt water to break the current and manipulate intensity.
• Explains that irving's practice led to the tradition of dimming the lights before curtain, and new electric systems diminished the warmth audiences had grown accustomed to with gas lighting.
• Explains that theatres were responsible for their own power sources, such as gas lines, generators, and lighting. earls 7 gadgets the theatre has sought command over light for centuries.
• Explains that the first dimming devices were candles and 17th century house hold items. sabbattini had a device specifically for showing hell.
• Explains that earls 8 sabbattini was responsible for many early developments. he was also credited with being the first to place a doctor's basin behind the light source.
• Explains how drummond's incandescent light produced an intense white light by heating a piece of lime to high temperature with hydrogen and oxygen flame.
• Explains that luc lafortune is a lighting technician and designer for cirque du soleil. he adapted the original lighting configurations for dralion for their north american tour.
• Explains that robotic instruments are capable of moving independently during a performance, while stationary lamps are responsible for the visual effects associated with rock concerts.
• Analyzes how lighting development experienced two great leaps forward-candlelight to gas and gas to electricity. the simplicity of design combined with the complexity of their effect is perhaps earls 11 interesting elements of dramatic lighting history.