Control consoles
The earliest electrical dimmer switchboard, or control console—a device that centralizes control of the intensity of the stage lights—resembled the gas table that was used with gas lights in the late 19th century. These first electrical switchboards, introduced in Europe and the United States in the late 19th century, were used to control groups of resistance dimmers, which were permanently wired to circuits in the footlights or borderlights. The only open (or flexible) dimmer circuits were the floor and wall pockets (electrical outlet boxes set in the floor and walls of the stage area). Large banks of resistance dimmers were normally located backstage in the wings and in close communication with the stage manager, who could see what was happening on the stage. Later, the development of headset sound systems—which allowed the stage manager to remotely communicate with the light-board operators—allowed portable resistance switchboards to be placed in the cellar or other places with no view of the stage. This, in turn, freed up more offstage space for the actors and scenery. The introduction of electronically controlled dimmers allowed the dimmers to be placed anywhere in the theatre; likewise, the control console could be placed in the rear of the auditorium, where the operator had a full view of the onstage action.
Two categories of electronic control consoles emerged during the 20th century but had become obsolete by the century’s final decades: group master and preset. (A combination board is sometimes identified as a separate category of control console, but it simply combined group master and preset controls.) The group master and preset boards were a direct carryover from the layouts first used on gas tables. On a group master console a so-called grand master—an electronic fader or control that controlled the output of two or more submasters—and each submaster normally controlled between two and eight individual dimmers. The preset board was derived directly from the group master board, but the preset board allowed dimmer intensity levels to be set in advance, before they were needed onstage. Preset boards typically had anywhere between 2 and 10 preset banks; each bank controlled a specified number of dimmers. Such boards also included a cross-fader, a device that allowed the lighting controlled by one preset bank to be gradually replaced by that of another preset bank.
The computerized control console had by the turn of the 21st century replaced all other types of systems. Such consoles use computer memory to store dimmer intensities for each cue. They also store fade times and have numerous capabilities that simply cannot be duplicated by any other type of control system. Of particular note is the ability of computerized consoles to repeat tasks consistently and accurately. That repeatability means that the lighting will look exactly as the designer intended for each and every performance. Prior to the introduction of the computer board, this level of precision was simply unobtainable even with the best board operator.
Projections and special effects
A significant amount of lighting equipment has been developed for special effects. Standard effects include the representation of moving clouds, rippling water, fire, rain, snow, rainbows, and fireworks. For practicality, most special effects are built around a standard spotlight housing. The effect head, containing a painted or photographic transparent disk and the mechanism for revolving it, is placed in front of the spotlight housing. An additional objective lens is used to magnify and focus the image.
The oldest effect projector, which dates from the World War I era, is the Linnebach lantern, often called a “scene” projector. It is simple both in principle and in construction. A concentrated light source is placed in a deep black box, and a painted slide is placed on the side of the box that is left open; since light travels in straight lines, the design painted on the glass is thus projected against a drop onstage, greatly enlarged, at a relatively short distance. Since no lens is used in a Linnebach lantern, the light source must be powerful and concentrated. The design must be simple and bold, for any line narrower than the point source itself will be lost. The overall effect is stylized and borders on the abstract. Rear projection with at least two projectors is required for any ambitious production. Large incandescent lights replaced the original carbon arcs in the Linnebach lantern.
In the mid-20th century there was renewed interest in the use of projections, and the development of new projection equipment provided a powerful instrument to produce effects not previously possible. After World War II, at the music festivals at Bayreuth, Ger., Richard Wagner’s grandson Wieland reduced three-dimensional scenic elements to the barest essentials and then flooded the stage with multiple overlapping projected patterns. In subsequent years additional scenic elements were added to give variety of texture and depth to the flow of light and pattern. Still later, at the Festspielhaus in Salzburg, Austria, the productions of Wagner’s music dramas designed by Gunther Schneider-Siemssen elaborated this concept to achieve even more dramatic and sumptuous effects; Schneider-Siemssen filled the vast, extra-wide stage with patterns of light in depth, softened with scrims (loosely woven meshes that diffuse the light) and translucent drops (backdrops with sections dyed to transmit some light). The Czech designer Josef Svoboda did more than any other designer during the second half of the 20th century with “visions in space.” For some productions, he used a direct, journalistic approach, massing three-dimensional screens to create a montage effect with slides and film. Polyvision, a production conceived and executed by Svoboda for the Czech pavilion at the 1967 international exhibition at Montreal, was a brilliant multimedia experience. In his other productions, which were equally stylized but more indirect and abstract, he used alternating surfaces of scrim and scenic elements to catch the patterned light, cast complex shadows, and float in depth before a seemingly infinite background.
Innovative contributions to lighting and the use of projections were also made in American dance during the second half of the 20th century. Alwin Nikolais made very original use of dancers, costumes, light, and projections to form moving geometric and abstract designs. At times, the moving bodies of the dancers in his productions became the screen for the projections. Robert Joffrey’s production of his ballet Astarte (1967) used a unique combination of film and slides on a moving, pulsating screen.
By the early 21st century, digital projections had become the standard mode of projection in the theatre. The early generations of digital projectors, which first appeared in the 1980s, were not sufficiently bright for stage use. But technological advancements made after the turn of the century resulted in projectors bright enough for just about every theatrical use. The advantages of digital projections are many: the projected images can be still images or video; the “slides” are computer files that neither fade nor burn out as a result of the heat of the projector lamp; and the images can be created by hand, computer, or a combination of the two. Computer imaging therefore provides the projection artist with a much wider creative palette than ever before.
Realism
Many contemporary plays permit no approach other than realism, which must be achieved by suggestion. Nature provides the model. On a cloudy day, the overcast sky diffuses the direct sunlight and produces a soft, shadowless light of low intensity and cool colour. Intense “sunlight” onstage and the attendant light of the bright sky together produce reflected light that diffuses or fills in shadows, while the ambient light of the stage “Moon” reflected from sky, trees, and buildings is too weak to wash out the shadows. So, by means of the direction, diffusion, and intensity of light, as well as its colour, it is possible to suggest time, place, and season.
The means of suggesting natural lighting indoors are more arbitrary. The simulated sky or sunlight seen through a door or window—a scenic element provided by the dramatist and the designer—is essential to indicate the time of day or night. To render the feeling of bright daylight flooding a room, the strong motivating light (i.e., light that suggests the direction of its source) must be supplemented with additional light from other directions for adequate illumination. If only a sliver of sunlight creeps through a parted curtain in a dark room as the scene begins, the mood may be retained through the gradual illumination of important areas as the scene progresses. Artificial light indoors is easier to suggest because it more closely approaches the normal quality of stage lighting. Actual light fixtures are used onstage to suggest the sources of the light, and opaque shades can be used on some of these fixtures so that they cast actual patches of light against walls and furniture. The exteriors seen through doors and windows are darkened and different in colour from their appearance in a brightly sunlit scene. The walls fall off in shadow even though the general illumination is smoother and more diffused than in daylight. Light serves as a unifying medium for the stage composition. It is a mobile and changing accent that reinforces the action, sustains the mood, and focuses the attention of the audience. Light and shade define the size and shape of objects, as do brightness and contrast, but it is colour that creates mood, atmosphere, and an emotional response from the audience.
The creative concept formed for lighting a production requires that the essential qualities of the play be understood and absorbed. The theme or main line of the script may suggest an overriding motif: enervating heat, ominous clamminess, dappled sunlight, penetrating northern light, a feeling of being in limbo or underwater. The final choice must satisfy the particular qualities of the production and the concepts of the playwright, director, and actors, as well as the designer. Run-throughs in the final period of rehearsals often reinforce previous impressions and suggest refinements in the rhythmic changes of light required. The actors’ performances may also suggest to the designer lighting changes that can enhance the emotional range of the production.
Ralph Holmes J. Michael Gillette