Theatre Design & Technology - Feb 1969 - 11

Following proscenium ligh ting practice, the use of a single
spotlight is the simplest method of isolating the actor or the
action and I imiting audience focus. However, with the audience wrapped around the action, the use of a single spotlight as the sole source of light has disadvantages. Using
two or three spotlights separated by a 90° angle will provide reasonably good lighting from all sides of the actors,
but the side effects are frequently unacceptable. With the
audience in a raised position looking down on the action,
the floor becomes very apparent. Spill light which falls much
beyond the confines of the effective acting area is too obvious to ignore. Limiting the number of spotlights to one
solves the excessive spill problem but creates new problems.
Foremost is that some spectators will be seated almost
180 0 from the instrument unless it is sited dead ahead of
the thrust, and thus will "see" the actor mainly in silhouette. Regardless of siting, the result will be harsh shadows, particularly around the nose. This will also produce
monotony for some spectators and a sense of frustration, of
being cheated, among others. Aiming an instrument straight
down over the acting area also does not resolve th e probl em
entirely because it, too, will produce very harsh shadows
under the eyebrows, nose and chin, and create certain psychological effects frequently not consistent with the scene.
However, aiming straight down does contain the spill light
and reduces bounce. We have then a situation in which the
apparent alternatives are not acceptable in certain cases.
Charles Neenan has discussed the concept of "shadow
factor," citing results of testing from a variety of lighting
instruments.2 Neenan does not attempt to develop practical
design applications, but rather a means of evaluating the
ability of certain instruments to produce dark or light shadows. However, some of his results are very interesting in
their implications, and with this in mind, I constructed a
similar testing set-up and ran tests on all of the types of
equipment I had available.
The practical appl ications of this experiment have been quite
rewarding. With two instruments mounted side-by-side, the
lighted stage floor area is controlled since the instruments
are effectively aimed at the same spot from the same position. The former very dense shadows around the edges of
the body are now quite transparent without the need for a
cross-lighting instrument. This is not to say that the effect
is the same because it is not. There are still very dense
shadow areas exactly opposite to the light beam. But even
here the gradation of shadows is much better than with
only one instrument. Further, the light covers somewhat
more of the actor than would be the case with a single instrument: sufficiently more so that even for the portion of
the audience on the opposite side from the instrument,
enough of the actor is lighted to permit satisfactory viewing.
(See Fig. 1)
Wh il e carrying out practical tests of the basic idea, a second
variation was tried in which a single instrument was aimed
down on the actor from overhead and a second instrument

2. Charles J. eenan, "Shadow Characteristics of Stage Lights for Thea·
tre. Television and Motion Pictures," Illuminating Engineering LXIII
(June 1968). 321·326.

It is hardly necessary to point out that the construction of
our theatres should evolve toward a freer. more flexible concept of dramatic art. Sooner or later we shall achieve what
will be known as the Salle (hall, auditorium), cathedral of

@TIC]

THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

FEBRUARY, 1969

was spotted at a vertical angle of approximately 70° with
the floor, aimed at the same area covered by the first. This
amounted to using the same basic instrument arrangement
as before but changed to a vertical separation. The 70°
instrument partially filled the very dense shadows produced
by the downlight around the eye sockets, under the nose,
etc. without greatly enlarging the Iighted stage area. Generally, when using this variant, the 70° fill is used at low
intensity and with a gel color chosen to take advantage of
the human eye's lower response (usually blue). The slight
spill is thus kept as unobtrusive as possible. (See Fig. 2)
There are obvious limitations to this method. First the location of the two instruments must be carefully thought out in
relation to the audience, to the way the director has staged
the scene, and to the way subsequent scenes are staged.
Second, the physical separation between th e two instruments must be carefully determined. Too wide a separation
results in the loss of control of the light without adding
materially to th e equation. If th e separation in a horizontal
plane reaches 20°, one might just as well go on to 90°
and get better light coverage for the actor. Third, this technique is appropriate for some scenes in some plays but not
as a general approach. The designer must recognize the situation when this style is appropriate; that is, one which uses
relatively harsh shadows as a design elements, a styl e
which does not require a high level of visibility. And last
but not least, this approach requires more equipment. Horizontal positioning doubles the number of instruments although they are usually controlled on the same dimmer. Vertical positioning not only requires twice as many instruments,
but also requires either double the number of dimmers or
very careful use of such other methods of balancing light
output as differential wattage, use of gray colour media, etc.
There are some advantageous side effects from using two
instruments located together. The techniques of doubling the
number of instruments to gain light output is well known.
However, on the deeply thrust or peninsular stage, doubling
instruments can have other useful effects. One of the major
problems of isolating a scene on this kind of stage is limiting the spectator's visual focus to a restricted area. The
human eye. with its great abil ity to adjust to extreme contrasts, beyond the capacity of a tel evision camera or cinema
film, can defeat most attempts to create an area isolated in
darkness. However. the situation can be improved (even
though not solved) by deliberately increasing the contrast
ratio far beyond what is necessary to enable the spectator
to see the actor. If the scene will "take" a high light level
and the spill can be controlled, raise the light level as high
as possible.
Deep thrust stages are probably the most difficult of all
stage forms to light. All of the ingenuity the lighting designer can bring to bear will be utilized at some point, and
any help he can get from outside sources is to be appreciated. The theatrical lighting designer is benefiting from
technological improvements in I ighting instruments and light
sources spawned by television and films, and he should not
be adverse to benefiting from lighting techniques which
derive from these same sources.

the future, which, in a free, vast, and flexible space, will
bring together the most diverse manifestations of our social
and artistic life-the perfect place for dramatic art to flourish.
Adolphe Appia, MUSIC AND THE ART OF THE THEATRE IFirst pub·
ished in 1899)

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