Theatre Design & Technology - May 1973 - 62

same script have different qualities, and because of this an
infinite range of
plains why light
ductions of the
step in lighting
from the script.

lighting qualities is needed. This also explots can not be reused in different prosame script. Obviously the first crucial
design is to evoke the inherent quality
Only then can the designer get involved

with any concept of instrumentation and hanging.
Numerous comparisons of similar, yet dissimilar, qualities
are discussed. For example, it is not the same moonlight
which shines on Titania's bower, Juliet's balcony, or onto
Cyrano in the shadows beneath Roxanne's balcony. Each
must have its own quality: that quality which is evoked
by the script. Jean Rosenthal discusses this quality and its
interpretation for legiti mate drama and musical comedy.
In particular, you can follow her evolution of the color
changes necessary for the lighting of Hello Dolly, a;.]gmented with copies of the original set elevations for the
show. Additional chapters carryon the process for opera,
dance and even the lighting of a special production for a
historic house on the Hudson River.
The third major section of the book is "Tools of the
Trade." A series of more than twenty photographs graphically shows that by using only the typical mounting positions, the quality of light can be varied simply by changing instrument, focus or mounting position. The difference between backlighting with an ellipsoidal or a fresnel
and these in various combinations with other instruments
and mounting positions is obvious. This last section concludes with light plots, hookup and focusing charts, scene
design elevations, cue sheets, and even dimmer readings of
several productions for which Jean Rosenthal created the
lighting.
Additional sections include a thirty page bibliography
of productions which Jean Rosenthal has done and a
chapter on the history of illumination. The chapter is informative and concise, even if it seems out of place in the
rest of the book which is so intimately concerned with
Jean Rosenthal. In addition there are scores of little
quotes and qu ips scattered throughout the margins, all
bearing on Jean's life or elucidating points she is trying to
convey.
As a supplemental text for stage lighting the book is
essential - just as The Dramatic Imagination is essential
for stage design. But make no mistake about it, The Magic
of Light is not a book on nuts and bolts. It is concerned
with conceptualization and only then with implementation. If one can read this work and not be impressed with
the unique qualities that were and are Jean Rosenthal,
then one has missed the point of this book ..

Robert Lewis Smith
Syracuse University

MENTION TD&T WHEN WRITING TO ADVERTISERS

ACOUSTICS OF STUDIO AND AUDITORIA
by V. S. Mankovsky
New York: Hasting's House, 1971.
395 pp., 250 lIIus.
This textbook, written in 1964 and translated into
English in 1971, provides little of usefulness to anyone
other than a university level physics student interested
in acoustics. I t is, however, one of the most encyclopedic
of physics textbooks available in English in the area of
room acoustics, and it is about the only literature available
which focuses on the lack of reliable guidelines, prior to
1964, for the design of auditoria.
Professor Mankovsky is a lecturer in the Leningrad
Institute of Cinema Technicians, and the book was written
to serve as a text for students in the field of cinema,
broadcasting, and recording. Accordingly, the bulk of the
text deals with motion picture theatres, television studios,
recording studios, and limited aspects of sound systems
for cinema; with only relatively minor discussion of other
types of auditoriums and theatres.
There is fairly extensive coverage of various techniques
for artificially extending the reverberation time of listening spaces, and an interesting and unique section on the
physics of coupled chambers. A meager four pages dispenses with control of noise from HVAC equipment;
forty pages deal with acoustic isolation; and another
forty pages cover the physics aspects of sou nd absorbing
materials.
Except for a few very brief references to non-Russian
research, the book is based on the work of Russian
scientists which roughly parallels the findings of the
German and English speaking scientific community. The
brief mentions of non-Russian research focuses on the
work of Sabine, Eyring, Haas, Kuhl, Knudson, Morris,
Thiele, and Conturie done in the 1930's and 1940's.
The author presents in considerable detail a handful
of various recommendations for optimum reverberation
time for spaces for music performance, and concludes that
the differences are so great as to leave this question unanswered. He makes a similar conclusion in respect
to optimum frequency characteristics for reverberation.
Quoting the author: ..... despite the great amount of work
wh ich has been done in [the qual itative evaluation of
auditorium acoustics] there are still many questions to
which a definitive answer has not yet been found."
Of particular interest is a thorough review of V. V.
Furduev's 1936 proposal for evaluating the acoustic
liveliness," and mention of R. Thiele's "factor of clarity."
Also included are references to the "Articulation Index,"
liveliness", and mention of R. Thiele's "factor of clarity".
Also included are references to the" Articulation Index",
and to the usefulness of relating late-arriving energy to
early-arriving energy_ Unhappily, in most instances the
author omits the names of the researchers responsible for
the work being reproduced.

THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

MAY. 1973

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