Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1994 - 34

At the rurn of the century, that language \\'as disco\'ered by
Adolphe Appia and Gordon Craig. The ke\' \\'as the same as in
the Globe-the Space-but this time the emphasis was \·isual.
p ro that time \\'orld culrure had accumulated considerable
pace-kinetic potential. It was materialized b\· architecture-at
that time the leader in mastering Space among other art form ,
in uch masterpieces as the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Cn'stal
Palace in London for example. Craig fused that modern tendency rogether \\'ith his interest in oriental philosoph\' and meditation techniques inro a re\'olutionan' ne\\' method of scenic space
formation, one \\'hich used non-representational, transformable
scener~' urilizing architectural forms and dmamic light.
Gordon Craig predicted that his disco\'en' \\'ould be realized
in practice in 80 \·ears. And no\\' maIl\' artistic designers and
scenographers are arrempting ro carn' out the realization of his
principles. One of the most successful has been Josef S\'oboda,
who in 1970 staged "-lozart's The Magic Flute in the "-Iunich
National Theatre using dynamic laser light images as a scenery.
In the last decade, artistic forms of greater quality have
developed. They work according ro the following formula:
"super sound plus super light." Rock shows, discos, and variety
shows were the first in this line. The high technological level
reached in both the musical art and the lighting design and the
equally high level of artistic professionalism insured the quality
of the artistic forms that existed, and helped ro create new ones.
Today, people go ro a concert or a disco not only ro hear,
but also ro see. To hear music with high-quality reproduction,
one need not lea\'e the home; one can stay in the most comfortable conditions with a minimum of disrurbing facrors. Bur people do go ro concerts and discos. The\' gather rogether for a
communal emorional experience, borh with each other and with
their idols. In this siruation, the pectarors become co-aurhors of
the emotional state, creating the audience-sho\\' as a single
organism. Here, the psychological mechanisms of the rock sho\\'
connect ro the discoveries of theatre.
It was in 1915 that, ha\'ing seen Craig and Stanisla\'sk~"s
1911 staging of Hall/let in the Moscow Arts Theatre, Leo
Vigotsky formulated "The Central Law of Traged\·." He stated with scientific precision: " ... Tragedy adds unity ro our
feeling, making it all times accompany the protagonist, and
then ro perceive all the rest through the protagonist. ... All the
characters ... of the tragedy are depicted as seen bv Hamlet.
All the events are refracted through the prism of his soul, and
so the spectaror conremplates the tragedy in two planes: on
the one hand he sees everything with Hamlet's eyes, on the
other side, he sees Hamlet \\'ith his own e\·es. So that e\'erv
spectaror is simultaneoush- Hamlet and his conremplaror." ,
It is that principle on which Gordon Craig's scenery was
based. He filled the scenic space with dmamic architectural
form in order ro make it express the inner world of one man:
the protagonist.
At concerts and discos, the \'i iror is not a passi\·e spectaror,
but is an acti\'e participant in the action, idenrih'ing himself
with the performers on stage. The surroundings in this siruation
should nor onh- build the inner state, but should also reflect it.
The main scenographic method is the use of \'olume, the \'isualization of the space. Each member of the audience should feel
in\·oh-ed. In a disco, the \'isitors bathe in a space brought ro life
b\' sound and light, and they are dissoh-ed in it-this is the main
appeal of a disco shO\\".
The problem is how ro realize these phenomena in a theatrical context. p ro now, the problem has been unsoh-able. It was
certainl~' unsoh-able at the turn of the centur\". Having failed in
his arrempt ro stage Hall/let according ro the ideas of Gordon
Craig, Stanisla\'sk\' wrote:

5 P R I :-.: G

I 9 9.j

T Dc' T

\Xlhat a great distance between the beauriful, light, scenic
idea of an artist or a direcror and its real scenic realization!
How rude all the existenr mean of scenic realization! How
primiti\'e, nai\'e, and insignificant scenic technique is! \\111\'
is (the) human mind so creati\'e \\·hen dealing \\'ith the
means for murdering another man in \\'ar, or \\'ith the
perry comforts of daih- life? \X/I1\" are the ame mechanics
so crude and primiti\'e \\·hen man seeks ro gi\'e satisfaction
not ro bodih- or beasth- needs, bur ro his highest aspirations, which come from the purest aesthetic depth of his
soul? In this sphere, there is no iIl\·enti\·eness. Radio, electricity, all sorts of beam produce miracles e\'ernyhere, but
nor in the theatre, \\·here the\' could find absoluteh- beautiful applications, and force from the stage fore\-el" disgusting
glue and colored cardboard. Such beams could light the
human body, and give the outline the \'agueness, immaterialin', and illusiveness which we know in our dreams and
without which it's so difficult ro fly high and awa\·. Then,
with a hardly-seen ghost of death we could carr\' out
Craig's interpretation of "To Be Or Tot To Be" scene.
Then it will be possible ro ha\'e original picrorial and philosophical inrerpretations. But with the traditional theatrical
means, the inrerpretation offered by Craig looked from the
stage like a direcror's gag, and for the hundredth time, I
was convinced of the helple sness and rudeness of spectacular theatrical means.""

he furure of lasering is in the rootS, in the tradition,
in the practical realization of the ideas of those theatrical direcrors \\·ho were looking for a new scenic
language nearl~' a cenrur~' ago.
To use lasering for the realization of Gordon
Craig's ideasfor the staging of Shakespeare's drama is \'en'
tempting and should be a real challenge ro the many theatre
direcrors and artists still possessing a Renaissance mentalin·.
Unfortunateh' there exists a \\'idely held opinion that laser
light's texture and laser images' visual characteristics are alien ro
theatre scenograpl1\', and ma\' be used only for limited effects.
Lasering is considered good enough for rock and \'ariet\, shows,
but not for the theatre. This point of view is due ro a lack of
knowledge abour lasering's real potential and an inability ro
overcome a stereotyped way of thinking. But practice assures
me that staging high drama may fully demonstrate the new possibilities, not only of lasering, but of the very art of the theatre.
To reach this goal, the conceptual approach ro staging should
be revised.
Lasering will breathe ne\\' life into Craig's scenograph\'
forms, giving the scenic action ne\\' dynamics. Action ma\' be
easih- formed parallel ro that \\'hich is on stage. Freedom in
choosing and transforming the images unreachable \\'ith traditional means of theatrical expression ma\' make possible Craig's
dream of a scene \\'ith a "d\'namic face." Together \\'ith projections and effects, the artistic result ma\' be fascinating.
It is eas\' ro imagine a scenic design using IS not onl~' as a
decorati\'e background but ro acti\'eh- re\'eal the inner state of
the proragonist. Together \\'ith CLG signs, it will \·isualh· represenr his inner \'ie\\' of e\·ents. CLG's flowing, laser light lines
ma~' outline elemenrs of architectural forms bit b\· bit, and
gi\'e the spectaror a sense of je\\'el-like precision. CLG ma\' be
\'en' effecti\'e at producing the ghost of Hamlet's father, or
creating the image of Death .... The description of concrete
scenic designs using lase ring is be\'ond the limits of this paper,
but what has been said should be enough ro gi\'e one the idea
of techniques for lasering as the basis of a dramatic theatre
performance.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1994