Therefore, it could not be facilitated easily and had to be used sparingly, so that the stagehands could keep up with the action.
#Outdoor stage lighting design manual#
However, this was a highly manual process and required many stagehands. The use of these cylinders allowed stagehands to control the amount of light on stage and change the lighting depending on a scene.
In particular, Di Somi differentiated between lighting scenes for comedy and for tragedy, and he became the first author to note the important effect of lighting on the tone of a play.Īnother crucial innovation came in 1638, when author Nicola Sabbatini suggested in his book on theater that producers use metal cylinders over candles to create a system of dimmers. Di Somi wrote a small book in 1556 the book detailed instructions for staging a dramatic performance, including how a stage should be lit. Leone di Somi, an Italian playwright and producer, was another early innovator of stage lighting as art. In this way, he became the first recorded author to credit light as an important part of the art of theater. Serlio also went on to identify the three important qualities of stage lighting: distribution, intensity and color. Stagehands placed these vessels in front of light as filters the filters produced different colors of light to set the mood of a scene or create an early form of special effects. In 1545, Serlio described rudimentary color filters for lights: glass vessels filled with liquids called “bozze.” The color of the light depended on the liquid contents: red wine produced a red, saffron produced yellow, and ammonium chloride in a copper vessel yielded blue. Sebastiano Serlio, an Italian architect and stage designer, documented some of the earliest uses of lighting as an art form. Despite limitations of the time, innovators were beginning to approach lighting as an art form. Candles, crude oil lamps, torches and hanging lamps provided light in the theater the house, where the audience sat, was also illuminated for the entirety of the show. Stagehands monitored candles closely and snipped wicks or relit candles as needed. The birth of stage lighting as an art formĭespite the limited possibilities of lighting control with flame-based light sources, later developments during the Renaissance increased the artistry of stage lighting.ĭuring the Italian Renaissance, stages were lit with candles made of tallow, or animal fat. The Romans employed candles, torches and lanterns to illuminate the stage in these indoor spaces. It wasn’t until the rise of the Roman Empire that performances moved to indoor spaces like great halls.
In addition, to establish a specific mood, the actors paused plays and took an intermission period until the sun’s angle suited the need for the scene. Even still, the innovative Greeks used large mirrors to alter or reflect the sun’s rays as an early type of stage lighting. Drama festivals played from dawn until dusk, and performances took place outside in large, stadium-like amphitheaters, lit only by the sun.īecause plays took place outside, stage companies had little control over lighting. These cues, however, happened mostly within the confines of a world without electric lighting. Ancient Greeks pioneered the modern genres of comedy and tragedy, and many Greek plays are still performed today.Įven these early Greek plays featured lighting cues. It is no secret that drama became a staple in Greece long before the birth of New York’s Broadway. Theater, however, has existed far longer than the resources that make our modern connotation of drama possible.įrom ancient Greek amphitheaters to Shakespearean plays in Elizabethan England, lighting has always played a role in drama productions, even before the advent of modern technology. Lighting can simulate different times of day, suggest intensity, show happiness, call attention to one particular actor or stage piece, and enhance the audience’s experience in many other ways. Theater lighting design has a major influence on the mood of a scene and the audience’s experience.