CHAPTER VIII
Lighting Your Stage
Let us imagine that we are seated in a dimly lighted theater. The signal rings. The curtains open and what do we see? People. What makes them visible? Light. What makes the color? Light. What makes the interesting shadows? Light. It is light that does all these things, makes the picture visible and carries our thoughts and feelings into the play which is about to begin.
By what means is all this done? By means of footlights, overhead lights, movable strips of lights, and movable spotlights. A few years ago every stage was lighted by footlights only. These lights threw a crude glare on to the faces of the actors and sometimes made large ugly shadows on the back drop. Later, when overhead lights were used with footlights, there were no shadows at all. This was equally bad. The majority of people did not seem to mind this, but when certain artists went to the theater, they began to ask themselves whether there might not be some way of remedying the glare of the footlights and of managing the shadows. These artists began to experiment. They made little stages, took the footlights away, and began, by means of arc lights, to light their stages indirectly. They began to use movable spotlights behind the scenes, and to fasten lights on to strips of wood and place these strips wherever they felt they were necessary.
They made further experiments. They covered their lights with pieces of different colored silks and gelatine. This not only removed the glare of the lights but produced new and very interesting effects. Next they turned to Nature and began to observe how she produced her wonderful effects. They discovered that these usually came in the soft light of early morning and late evening, in twilight and moonlight, and not in the strong garish light of mid-day. With these observations in mind, they went to work to reproduce some of these effects. The result of their experiments is that, to-day, we see stage pictures as beautiful as pictures painted by the finest artists. Lighting has now come to be such an important factor in the producing of plays that no stage, however small, can ignore it.
Let us now consider the kind of lighting which may be used in the several kinds of marionette stages. The Punch and Judy stage requires no lighting when used in daylight. But even this stage requires some thought for its lighting when it is used in a darkened room. Your set of Christmas-tree lights may be fastened to the top of the proscenium arch and an extension light may be used in the same way as is shown in the illustration. Christmas-tree lights and extension lights are all that are necessary for the table stage and the soap-box stage. In the chapter on “Making Your Stage” you will see how these lights are placed.
If you have made the semi-professional stage with overhead lights, footlights, and strips, you are ready to experiment with your lighting. Begin by asking yourself whether the scenes of your play take place indoors or out of doors. What is the time of day and the season of the year? Is it an out-of-door scene, representing the cold of winter, or the heat of summer? Does your scene occur in the soft light of early morning or in the glow of sunset? Is your scene laid in a deep cool wood or in a warm sunny garden? All of these questions must be considered.
Now, how can you produce these varied effects of sunlight and moonlight, coldness and warmth, somberness and gaiety? Certain colors such as red, orange, and yellow are called warm colors, because they give the feeling of warmth. Other colors such as green, blue, and violet are called cool, because they give the feeling of coolness. If your scene suggests warmth, whether indoors or out of doors, begin experimenting with warm lights, ambers, reds, and yellows. You will find that usually a certain number of white lights are needed with the colored lights in order to produce the effects you seek.
Marionette Ballet, "Petroushka"
Everyone knows that color produces varied emotions. We are familiar with the effects of red which are stimulating, exciting, or irritating. The toreador, recognizing this principle, waves a flaming red mantle before the bull. Blue has an exactly opposite effect. It quiets and soothes, and when it runs into violet, it becomes depressing. Experiment with purple lights and you will find that they give a note of gloom, mystery, or of impending disaster. Yellow is the color that brings gaiety and light-heartedness, as you will recall when you contrast your own feelings on a sunshiny day and on a gray day.