From TABS, September 1966

Some Advice on Stage Lighting
by B.E.Bear

In 1947, Mr Bear just returned to Strand from the war wrote a small black booklet of only twenty pages to summarise his approach to the art of stage lighting. Published "anon" in accordance with the policy of the time the booklet was later enlarged to form a handbook on the use of Strand equipment as well. It is our fervent desire to tackle a new edition one day if only technical development would pause long enough to permit it! Meantime the original "advice" of 1947 still seems valid for those, the majority, who work with some form of proscenium. The Editor hopes that this will do something to compensate for the, to them, over concentration on open stage experiments. Readers should remind themselves that these were the days, four years before the coming of the first Patt.23 Baby Profile and of the Junior (HA) Board and ten years before Baby Fresnels could become commonplace. The amateur had very much to live on reach-me-down versions of professional practice.

It has been said that when we supply stage lighting equipment the paints and brushes are, in effect, provided but the user must provide the canvas, the technique and the artistic ability. To extend this simile, although we can always tell how much paint will be needed for certain sizes of canvas, we can never supply the artistic ability. However, advice can be offered on the technique. If the recipient has no artistic ability this advice will help; if he has a little it will help him more; but if he is an artist he will probably ignore our advice completely and go his own way to a success greater than any that technique alone will give.

For all that, a basis of technique is essential to all creative work. At first reading, our advice may appear obvious but, in the same way that some accidents occurring in a production are so serious that they are funny, so some advice is so obvious that it is constantly ignored; here it is, however.

When planning a production, it is important to forget what has been done previously and to forget completely what resources of lighting are available until it has been decided exactly what it is wished to achieve. This aim should be fixed quite clearly in the mind, regardless of the difficulties; then, and then only , should it be related to the available resources.

The best creative work is often done because of limitations. These force one to think more deeply of the problem and having a clear aim in view will ensure that a lack of equipment alone does not cause defeat.

Why does one light a show? What is one aiming at? What in brief is the purpose of stage lighting?

1. To illuminate the actors in such a way that their gestures, movements and expressions can be seen and appreciated by every member of the audience.
2. At the same time, so to illuminate the setting that this forms a credible background which will assist the actors in their interpretation of the play, and add atmosphere to the production.

An actor firstly uses his voice and, unless he can be seen he will soon not be heard. Since he must be heard by all, so then must he be seen by all. This is a problem peculiar to the Theatre, where an actor's voice must carry over some distance, and the success of Radio plays is not a valid argument that the unseen can be heard. Apart from his voice our actor will use gesture, movement and expression which must be seen, in so far as they are essential to his interpretation. Even if a scene represents night, the actor must be lit; but the audience must believe it is night. Hence the lighting should appear natural without necessarily being realistic, and by itself should be unobtrusive - the exception, of course, being the spectacular production where the lighting might play a part on its own.

It is easy to light the actors and it is easy to light the stage to give a credible picture; the problem is, however, to do both at the same time.

If one fails in either, so will the production fail to carry the audience. It should be remembered though that, at the outset of a play, the members of the audience are in a receptive mood and that they will remain so unless they are strained or distracted. Provided, therefore, that one knows exactly what effect is wanted, it can often be merely suggested, leaving the rest to the imagination.

One must always be theatrical, which means that understatement or overstatement may be used so long as the aim is known. If, however, the actors are underlit, the attention of the audience will flag and wander owing to strain and, when that happens, one has failed. To provide against this, the lighting should be studied before the first night, with actors on the stage, and from every position in the auditorium.

Now what must be considered in order to achieve the above? There is a logical order in which to think about lighting a production; not, of necessity, a logical order in which to light it. It is a question of progression from what one wants to do to what to use to do it.

The audience will be viewing the performance through what is known as the "Fourth Wall", which hides all stage contrivances, and although outside the theatre all of them know this, whilst they are inside "make believe" must make them forget the mechanics of the theatre. What then, from the point of view of the audience, lights the stage? In any scene, what is the apparent source of light? On this the whole lighting design depends. The two main divisions, Natural and Artificial light, can be sub-divided into Daylight in open scenes or through windows, doors, arches etc.; Nightlight from moon, stars, etc., and Artificial light from chandeliers, floor standards, wall-brackets, candles, property fires etc. For the moment we will consider how best to suggest that the apparent source of light is the real source. Although daylight is normally diffused, it is usually accompanied, on the stage at least, by sunlight to suggest the time of year or day and to add atmosphere; some sort of directional lighting will therefore be required. Whether this light comes through windows, doors, trees or wings, it can be simulated with either spotlights or floodlights. If floods are used, they serve the additional purpose of lighting backings at the same time, but spots are generally to be preferred, since the intensity of light and the control of the beam are greater; the direction of the light is therefore more marked. Whichever are used should be on stands offstage, so placed that they will give the effect required but without throwing shadows of persons offstage onto the setting. They should be set as high as possible. The size and type of unit will depend entirely on the size of the stage but in general, the wattage should exceed that of any other spotlights in use. Moonlight will, of course, be contrived in the same manner, subject to colour and intensity.

Where the set is presumed to be lit by artificial light, as if from fittings of one sort or another, the best approach will be to use spotlights to cover the areas presumed to be lit by each fitting. Often, too, it will be advantageous to link the fittings with the spots covering their area on the same circuit so that any change of light on cue will be easier to control. The normal position for such spots will be on the No.1 Bar, just behind the curtain above the proscenium arch. In the absence of spots of other special equipment for this purpose it will be necessary to attain the effect by alteration of the intensity or colour of various parts of the batten or footlight.

This apparent source must now be built up to fulfil the main intention, the lighting of the actors, and to give extra weight to the lighting of the setting. It will be remembered we stated that the actors must be lit so that their gestures, movements and expression can be seen and appreciated by every member of the audience. Here then is the most important task. It has been placed second in our considerations, however, as the apparent source will condition all that is done. It will be realised at once that since the actors are at all times observed from one direction (fourth wall), any lighting to be effective must come from this direction; usually then the main equipment will be placed on the No.1 Bar, i.e. behind the curtain and above the proscenium - which, apart from any suitable position in the auditorium, is the best.

Here one should try to assemble units for controlled lighting of areas (spotlights) and other equipment for more general lighting of the stage (floodlights or battens). The latter will provide the basic light; the former emphasis, direction and atmosphere. In deciding how many of what are needed, one should ensure that it will be possible to light all areas in which action takes place, sufficiently for the actors to be seen by every member of the audience and to maintain the impression of the apparent source. As a generalisation, it will be found that spotlights are more necessary for scenes lit by artificial light than for daylight effects and, when setting them, it should be remembered that it is logical to light areas Stage Right with spots from the Left, and vice versa. It should also be remembered that an apparent direction, in keeping with the general design, can be suggested even with spots throwing in opposite directions by a variation in intensity of the two spots. When setting units, the difficulty of resetting them in an interval, and the possibility of planning them to serve several scenes should be considered. If individual spots or floods are beyond available resources, an attempt should be made to vary the batten as discussed before, to obtain the necessary emphasis.

Now comes the first snag. Using the main equipment on the No.1 Bar one will discover that actors coming down stage to within three or four feet of this position, being lit only from above, appear unnatural; there will be hard shadows under their eyes, nose and chin, and some sort of corrective lighting is called for. If the actors are seated at a table or desk, the provision of a white tablecloth or blotter will throw the light back on their faces, but this will not cure everything. It will be apparent that footlights will help as also will some lighting from the auditorium. Footlights have the disadvantage of tending to throw shadows on the back wall if the intensity is not controlled and, whilst they will assist materially in lighting persons some four or five feet back from the front of the stage, they are of limited value for anyone closer. Front-of-House (FOH) spotlights from the auditorium in conjunction with these other forms of lighting are the answer to the problem. In principle, they are more use than spotlights on the No.1 Bar but in practice, it is seldom possible to find positions for enough of them. For correcting the light from the No.1 Bar, however, they should be placed sufficiently high not to throw shadows of persons, some six or seven feet up stage, on the back wall and not too close to the stage or they will have the same disadvantages as those on the No.1 Bar. Often, on an average stage, one spotlight each side of the auditorium, fixed to cover the opposite side of the stage, will be more effective than a footlight, provided that the stage is not too high. If the stage is high, the fact that the audience looks up at the actors renders the faults of top lighting more apparent.

Spotlights or floodlights on stands, either on the stage or on the floor of the auditorium, are not advised for lighting the actors, as the resultant shadows are too prominent. If, however, one can use spots on Perches, which are positions high up each side of the stage behind the curtain, they will be found a very useful source of directional light, which can be sited sufficiently high to avoid shadows on the set without being so high as the No.1 Bar. Dependent on the size of the stage and the nature of the production, further lighting from above may be necessary for actors in areas which cannot be covered by the No.1 Bar, especially if Borders rather than a ceiling are in use.

We are now left with the problem of making sure that the audience believes in the setting. The first thing to consider is the building up of the general lighting to give the appearance of an intensity such as one would expect to find if the apparent source were real. For example, if there is sunlight streaming in through a window, the general intensity must be higher and much more even than if an oil lamp is the apparent source. In the latter case one would expect a considerable amount of shadow in the room. Apart from giving this correct atmosphere to the set, the general lighting serves to smooth out the spotlighting of areas and can still be modified by colour or intensity to maintain an apparent direction. The most usual units for this purpose are battens or floodlights used on the No.1 Bar. When using a ceiling this will suffice, but if there are borders, it will be found that lighting from this position tends to throw a shadow of the first border on the back wall of the set, and that further lighting is required behind the borders. A study of the sight lines of the stage may show that a combination of ceiling and border could be used instead of a No.1 Border thus giving more freedom with units on the No.1 Bar.

In general lighting, one should not forget the possible use of spots directionally to give form and body to the set itself, thus making it far more credible.

To sum up: For general lighting one must ensure that it conforms to the apparent source; it can be uneven but must not be patchy; for daylight it should cover the set far more evenly than for artificially lit scenes, where it is often an advantage to allow the top of the set to disappear. This adds height and is worthy of note for any stage or scene where the height is limited.

Still dealing with the setting, consideration must be given to Backings and Skycloths. Backings are the pieces of scenery, most often forgotten, consisting of flats that mask doors, windows, arches etc. These should never be left unlit unless, of course, the plot demands it for effect; there is nothing worse than an exit into outer darkness. Even if resources are the minimum, a couple of lamps can usually be found to put behind a door and, as progress is made, floodlights will be found useful; care must be taken in positioning them so that coming actors do not cast their shadows before them. Window backings should suggest the appropriate time of day and be so placed and lit that shadows of the window frame are not cast on the sky by the stage lighting.

For Cycloramas or sky cloths a more elaborate treatment is required, especially if the area in view is large. Firstly, painting any scenery on the skycloth should be avoided; to be preferred instead, if at all possible, are a cut-out groundrow or tree in front of the skycloth.It is true that this will use a little more of the stage depth, but it will add considerably to the apparent depth of the sky.For general purposes, the cyclorama or skycloth should be finished matt white and any colour it is wished to show can then be obtained by using a suitable colour filter.

Leaving, for a moment, the choice of colour, there are three ways of lighting a skycloth; from the top, from the bottom and/or from the sides. Of these, lighting from the sides should be avoided; nature generally affects horizontal lines, seldom vertical, and side lighting of a sidecloth will result in a noticeable drop in intensity in the centre.

Whether one lights from the top or from the bottom depends on the effect required, on the available space and on the resources. It is best to use a combination of both, each with a different colour to obtain gradation. Day scenes will usually require to be lighter at the top than at the bottom, while early morning and evening scenes will be the opposite. If there is neither the space nor the resources to do both properly, if should be remembered that it is not always necessary to use a magazine groundrow to get an effect. If the main lighting is at the top, it can often be improved with two or three lamps behind the groundrow, throwing it into relief and adding depth.

For the top lighting, dependent on the size of the stage, one can use either wide angle magazine batten or wide angle floodlights. If the former is used wil all compartments the same colour it will need to be at least 18 inches from the skycloth to work efficiently; if the four circuits are of different colours, it should be at least 4 feet away. Whilst the light will be even at these distances, it will not be thrown very far down the cloth at 18 inches, and care will have to be taken of the tilt of the batten to obtain the best spread. Wide angle floodlights will need more space. For bottom lighting, wide angle groundrow is used and the same considerations of distance apply; floods are not suitable for this work. To achieve a credible effect, patchiness or spotiness must be avoided at all costs.*

Postscript 1966

How do things differ today? To my mind, in intent not at all but in the tools for the job there is great simplification. Re-reading the extract I regret a sort of defeatist approach to the problem of F.O.H. lighting positions, my continual reference to stands, and in seeming to have a tolerance of flooding battens that I did not, then or now, feel. Nor was there any consideration of the different styles of production and forms of staging which today are so dominant specially in Schools and Colleges.

So strong in those days was my conviction that some logic had to be applied if anyone was to benefit that it is difficult for me to add much to what I then wrote though others might not be so inhibited. Therefore it might be salutary if today's users were to enter the arena or step upon the stage and give us "some new advice". It might, however, still be worth restating that the lighting designer is to my mind a translator for the director. He translates the visual demands of the director into technical methods and is responsible to the production not for it. In short, having pointed his lights at the actors his essential tool is then the lighting control. This is for balance and for transitions. Its object is not a display of virtuosity and a minimum number of cues well carried out is good lighting. A cue which needs great dexterity on the part of the operator needs time to rehearse it and if this is lacking it must be simplified. Once wrong is too many. The visual picture can be maintained only by the careful use of the lighting control and it has within its proper use the miraculous ability to rivet attention on the right part of the stage.

*Compare this with deliberate break-up using Linnebach projection. The article in Tabs Vol.23 No.3 on this subject has been reprinted as a pamphlet.