(Lincoln School of Fine and Performing Art, 2016)

Tony nominee and winner Donald Holder once said “99% of the audience is unaware of the lighting but 100% is effected by it” (Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark, 2012) – this is because the lighting of a play can either enhance the world created or detract from the performance. With this in mind I researched various different productions where the lighting had stood out to me as an audience member in the hopes of gaining inspiration for How I Got To The Moon And Back. As I had never designed lights for a production before, this research proved to be invaluable to me as a resource and I soon found that Holder’s words on how “lighting operates on so many different levels but it controls perception” (Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark, 2012) were all too true. I felt the best way to start would be to create a Pinterest board (https://uk.pinterest.com/charlottefage/how-i-got-to-the-moon-and-back/) containing images of space, the Space Race and productions where the lighting had helped to create a whole other world on stage. As Morgan writes “it is the lighting designer’s job to interpret the concept through the medium of light” (Morgan, 2003, 10) therefore I knew that the lights had to enhance the fact that we were to travel between reality and the imaginary world Sam created. Morgan furthers his point by stating that lighting “assists with the storytelling to the point it is helping direct the audience…and controlling the emotional response” (Morgan, 2003, 13), in our case lights had to help inform the audience as to where the scene was taking place, for example when in reality a warm wash was used or two spotlights illuminated microphones unlike in Sam’s imagination where the lights would focus in on the action and be coloured. After researching various different lighting designers I discovered that the designs of Paule Constable (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime), Justin Townsend (Broadway’s American Psycho), Jon Clark (The West End’s American Psycho), Donald Holder (The Lion King) and Tim Routledge (Glasgow 2014 Common Wealth Games) were the works I was most drawn to. When speaking about designing the lights for Spider Man: Turn Off The Dark, Donald Holder said “a lighting designer reveals the world of the play. We control what you see and how you see it” (Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark, 2012). With this in mind I knew I had a difficult task ahead of me which is why I worked closely with the Stage Manager and Assistant Director Emily Cartwright as she had had previous experience in this field. I planned and designed as many lights as I possibly could in preparation for our tech day. In Style in Lighting Design (1967) Richard Palmer remarks that “the soul of lighting design rests not in technical design, rest not in technical considerations but in creating a form in light which is on harmony with the conceptions governing the entire production” (Palmer, 1967, 142), something I hope I managed to do. My hope and wish for the lighting in the show is for it to enhance the story so seamlessly and transparently that it lifts our story off the stage and invites the audience to experience this new world with Sam and his imagination.

One of Sam’s first imagination sequences. (Lincoln School of Fine and Performing Arts, 2016)

The Sputnik sequence. (Lincoln School of Fine and Performing Arts, 2016)

The Gagarin sequence. (Lincoln School of Fine and Performing Arts, 2016)

Sam and his mother in reality.  (Lincoln School of Fine and Performing Arts, 2016)

The final image. (Lincoln School of Fine and Performing Arts, 2016)

Being a performer as well as a lighting designer proved to be a difficult task as there were sequences within the show that I acted in and had therefore never seen, for example the scenes I found most difficult to design for were the Opening sequence and the Sputnik sequence. On tech day our Producer stood in for me as we programmed the lights and ran a cue to cue. This was an interesting experience for me as I was able to see what the show looked like from an audience’s perspective. When we did a full tech run my attention was slightly split between performing in the piece and keeping half an eye on the lights to make sure they enhanced the performance and looked as effective as possible.

Lincoln School of Fine and Performing Arts (2016) How I Got To The Moon And Back [image]. Available from https://www.flickr.com/photos/61839232@N02/albums/72157668377551582 [Accessed 24 May 2016].

Morgan, N 2003. Stage Lighting for Theatre Designers. Entertainment Technology Press: Cambridge.

Palmer, R. (1967) Style in Lighting Design. Educational Theatre Journal. 19(2), 142-148.

Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark (2012) Behind the Scene – Lighting Design by Don Holder (Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark). [online] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4FinZS274I [Accessed 25 April 2016].