Stage Lighting Design in Britain

When it became apparent that indoor lighting could never echo the qualities of the sun, and that any artificial light source gave significance to what was presented, the notion of light as a controlling agent of drama was born, and the potential to manipulate meaning became apparent. The quest to make lights contribute creatively to the staging of plays and to put forward a rationale for their use began. Lighting design was in its infancy. 

Yet the first requirement of these primitive early lights was raw illumination. The actor must be seen: any added meaning was a bonus. It would be a long time before this could adequately be achieved. However, as sources slowly got brighter, atmosphere and effect became more distinctly articulated in thought, technique and application. The potential influence light might have on drama became apparent and was exploited. 

Stage lighting achieved sufficient brightness to supersede the function of mere illumination by the early to mid nineteenth century, when the first bright light source, the limelight, was used on stage. Lighting now took on a more profoundly important role in influencing how we see the stage. The introduction of incandescent electric light in 1881 heralded brighter stages; thereafter lighting was in the hands of manís ingenuity, and at the service of his imagination.

Indeed the role of lighting as accepted in theatre today became established well before modern technology allowed the medium to be manipulated to such a degree that it would be considered to be ëdesignedí. The digitally controlled, high-technology contemporary lighting rig regularly seen on the West End or rock concert stage in fact offers nothing beyond what had been demonstrated or discussed in pre-electric days. It is the reliance on lighting that has changed in the twentieth century, within the context of the theatre stage growing in technical complexity and artistic ambition. It was this growth that prompted the emergence of the specialist position of lighting designer.

In todayís theatre, good lighting is inseparable from direction, performance and scenic design as a storytelling device. The lighting designer is now firmly established in the creative team, on the playbill and in the publicís awareness, being employed to light all performance events from the most complex musical, opera or play to the simple platform concert, from the largest to the smallest venues.