From Sunlight to Laserlight
A Brief History of Stage Lighting Design
Theatre, as we think of it today, began in the open air theaters of Greece. Here sunlight was used to light the stage and actors. The idea of only using natural light follows throughout the ages into the dark and middle ages. Fire was occasionally used as a special effect. For example, the mansion or wagon depicting Hell’s mouth did belch real flame for mystery plays.
Italian Renaissance
This is where stage lighting truly began to take shape and form. Theatre began to move indoors leading to a real development of theatrical inventions such as scenic settings and painting methods. General light was achieved with torches and chandeliers hung above and towards the front of the stage. The chandelier had reflective glass containers filled with liquid to aim the light toward the stage. Candles and torches were the main source of light during this time period.
The first recorded stage lighting instrument was the bozze. It was a glass container in assorted convex and concave shapes. A bozze could be used as a lamp when filled with oil and wick, or it could be filled with color liquids and used as color media, lenses, or reflectors. Mirrors were used to amplify the bozze. This is also when darkening of the auditoriums became popular.
Throughout the Renaissance lighting became increasingly systemized as the use of proscenium lights, footlights, and sidelights were developed and put to use. These techniques began to move throughout Europe and into England after the Puritan Revolution had halted English theatre. Candles with reflectors were used in abundance. Lighting continued to be tweaked and enhanced with experimentations in intensity, color, and placement. Lighting began to be used to create depth and perception to the innovative scenic designs that were being produced.
The Argand Lamp
Stage lighting was also growing brighter. More and more candles were being added creating a wonderful spectacle and horrible fire hazards. In 1784 the Argand lamp was developed. It was an oil lamp with a chimney which allowed brighter light, and was virtually smokeless. One could control the brightness somewhat through an adjustable wick. The lamp was as bright as about a dozen wax candles.
Gaslighting
A huge leap forward for theatre was gas lighting. The Lyceum Theatre in London was the first theater to introduce gas lighting in 1803. In 1816 the Chestnut Street Theater in Philadelphia installed gas throughout the theatre. The owners touted its superior safety, brilliance, and neatness. Unfortunately, this same theatre was one of the first of hundreds to burn down to the ground.
While gas lighting burned brighter and whiter than its ancestors, it also burned with a bare flame next to cloth, canvas, and wood becoming an inherent fire hazard as so many found out first hand.
The brightness could be could be controlled by regulating the gas at the “gas table”. This allowed for control of separate parts of the stage creating the first “switchboard”. Gas also allowed for more consistency in the lighting.
Beyond the massive fire hazard, gas lighting had other drawbacks. The smell given off by the gas was atrocious, and heat became a major problem. Also, gaslight could not provide an actual beam of light any better than candles or oil lamps.
Limelight
Limelight, invented in 1837, was the first lighting invention that had a controllable beam. For the first time an actor or moment could be singled out through the use of light. Limelight was created by using a block of quicklime heated by a flame of oxygen and hydrogen. The flame was used to burn the gas which raised a small cylinder to white heat. This provided an intense point source that could be installed in a hand operated spotlight. The light emitted was very white and harsh. It could be colored by painted glass slides which could create effects such as sunrises, sunsets, and moonlight.
Electricity
Gas and limelight were used in conjunction creating new effects for about 50 years. Then in 1881 the electric revolution blew through the burgeoning lighting industry. The Savoy Theatre in London was the first to introduce electric lighting on stage. 1,158 incandescent lamps were used. 824 of those were on the stage, controlled by six dimmers. The first theater in the U.S. to be lit with electricity was the California in San Francisco.
Electric light had no smell, provided steady light, and was far safer than flame. This new energy source spread through theaters throughout the world. Soon, lighting design became about adding more light, more lamps, more power, and more spectacle.
Most theaters simply converted their gas lighting into electricity leaving the same lighting positions in place. For accent carbon arc lamps were used despite being big, noisy, and flickering.
The use of electricity caused the art of lighting design to burst with new technology and new design theory. The light given by early electric lighting was harsh. In rebellion to this harsh glare given by electric light two designers, Gordon Craig and Adolph Appia, began to envision a more natural and three dimensional lighting style.
In the U.S., David Belasco was the first director of the 20th century to truly dedicate great attention to lighting by planning it in advance. His lighting engineer, Louis Hartmann, was responsible for the development of the first incandescent spotlights. He also introduced indirect overhead lighting.
Since this time both stage lighting technology and design have exploded into different instruments and design theories. These were pioneered by designers and technicians such as Frederick Bentham, Edward Kool, Stanley McCandless, Abe Feder, Peggy Clark, and Jean Rosenthal to name just a few.
Now such a range can be found in instruments, color, and control the possibilities are nearly limitless. Today, designers and technicians work with moving lights, hundreds of dimmers and channels. Complex theory and infinite possibilities await a new generation of lighting designers. A designer today is truly at the helm, painting the stage with light only imagined by those first artisans.
Sources
- Stage Lighting Design: The Art, The Craft, The Life by Richard Pilbrow
- Light Fantastic: The Art and Design of Stage Lighting by Max Keller
Lighting Control Desk at Paris Opera 1893
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