The Importance of Lighting: An FPTheatre handout

Lighting is a huge part of the Theatre nowadays, after all one cannot help but enjoy the spotlight, and  it figures heavily in the design and feel of a piece. Here are some examples of the lights that make us shine.

 

The most common lights you will find a company using are Parcan's. Your basic Parcan light is named as such because it resembles a tin can with a bulb in it. These lights produce very flat light but when linked with haze or smoke machines can create very interesting effects. However these lights are durable, easily set up, moveable and provide excellent stage washes and basic lighting.

The Cycl/Strip light is generally used in the professional theatre to light the Cyclorama curtain at the back of the stage. However you can also use it to flood the stage with light and colour, you will find a lot of DIY theatre enthusiasts using the Cyc for this very purpose. Easy to use, set up and maintain the lights like Parcans is the bread and butter of lighting.

Scoop Lights are smaller generally than the cyc yet are used mainly for the same reason, to flood the stage with light or to light up the backdrop.

The fresnel lamp is a fantastic tool, great for washes of light on stage and for side lighting. These are probably the most frequently used lamps in the professional theatre. These lights are fantastic and can be used for all sorts of effects when used in conjunction with gobo's and gels.

Of course there are also more specialist lights such as the spotlight and moving and tracking lights nowadays. However the tracking and moving lights are something that is gradually being phased in. If you hire venues with a pre existing lighting grid it is generally a lot simpler than owning your own because you may have staff there able to help you. The company we are involved in tours and we borrow a very small lighting rig from a local school for a donation towards the school. We find this to be a cost effective way of using lighting and also an opportunity to promote our show within the school and staff there.

Those who are lucky and own their own lighting equipment will know one of the most essential parts of the kit is a good lighting board, these can range from basic boards with sliders only to ones that can be programmed to brightness and to instantly do a lighting effect at a touch of a button. Obviously the high end of the market costs a lot but if you run regular big shows it is worth the investment.

This only the very basic information on lighting for the theatre. It is an artform even of itself and adds a lot to any theatrical experience. There are numerous books on the subject of lighting in the theatre but two of the best I have found, which I know several of my techie friends have used or refer to regularly, are:

Lighting and Sound by Neil Fraser, printed by Phaidon it is a very good technical book that looks more at lighting than sound but still gives some great information, which is true of most Phaidon theatre books.

Stage Lighting Design: The Art, The Craft, The Life. This is a textbook that contains numerous lighting plans, photos, tips and information needed to truly understand Theatrical lighting including an entire section focused solely on the history of Lighting. Written by the man who designed the New National Theatre's lighting system, Richard Pilbrow, this is truly a great resource.