Directors are creative and like to "think outside the box." This is a good thing, because it expands the art and creates new, enjoyable experiences for audiences. In the days of Richard Wagner's operas, they had to build whole new theatres to perform some of his operas, so I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that all we have to contend with is the directors tendancy to use performance areas that aren't on the stage.
For today's post, I want to cover the landings (the areas at the bottom of the downstage stairs); we'll get to the stairs and the top of the proscenium in another post.
Notice that the landings are both under the overhanging "orchestra bridge." (What an interesting deviation from the original meaning of the word orchestra.)
Both of the landings, located on the downstage corners of the stage, offer entrance/exit opportunities for actors, so it will be a very rare production that will not use them. They also make wonderful places to put "off stage" chorus, etc. The major issues with the landings are: first, getting light under the bridge; second, getting the lighting to match what the director is doing with the area.
Visibility Issues: With the bridge overhang, using instruments from the main lighting pipes can light some of the area, but a large portion of the landings end up in the shadow. We end up with the actors feet and legs very well lit, but their faces are in the dark as they move farther off stage (down stage). The other visability issue is that light coming from the main pipes is essentially backlight to the downstage audience members. Sometimes these are problems, sometimes they aren't. Depends on the show.
We used the little PAR-16 peanuts to fill in the rest of the areas for Joesph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat but this approach has some drawbacks as well. The PARs aren't as controlable as the big elipsoidals, so we have light spilling onto areas we'd rather not light. We also have to adjust intensities of the instruments differently to get a balance between the elipsoidals and the PARs. Any lighting instrument used to light under the bridge has to be small enough that it can be mounted on the ceiling and not interfere with the audience's view of the stage or become a hazard for patrons' to bump their heads on.
To fully light the landings just for visability with a key/fill or warm/cool set up would require at least 2 ellipsoidal spots from the main pipes, and 3 PAR-16 peanuts. I can envision situations where it might be advisable to use as many as 6 of the PAR 16's; three warm and three cool. And that is per landing.
Mood Lighting Issues: Porter Williams used the landings in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers for the voices of the girls in Milly's head after she gets to the cabin. This type of use requires a different feel than lighting for entrances and exits or general chorus use. Because of the different lighting angles, and frequently different moods needed, lighting these areas for mood can become very complex.
Focus: Illuminating these areas for an entrance or exit (or any other reason), especially if the illumination of other areas is decreased at the same time, will focus the audience's attention on one or both of the landings. This provides a great way to distract the audience to allow actors or props to get into position in other areas, like the proscenium top, upstage stairs or the trap door. This works especially well if the lighting is changed rapidly. To avoid this effect if we need to keep the audience's attention focused on the stage or some other area, slowly fade the landing lighting out so the change doens't catch the audience's eye as a movement.
Since the needs for lighting these landings will be constantly changing, we'll probably never get to a "standard set-up." They'll just have to be done one show at a time with whatever resources we have to cover whatever priorities the show presents us with.
For today's post, I want to cover the landings (the areas at the bottom of the downstage stairs); we'll get to the stairs and the top of the proscenium in another post.
Notice that the landings are both under the overhanging "orchestra bridge." (What an interesting deviation from the original meaning of the word orchestra.)
Both of the landings, located on the downstage corners of the stage, offer entrance/exit opportunities for actors, so it will be a very rare production that will not use them. They also make wonderful places to put "off stage" chorus, etc. The major issues with the landings are: first, getting light under the bridge; second, getting the lighting to match what the director is doing with the area.
Visibility Issues: With the bridge overhang, using instruments from the main lighting pipes can light some of the area, but a large portion of the landings end up in the shadow. We end up with the actors feet and legs very well lit, but their faces are in the dark as they move farther off stage (down stage). The other visability issue is that light coming from the main pipes is essentially backlight to the downstage audience members. Sometimes these are problems, sometimes they aren't. Depends on the show.
We used the little PAR-16 peanuts to fill in the rest of the areas for Joesph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat but this approach has some drawbacks as well. The PARs aren't as controlable as the big elipsoidals, so we have light spilling onto areas we'd rather not light. We also have to adjust intensities of the instruments differently to get a balance between the elipsoidals and the PARs. Any lighting instrument used to light under the bridge has to be small enough that it can be mounted on the ceiling and not interfere with the audience's view of the stage or become a hazard for patrons' to bump their heads on.
To fully light the landings just for visability with a key/fill or warm/cool set up would require at least 2 ellipsoidal spots from the main pipes, and 3 PAR-16 peanuts. I can envision situations where it might be advisable to use as many as 6 of the PAR 16's; three warm and three cool. And that is per landing.
Mood Lighting Issues: Porter Williams used the landings in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers for the voices of the girls in Milly's head after she gets to the cabin. This type of use requires a different feel than lighting for entrances and exits or general chorus use. Because of the different lighting angles, and frequently different moods needed, lighting these areas for mood can become very complex.
Focus: Illuminating these areas for an entrance or exit (or any other reason), especially if the illumination of other areas is decreased at the same time, will focus the audience's attention on one or both of the landings. This provides a great way to distract the audience to allow actors or props to get into position in other areas, like the proscenium top, upstage stairs or the trap door. This works especially well if the lighting is changed rapidly. To avoid this effect if we need to keep the audience's attention focused on the stage or some other area, slowly fade the landing lighting out so the change doens't catch the audience's eye as a movement.
Since the needs for lighting these landings will be constantly changing, we'll probably never get to a "standard set-up." They'll just have to be done one show at a time with whatever resources we have to cover whatever priorities the show presents us with.
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